Here's another new offering from ruger. A gp100 five shot 44 special.

RUGER GP100 44 SPECIAL - RUGP-4451-5 - LIPSEY'S EXCLUSIVE - 1765 - UPC:736676017652 - Lipseys.com

I'm a liking that one Bill-5" full lug=no flutes in the right caliber. wonder what it weighs?

I only wish it was a Redhawk 5" but it may grow on me. The gp100/41sp/3" barrel weighs 36ozs. I guess Lipseys is the distributor and they ordered them? I wonder how that works.

Several on GB. From $635 + shipping....

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

It looks like it has a long cylinder , the one for 357 magnum . You will have that extra distance for the bullet to jump after leaving the case to get to the forcing cone . Some claim that effects accuracy . I have never tested to see if there is a difference . Some one else might chime in here with more info .

Would be interesting if it was a sixer or in .44 mangle'em.

I'm about all 44 magnum'd out. That's why I came full circle back to the 357 mag where most of us started. I'd like to see a Redhawk with a 5 1/2" barrel, 8 shot, in stainless and blued.

Cant speak to that gun in particular. But I have loaded quite a few .44 specials in S&W an Ruger .44 magnum revolvers with excellent results. Sort of like firing a 38 spl in a 357 mag chamber, few shooters would ever be able to see any difference in accuracy with loads the gun likes.


Larry

Nice but would like it in six better

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Spin The Wheel

The .44 Spl GP-100 has been out for quite a while now, this is just Lipsey doing their slightly off-beat thing.

COAL .357 Magnum: 1.590
COAL .44 Special: 1.615

Here's a pic from a review when the .44 GP first came out.



Should have enough room for some .44 Magnum loads in there, but not the big boys obviously.

I REALLY wished they had put some big flutes on the cylinder so the action wouldn't take any more of a beating than it has to, but marketing trumps functionality I suppose.

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TEAM DNF

It's called free bore the gap where the bullet is away from the rifling. This was discussed years ago. I believe it can increase the velocity and accuracy. Another rifle trick is to let the bullet touch the rifling. Doesn't work with revolvers.

I think shooting light loaded 44 mags would blow it up. The cylinder walls look too thin. Ruger does use the best American made quality steel from carpenter steel in nh.

The cylinder walls on the Ruger GP-100 .44 Special are considerably thicker than those on a Model 29. At the bolt notch, M29s have a thickness of ~0.04", whereas on the Ruger (and the M69 for that matter) the notches are offset, so the full cylinder wall thickness isn't compromised. On the Ruger that's ~0.08".

When I was looking at these guns, I found an article on Real Guns that reported the GP-100's cylinder diameter and length were increased for the .44 Spl chambering as well.

"To maintain strength margins, the 44 Special version was changed from a six round cylinder to five and increased in diameter from the 357 Mag's 1.550" to 1.586" for the 44 Special and increasing 357 Mag cylinder length from 1.562" to 1.625". Both the 357 Mag and 44 Special cylinders have an outside chamber wall thickness of 0.086", which says a lot for the 44 Special with only 15,500 psi operating pressure, compared to the 357 Mag at 35,000 psi."

When I excepted "the big boys" in .44 Magnum loads, I wasn't referring to pressure but rather the heavier, longer bullets, as the length would be a problem. After all, let's not forget how we got the .357 and .44 magnums; they were originally heavy .38 and .44 Special loads. The only reason they were lengthened was to keep them out of older, weaker actions. A light .44 Magnum is a warm .44 Special.

I also remember when the SP-101 first came out, they were in .38 Special only. Enthusiasts promptly reamed the chambers and shot 125 gr. JHP .357 loads out of them. Besides the fact that those bullets were the classic stopper .357 load, they were also short enough to work in the cylinder.

Ruger finally acquiesced and made them in .357, stamped with a warning for 125 gr bullets only, before changing the design to accommodate standard length .357 loads. How did Ruger know they would stand up? Because when the gun was still in development, they had reamed a cylinder to .357, and shot thousands of rounds of .357 loads through the gun. That was Ruger's idea of a good stout .38!

The Magnum thing crossed my mind when I first saw the .44 GP-100s, after all custom gunsmiths have been converting GPs to .41 Magnum for many years. After seeing these cylinder measurements, I would be perfectly fine reaming out the chambers and shooting moderate magnum loads in them. And I'm one of the biggest firearms "Safety Nazis" you'll ever see. Although perhaps a "Yee-Haw!!" would be appropriate before touching one off!

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TEAM DNF

I would like to hear how that would be possible.