Several years ago, I had an SP101 that I carried for backup on duty at my PD job and off duty. Heavy and chunky little gun but I loved it. It always shot well and was more accurate than such a short barrelled gun should be.
When I bought mine, it seemed that Ruger was saving money on trash removal by dumping floor sweepings into the actions and shipping them out. It was an absolutely filthy mess, full of dirt, gunk and metal chips. It took me 2 or 3 hours just to get it all out of the action. Once cleaned, the action was heavy but fairly smooth. I found a guide to detail stripping and polishing on one of the Ruger forums and went to work with my fine knife sharpening stones. I didn't really remove any metal so much as polishing and de-burring the parts. Once reassembled, it was silky smooth. The trigger was still a little heavier than my S&W M649 because I kept the factory springs for maximum reliability, but it was even smoother.
Once I started carrying and shooting it, I found that the hammer spur was sometimes catching and snagging on heavy winter clothes, so I bobbed it myself. While it still had the SA sear on the hammer, it was bobbed so that it was pretty much impossible to manually cock it. DAO is the way to go in a defensive gun, anyway, so not a big deal to me.
Once I had it set up the way I wanted it, I bought some grip panels from a guy on one of the Ruger forums that was selling them. Really classed up the little gun and I carried it happily for several years. Due to severe budget cuts, the small PD I work for went to only 1 guy on duty for most shifts. We were mandated to come out and help when off duty if the on duty guy needed help. Although I was pretty good at reloads, I realized that I would never be able to reload the SP101 as fast or as fumble-free as an auto, so I went back to the Glock 26 that I had previously been carrying off duty. I wasn't really happy with the G26, so as soon as S&W came out with the 9mm Shield, I managed to find one (after a couple months of searching!) and still carry it off duty to this day. When my mother got her CCW and decided that, due to severe arthritis in her hands that she couldn't grip the slide of an auto hard enough to reliably cycle it, I gave her my S&W M649 and SP101. I miss them, but take comfort that they protect her. I also know that, one day, I will get them back, although I'm not looking forward to that.
And, since we all like pics, here is a pic of my SP101 not long before Mom got it.
