compact 357 Canadian revolvers

i cant say i shoot alot. i have a nice collection of guns that i'll grab one or two and take shooting. then take a different selection the next time i go out. so in a year i might put a couple 100 through a revolver each year or less. i based this number off how much i've shot my Ruger Bisley.

what would you say is a high number of 357 through the smaller frame 357?

i've had my hands on the SP101 in 22lr and i really liked the feel of it. but i don't want to shoot something that hurts the hand. my 410/45 snake slayer only get shot when i take new people out. they like the fire ball.
 
I think you will like the .357 Sp 101, With some hogue grips and the full lug under the barrel it's a comfortable gun to shoot.
The fact that the proportions are perfect and it looks nice is just a bonus.
S8sAjh.jpg
 
That 66 on the exchange is a stupid good price if it's unfired as stated.... Glad I got out of my habit of buying stuff because it's a good deal!

My old GP100 had a great DA pull - long but smooth and not heavy. I just didn't like the fat-backed grips - they pounded me pretty bad. I switched completely to Smiths once I came to love VZ Revolver grips
 
I'm a big S&W fan here, it boils down to what you would be doing with the revolver; carrying it around all day vs shooting.

The 686 is an L-Frame, very robust and the added weight helps with the recoil but but you pay for it in weight (I love the full-lug barrel). IIRC, the 66 was a K-frame revolver so it was smaller/lighter.

I'll add another vote for the 686, shot IPSC years ago with a 4"; fed it a lot of .357 loads without a single hiccup.
 
gdawg said:
I think a remember that one. A bit fugly for my tastes.

here found a picture
2Mvc-012f.jpg
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Thanks gdawg and MarkII,
You learn something new every day! I see it's a post lock model. Is it still called a Model 60? If so, it would be dangerous as the original M60s were .38spl only and some guy may decide to try shooting .357 in them. Then again, the longer .357 cases won't fit. Nevermind!
The recoil and flames would be hellish!
 
I`ll second the GP-100. My 4.2 inch weighs less than my 105.14MM S&W 686 amd has a nicer trigger pull. My 686 is a very nice gun but the GP-100 is just a tad better IMHO.

Take care

Bob
 
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Mark-II said:
That 66 on the exchange is a stupid good price if it's unfired as stated.... Glad I got out of my habit of buying stuff because it's a good deal!

My old GP100 had a great DA pull - long but smooth and not heavy. I just didn't like the fat-backed grips - they pounded me pretty bad. I switched completely to Smiths once I came to love VZ Revolver grips
Click to expand...

Right? I payed more used because they were tough to find for awhile, i almost want to buy this one so I can have 2!
 
I'm a S&W fan and have a 627pc, nickel plated Dirty Harry .44mag, and the .460xvr with a 8 3/8 barrel, love them all, however...I think for compact but still rugged I also love my Ruger stainless GP100 .357mag. I don't bother with .38spl and only shoot the .357 in it and it is no problem, well balanced and accurate.
 
I'm looking to buy .375 revolver as well. After reading lots of reviews I narrowed down on Ruger GP-100 and S&W 686 but can't decide between them. I'm leaning towards GP-100 but In local stores they have 686, GP100 is sold out so I can't really compare those two. Could be sold out because it's not popular or because everybody wants is - who knows: )

I understand that they are very similar, GP100 is a little bit beefier but 686 has nicer trigger. As per reliability it's mixed reviews, both of them has issues but nothing too big or too often as I understood. So what experienced people would advice - wait when GP100 is available or pull the trigger on 686? Can't buy two so has to decide on one of them...
 
Here's my pick for a small 357. It's a model 19 cut to 108mm with round butt treatment. Double action only. To be honest I've never put a 357 through it but it shoots like a dream with 38's.

IMG_27401.JPG
 
Iamduck82 said:
i cant say i shoot alot. i have a nice collection of guns that i'll grab one or two and take shooting. then take a different selection the next time i go out. so in a year i might put a couple 100 through a revolver each year or less. i based this number off how much i've shot my Ruger Bisley.

what would you say is a high number of 357 through the smaller frame 357?

i've had my hands on the SP101 in 22lr and i really liked the feel of it. but i don't want to shoot something that hurts the hand. my 410/45 snake slayer only get shot when i take new people out. they like the fire ball.
Click to expand...

I fired a Scandium J frame (340PD) with Federal 125 SJHP's - it actually bruised my hand quite badly, the single least pleasant shooting experience I've ever had. I've shot single shot 308 and 223 handguns as well as DEagle's in 357, 41, 44 and 50 and nothing is as violent as a small, light short 357. The 340 weighs about 12 ounces, has a 1 3/8 barrel and puts out about 12 inches of flash with that round. I've fired similar guns to this before, it pretty much always sucks and gives you a bruise. 5 rounds is too many.
 
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scan said:
I'm looking to buy .375 revolver as well. After reading lots of reviews I narrowed down on Ruger GP-100 and S&W 686 but can't decide between them. I'm leaning towards GP-100 but In local stores they have 686, GP100 is sold out so I can't really compare those two. Could be sold out because it's not popular or because everybody wants is - who knows: )

I understand that they are very similar, GP100 is a little bit beefier but 686 has nicer trigger. As per reliability it's mixed reviews, both of them has issues but nothing too big or too often as I understood. So what experienced people would advice - wait when GP100 is available or pull the trigger on 686? Can't buy two so has to decide on one of them...
Click to expand...

The Guns are virtually identical in size. My 686 weighs slightly more than the GP-100. Both are built like tanks and will provide a lifetime of shooting. Both have excellent triggers. The GP-100 maybe slightly heavier out of the box but a inexpensive spring kit can solve that. My preference as stated above has been the GP-100 but it really is a toss up.

Take Care

Bob
 
The SP101 is the most compact that can handle a steady diet of 357. Had a 3 inch back in the day. My pal still has it. It was very robust and wasn't even that bad with 357 but only 125gr. Did find shooting warm .38 handloads the most fun though. The J frames aren't nearly as tough. Model 66s are larger and 686s and GP100s even larger.
 
Iamduck82 said:
i cant say i shoot alot. i have a nice collection of guns that i'll grab one or two and take shooting. then take a different selection the next time i go out. so in a year i might put a couple 100 through a revolver each year or less. i based this number off how much i've shot my Ruger Bisley.

what would you say is a high number of 357 through the smaller frame 357?

i've had my hands on the SP101 in 22lr and i really liked the feel of it. but i don't want to shoot something that hurts the hand. my 410/45 snake slayer only get shot when i take new people out. they like the fire ball.
Click to expand...

Craig0ry said:
The new model 66's are built a lot tougher than the older ones as can an should sustain a steady diet or magnum loads
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That's good to know and great if it's true. I can't comment on that but the commonly tossed around idea from the previous generation guns that one should stick with 158gn loads for full house Magnums. This results in a slightly lower, but still "Magnum" muzzle velocity. This reduces the impact on the forcing cones to where the guns won't break. This cracking of the forcing cones was mostly limited to the older blued K frame guns like the Model 19. But I've read a few reports about the stainless model 66's also cracking their forcing cones. It seems to be rare with the 66's though. And where it did happen if there's information on the ammo used it was generally lots of full power loads with the lighter bullets.

If the new generation guns have this fixed then you should be good for a steady diet of full house magnums. But I'd still be inclined to not tempt fate and tend to shoot only 158gn loads,

Also since Magnum ammo is expensive to buy but cheap to reload my own I'd be inclined to tone down the loads by a hair to reduce the shock to the gun. The results will still feel very much like a Magnum but you'll be reducing the impact energy on the gun.

How much is too much? Hard to say. Few of us have shot one of these and kept track of the cylinder lockup condition. My WAG (Wild Assed Guess) would be that by the time you've shot 1K of full power Magnums that you're going to see some slight beginnings of the cylinder lockup becoming looser than from when it was new. Likely most of that will occur right away and then it'll steady down. Will it hold that over a longer time frame? Hard to say.

Back in the day the K frame guns were viewed by all of those using them that paid for their own guns and repairs to be a gun which carried Magnum ammo to use when needed but which shot lots of .38Spl during practice.

But really if anyone buys the gun to shoot lots of Magnums for their Big Kick then they should have manned up and bought a .44Mag instead anyway. Or even the bigger Ruger .454 Casull Super Redhawk.
 
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