Smith and Wesson or Ruger revolvers - the perennial quesition

easyrider604

easyrider604

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No disrespect to Ruger fans. Long before Bill Ruger was born, Smith and Wesson have been building revolvers. His efforts to modernize firearms design was admirable.

I agreed and supported Ruger and Co. by purchasing a MkII .22 semi auto pistol, Mini 30 in stainless, a Blackhawk 6.5 inch stainless SA, a GP100 with 6 inch barrel and rosewood grip insert, a GP100 4 inch with Hogue rubber grips, a 6" stainless Security Six and an SR1911.

Eventually sold or traded off all of them except the SR1911. Nothing terribly wrong with any of my Rugers, in fact, the SR1911 is one of the prettiest, most reliable and accurate 1911s I 've ever owned.

I've come full circle and only own S&W revolvers now. I recently decided to cull my modest revolver collection retaining only a 686-3, 17-3 and a 66-8. My first ever handgun was a Smith .22Magnum revolver and still fondly remember it. Is it nostalgia that I'm reverting back to an all SW family? Or do I really like the feel of them. Obviously, reliability, accuracy and all those qualities come with both Rugers and Smiths.

Just wanted to share, not rock the boat or anything like that.

Smith and Wesson 686 with Aimpoint on Aimtech mount 008.jpg
 

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There is almost 100g difference between my Ruger Police Service Six and my S&W Model 10-2, both with 4" barrel. The S&W is smaller, lighter and sleeker. The trigger is lighter, too.
 
Have a Ruger Mk II and an ROA.
S&W Model 64-3, a 1940 made Heavy Duty also in 38 SPL and a 629 DX Classic. One Model 44 Dan Wesson.
Two Colts a Model 3-5-7 and one Anaconda.
Nothing beats the DW for durability.
However the Smiths have nicest DA pull right from the get go.
But I am not sure what's my most accurate modern revolver: The Model 3-5-7 and the six inch 64-3 seem just about neck and neck at 25 yards and good 38 ammo.
Myself I could never part with the very accurate Mk II or the ROA.
 
I am pretty new to revolvers, sans a heritage RR I had briefly. But I currently shoot...a lot...a s&w m&p in 38sw. What a great trigger. At the 15 yd range i can almost stack the bloody rounds. Even the sights work well for me. So enamored with the ole war horse I bought a hand ejector mk2 in .455.

Kind of want something in 38spl now.
 
I got a revolver just 3 years ago. Now I think I have 10. Very addictive. Especially if you have an old back like me and don't want to pick up brass. I hardly ever shoot my auto's anymore.

Cheers
Moe
 
What are some thoughts on Ruger .44 revolvers (the Redhawk or Super Redhawk) vs the S&W 629 or 29? Any real plus or minus either way? I had a .44 years ago, and have been considering getting back into .44 for a while...
 
New prices it's not even worth thinking about, Rugers are more expensive, they should be about 50% the cost of a S&W based on manufacturing...cast vs forged/milled , not even in the same league, I'd compare them to the Alfa Proj way before a S&W based on the crap triggers and overall roughness of them.
They don't even clean up the grip frame, left as cast, just lazy and looks like garbage.
wm_7346868.jpg
 
Honestly, yes the GP100 should be quite a bit more affordable based on manufacturing, but I still love it.
But for pure ease of tweaking at home with minimal skills and tools, hard to beat.
 
road.ripper said:
cool article , just looking at buying my first wheel gun. cant wait
Click to expand...

Here was my journey:
I'm getting older and crawling around on the ground to retrieve brass is also becoming "old" fast; so I decided to buy a revolver. I shoot PPC and like to shoot "Service Pistol" class as well as the standard matches. As a result, I wanted a revolver in .38/357 with a barrel 5" or less.

I checked out all the ones that were at local dealers including S & W, Ruger GP100, Alpha Proj and Armenius. I ruled out the Alpha and the Armenius right off the bat; they only thing they had going for them was the price, their construction seemed light, and their triggers were terrible. Both the S & W and the Ruger had good triggers, they were a bit different in feel, but seriously, one was not better than the other. Both are solidly built.

So... I started looking, and determined my price and ran some ads looking for either. The first pistol in my price range (actually 100 less than my max) I bought. It is a Ruger GP100, Blued, 4.2" barrel. It was a counter gun in a gun-shop, and there was zero evidench of it ever beeing fired, not dirt anywhere. The only evidence that it had even been handled was the faint drag mark on the cylinder.

Some things I did not even consider at the time, but you may want to keep in mind: Ruger has no side plate on the frame, so structure is stronger (S&W obviously is strong enough). Ruger GP100s can be field stripped for complete cleaning, S & W can not be easily dismantled. The front sight is changable in seconds; I went from a blued front sight to a Ruger front sight with a red insert; nothing to it.

Gun snobs will whine about the cast steel finish under the grips, but fail to note the tighter tollerances elsewhere on the gun.

Double lock up on the cylinder too.

You get what you pay for, and for an off the shelf revolver, these are packed with a lot of features that all of the others in this price range don't have.

BTW, it is a very accurate gun, and I shoot it as well or better in double action than I do my semi-auto CF pistols.

You will be happy with either the S&W, but you also will not be dissipointed with the GP100 should you go that way.
 
CobraGT said:
What are some thoughts on Ruger .44 revolvers (the Redhawk or Super Redhawk) vs the S&W 629 or 29? Any real plus or minus either way? I had a .44 years ago, and have been considering getting back into .44 for a while...
Click to expand...

I have had a few 629 that I used in Ipsc competition and a couple RedHawks. If you are shooting 5000 rounds a season and dry fire extensively you will have a number of problems with the 629. The trigger stud will break I broke two on different revolver. Also the cylinder notches for indexing will wear and you will have problems. This happened on two revolvers as well. So if your goal is to be the Ipsc revolver champion then you need to buy at least 2 629 to be sure you have one running for Match day. The Redhawk I did not use in competition so I don’t know if it fail like the 629.
 
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Hitzy said:
New prices it's not even worth thinking about, Rugers are more expensive, they should be about 50% the cost of a S&W based on manufacturing...cast vs forged/milled , not even in the same league, I'd compare them to the Alfa Proj way before a S&W based on the crap triggers and overall roughness of them.
They don't even clean up the grip frame, left as cast, just lazy and looks like garbage.
wm_7346868.jpg
Click to expand...

When I bought my GP100 like a decade ago, it was significantly cheaper than a 686. While I have no intentions of ever selling it, now that they're comparable in price, if I was buying new, I'd get a Smith.
 
My GP100 is very good, I shimmed mine even though nothing was dragging. It outshoots my Shadow easily, even with the painted front sight on my GP. The only thing that is not superb on my GP is the blued finish, however it's on my never sell list.
GP's are way better than Alpha Project, my dad has an Alpha in 9mm.
 
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