The Ruger SP101

A picture of bacon, sizzling in a frying pan was planned… but I ate it… and I do not have any more to photograph. Which is my point.

Food shopping is a once each month event, because it is a 30 mile round trip to the store and because I hate food shopping. Food shopping is tedious, I am not organized enough to do it well, and those checkout ladies are socially, too highly evolved and too witty for me to feel good about the typical departing exchange. How do you respond to a person when they say, “You look like a fish out of tuna today”?

Anyway, shopping by food types, each type lasting seven, or seven and one half days in the month long cycle. Morning protein, on a rotational basis, is one week of ham, one week of sausage, one week of sliced pork roast, and one week of bacon. The latter, two strips, cut in half, for four pieces of crisp, oily, savory, taste sensations.

Bacon is a contradiction on my breakfast dish, where it shares surface area with an egg white omelette. Not a tasteless plain omelette, but one blended with garlic powder, red pepper, chia seeds, and leafy spinach. Sometimes topped with hot sauce. Sometimes topped with tasty, no carb, no sodium make believe chili sauce.

Unfortunately, when the refrigerator was opened this morning, I realized it was the commencement of Sausage Week. Don’t get me wrong, I like sweet Italian sausage at breakfast, it’s just tedious in preparation. Calorie count and fats limit consumption to one link. So the sausage is cut along its longitudinal axis, butterflied on the cutting board, then smushed with a spatula until it covers half the plate.

In its oblate state, cook time is only four minutes, versus twelve minutes in its more cylindrical form, and it gives the appearance of a lot more sausage than reality would allow. Yes, self deception. The problem is, sausage is a match up protein. It must be cut into uniform pieces, to match the same number of omelet pieces, to be consumed as such for proper complimentary taste.

And it is always egg on top of sausage on the fork, as sausage first would aesthetically damage the pretender egg beneath. Don’t even get me started on maintaining proper temperature with two foods of different densities and moisture content!..!! So it’s frying pan, microwave, frying pan, microwave.

During the last minute of sausage cook, eggs with selected topping get twenty five seconds in the microwave, the button on the coffee maker goes to brew, and then it all comes together on a folding table, placed in front of the TV… where I watch the world blow up on the morning news, and consume my food in thirty seconds via anxiety borne inhalation. I look forward to ham week.

The SP101 – When a GP100 is just too big to bring along…

Often, compact snub nose revolvers are better in concept than in actuality. There seems to be a good deal of confusion surrounding their ideal application, as well as the ideal configuration. An example of that confusion? Sure. There is the male ego, that is sometimes determined to assign the little gun to the category of a “woman’s firearm”.

I’ve not known any dainty women that could not shoot any firearm, at any moment. Additionally, while there are some people who are slight of build, or have arthritis, or other health issues that make gripping difficult, but why in the world would anyone give them a handful of recoil and muzzle blast?

The subject SP101 is a different kind of short barrel revolver. As an all steel gun, it weighs in at 26 ounces, or about 13 ounces more than an LCR lightweight, but still 10 ounces less than medium frame GP100. Yes, as a snub nose, it has a bit of heft, which is what is needed for a 357 Magnum revolver. With decent gun leather, IWB or OWB it carries well, with the narrow cylinder and boot grip tucked in close for concealment.

Above, my finger stinger, S&W Model 37 Chief’s Special Airweight; aluminum frame, steel cylinder. It is heavily holster worn, but sparsely shot. I am not sure if it is the 13.6 oz weight, or the tiny grip, but it is an annoying little gun to shoot. The Ruger 101 can be shot frequently. It has the right heft and geometry for a small revolver, especially when chambered for the 357 Magnum. After several range session, I barely grumped. Yes, “grumped” is a verb if I choose to make it so.

This particular model, #15702, has an exposed hammer. Yeah, yeah. I know, the hammer could snag on clothing. It’s true, and that seems to work against the SP101’s otherwise very low profile and very slick lines. However, some folks are not to able to practice enough to master an 11 lb. 8 oz. double action trigger pull, or they may not have the hand strength to shoot accurately with a heavy double action pull. The hammer adds the option of shooting with a much lighter, 5 lbs. 9 oz. single action trigger pull.

The Ruger SP101 is a stout, triple lock revolver, which means the cylinder is retained at three points for strength and accuracy. The SP101 is not a design with sparse use intended. I tend to favor heavy 158 grain and 180 grain loads at short barrel velocity and I have never had an SP101, or GP100 for that matter, show any indications of shooting loose.

What can you hit with THOSE sights? Actually, anything applicable to a short barrel revolver; 10 yards +/-. Front, a pinned low profile ramp, rear, notch integrated into the top strap. Unless targets are being shot to gather group size performance, point and shoot is probably the more realistic use. Point and shoot can be very accurate with a moderate amount of practice.

There are exceptional marksman that can easily hit with accuracy at 25 yards. Elmer Keith probably shot a bull moose with one at 500 yards. However, for a compact carry revolver, both would be defensive distances not usually encountered.

Numerically defined… It was bound to happen

Performance… with bullets and such

Good results from a short barrel revolver. Why are 125 grain loads slower than some of the heavier bullet loads?  Thinking, while up and doing the arm wave to Joss Stone’s “Super Duper Love”… there is one typical reason.

The standard vented test barrel is 5.643″ and the solid barrel is 10.000”. Some ammo manufacturers test ammo specifically made for short barrel applications and test at some lesser length. Subsequently, the rated and actual are close. Those tested at standard test barrel length show a more significant difference. So real world performance resides in the “Recorded FPS” column.

The use of lightweight bullets, 110 grains, 125 grains work well in longer barrel revolvers and expand as would be anticipated. Personally, I like the heavier weights, 158 grain and 180 grain, especially hard cast. !58 grain produce enough velocity to expand, 180 grain cast penetrate much more, even if they do not expand. Both are good trail loads and defensive loads.

Don’t make me put up playing cards with holes in them. Pictures don’t mean much when they could have been shot at any range. 5 shots into a playing card at 10 yards is well within the Ruger SP 101’s precision. Shooting from sandbags and a rest, the task is easy, but also doable with a two hand hold and using a door frame as a steady rest.

I guess it is whatever makes you feel safe, and the occasion

For me, the combination of compact and power always leads to a 357 Magnum revolver. Yes, I do occasionally carry and 380 auto or a 9mm in very compact auto loaders, but they always feel like a compromise to accommodate circumstances. The Ruger SP 101 gives up a little velocity to fit the compact classification, but it does not surrender power. Good gun, well made in the U.S..