[dayman]

As far as little revolvers go the sp101 is pretty heavy, and thus doesn't recoil that much. The Bodyguard on the other hand is close to the lightest.

So, recoil is going to be considerably lessened, and you do have the option to shoot single action which is a lot easier to do accurately than double action.
However, as has been said it's not a target revolver, and it's not going to be as nice as a full size revolver.

But, I'd still get the ruger. They can also be had with a 3" barrel which might be even more ideal, but I have the 2.25" and quite like it. I will say that I found a set of houge grips and an action job made mine a whole lot easier to shoot well. Still not a 686/gp100, but it's a pretty good shooter.