New Revolver Shooter

[denvernoob]

I've enjoyed this forum. Being new to shooting a revolver, I have picked up many great tips, and advice in many engaging discussions. Thank you all!

I am a life long rifle shooter. Army vet, who recently moved to Denver from Nevada. We used to just go out in the desert and shoot for hours. Now in a city surrounded by private farmland, shooting rifles is not nearly as easy. A favorite past time became infrequent at best. I used to think shooting pistols was boring. I figured they were for close range and I was as good as I needed to be. However I was missing shooting, and with the ready availability of indoor pistol ranges here, I bought a revolver, a Ruger GP100 .22lr.

I have had a blast! It is every bit as satisfying as a rifle, maybe more. Quite the challenge too. I'm now about 2500 rounds thru the gun. I have been amazed at both how bad I was with a revolver, and how much I have improved. While I have to pay the $20 to use the range, the .22lr keeps the costs low enough that I can afford to shoot much more than I ever did with rifles. As to the gun - fantastic! Never had a misfire, and yes, this "gun always out shoots the owner." Which is great because there's still plenty of room for me to improve.

One question for the forum: How many rounds will this gun shoot before the barrel starts to wear?

Thanks!

[pete2]

I don't know how many rounds it will take to wear the bbl out but you ain't likely to wear it out in your lifetime.

[mk70ss]

You won’t wear that gun out in your lifetime, Enjoy!!

[ice monkey]

I’m in the same boat having recently moved back into the city. Congrats on the .22!

[shuvelrider]

The GP-100 is over-built, even for mine chambered in .357 mag. You won't wear it out as others have said, the .22 is low in pressure generated for the mass of steel around it. Take care of your revolver, of course, don't "fan" the hammer like the "cowboys do in the movies, or slam the cylinder shut like a gangsta Enjoy it for years.

[ms6852]

You will develop arthritis in your trigger finger first, before you ever find out how many rounds. Seems to me that you are now going to go on a quest for the holy grail...sort of.

[74A95]

No misfires? What ammo are you using??????? I need to get some of that!!!!

[ballardw]

Most likely barrel issue is fouling, either lead or bullet gilding metal or wear from excessive cleaning if not careful with cleaning rods.

[mrdaputer]

Like others have said about wearing the gun out. Let us know how your 50,000 round shoots

[denvernoob]

It's a sweet consensus to hear that this gun will last! I like all my guns to be heirloom pieces.

Yes, never a misfire. I thought that was pretty good compared to my experiences with .22lr rifles. I've been shooting anything and everything thru the gun. Mostly walmart ~500 brick packs. The best I shoot was only 200 rounds of CCI Mini Mags. The difference was however apparent in my groups with the CCI. I do intend to start shooting better quality ammo.

The worst was the notorious Remington Thunderbolts. Garbage! I couldn't go 50 rounds without some serious lead fouling.

Any opinions on .22lr ammo? Particularly for pistols?

[223 shooter]

Any opinions on .22lr ammo? Particularly for pistols?

For relatively cheap bulk ammo I have had really good results with Federal Auto Match in my 4" Ruger 22/45 and pretty good in my Single Six revolver too.

CCI standard velocity has given me great results in many handguns and rifles.

As to wearing out the barrel on the GP100 that would be some feat like the others have already mentioned. An example is my MKII Ruger target bought new in 1994 - I stopped counting rounds fired after 30,000 and that was still in the 1990s. Just a few weeks ago I fired my best target ever with it.

[tallball]

Congratulations! The 22's will get you hooked. Be careful, if you start shooting 38's and 44's and so forth you will soon be sliding down a slippery slope.

[gb_in_ga]

Nice revolver. I highly doubt that you are ever going to wear out a GP100 using .22lr, the design was like a tank to take on endurance level shooting of full blast .357 Mags. It is the Ruger equivalent of the S&W L Frame. You might see an accuracy fall off over time because of fouling. That's just the nature of the .22lr beast. You can clean that crap out.

-------------

Most likely barrel issue is fouling, either lead or bullet gilding metal or wear from excessive cleaning if not careful with cleaning rods.

Correct. You can clean that fouling out. You have to be sure to never use steel or aluminum cleaning rods or brushes. Fiber or brass only. But that applies to any weapon. Of course, this being a revolver, you aren't going to be able to clean it from the forcing cone (instead of the muzzle) unless you use something flexible like a boresnake. Also keep in mind that you'll need to clean the chambers, the face of the forcing cone, and the cylinder face as well as you can end up with binding issues (cylinder binding, difficult extraction) in those places if you allow crud to accumulate.

[gb_in_ga]

Any opinions on .22lr ammo? Particularly for pistols?

I only have 1 .22lr handgun, a 6" S&W 422. (Sadly,) It is prone to light strikes. My 100% always works tack driver ammo for it is CCI Mini Mags, and it is capable of ragged hole accuracy with those. Damn, that sucker is accurate! Poor man's match grade. Almost as good are the bulk Federal Auto Mags. Day in and day out, I use the Auto Mags. If I am using the handgun to introduce a new shooter, I use the Mini Mags.

BTW, this thing is a tack driver. Light, breaking glass smooth single action only trigger. Uses the same mags as the match grade Model 41. It looks like an odd duck, though. The action spring is above the barrel, it ejects straight out from the side. Strange location for the mag release. Once you get past the looks, though...

One thing to keep in mind is that the super to subsonic accuracy loss at a distance phenomenon really isn't a problem with handguns. That's because the shorter barrels that handguns have don't allow "standard" 38 or 40 gr high velocity ammo to attain supersonic velocity. Thus, there really isn't an accuracy loss at distance. It never was supersonic to begin with. Thus, you really don't need to use the CCI standard velocity ammo to get optimal accuracy. Which is a good thing, because standard velocity ammo isn't all that common at brick and mortar stores, but the Mini Mags are.

Of the others. Good Winchester ammo is good. But bulk is hit or miss. Remington used to be good ammo, but what they are putting out nowadays is crap (or was, I haven't shot that crap in years). Their bulk "Golden Bullet" crap is ... crap. Not just prone to light fire misfires, but apparently complete voids of primer compound in the rim. Total crap, not even reliable in my rifle. I regret ever buying any of it. I've never shot Aguilla, can't comment on it. I've never shot the high end match grade stuff, never needed to. That stuff is spendy anyway.

[CajunBass]

If you manage to wear out a Ruger (or any other 22 really) BRAG about it.

Ammo recommendation? Generally speaking anything copper washed. Stay away from the plain lead bullet.

Specifically, it's really hard to beat CCI.

[Driftwood Johnson]

One question for the forum: How many rounds will this gun shoot before the barrel starts to wear?

Howdy

I have lots of 22s, both revolvers and rifles. One lf my favorites is this S&W K-22 that shipped from the factory in 1932. Notice the wear to the blue. However, it is the most accurate of all my 22 revolvers, still shoots as well as the day it left the factory.






I can honestly say the only 22 caliber firearms I have that are not as accurate as the day they left the factory are a couple of Winchester Model 1890 Gallery rifles.

This one is chambered for 22 Short and it left the factory in 1906.






This one is chambered for 232 Long Rifle and it left the factory in 1928.






Neither of them is keyholing, they are just not capable of tight groups any more. But that is because these rifles probably spent the majority of their lives in shooting galleries, and who knows how many thousands of rounds were put through them over the decades.

My point is, you would have to put many thousands of rounds of ammunition through any well made 22 today to see a reduction in accuracy.

[denvernoob]

Great looking guns there Driftwood. Especially that S&W K22. Beautiful gun. Thanks for sharing!