I was looking at the 4" SP101 in .357 as a somewhat compact trail gun. I'm not fond of the grips on the Match Champion version, but wondering if the polished/shimmed internals are worth the price upgrade over the standard model.

Thanks!

I just have a regular SP101, but was reading some reviews on the GP100 Match version. According to a couple that I saw, the shims still allowed the hammer to drag a bit, but that was GP100.

If the the action is not sssmooth as the name implies aka ' match champion ' do like I did with my GP101.

Contacted Ruger. They brought it back, reworked it. Returned a very precise revolver.

I've since put on finger less hogue rubber grips

My favorite target hangun.

I have an older 3" SP 101 that someone had done slight polishing and obvious spring changes to the internals. That dang gun has one of the most amazing triggers I have ever felt. Easily as nice as any of my S&W Performance Center guns and close to my Kimber K6s in smoothness. This setup makes for a great trail gun in a very light package but still retains Rugers ruggedness.

To me it boils down to the sights and the grip. If you prefer those then it's a nice piece. Not a huge fan of those wood grips, although the sights look nice.

Otherwise you can do what I did and do all the internals yourself, it's really not that difficult to polish, re-spring, and shim an SP101 for around $25 if you're somewhat mechanically inclined. A polished and shimmed SP101 can typically achieve ~8.5-9# DA and ~3-3.5# SA without sacrificing reliability, just using Flitz and a few parts.

I have an sp101 match champion. I too bought mine as a lightweight hiking gun, and it works very well in that role. The primary reason I went with the match champion was for the trigger and sights.

About 10 years ago I had a standard sp101 that had a heavy trigger. I installed some springs to improve the trigger but it was still on the gritty side and the reset became very sluggish after the spring install. For that reason I decided to just buy the match champion this time and not have to worry about spring changes at all on my end.

I just compared the double action trigger pull to a j-frame that had a wolff spring kit installed and the j-frame trigger is a little bit lighter but not by much. For me it was worth it to pay more for a decent trigger straight from Ruger rather than hoping I would have better luck with a spring kit this time around. I would say it has a good, functional trigger. Not as good as the wolff springed j-frame, but definitely better than my first sp101.

Oh, and the match champion grip didn’t work for me at all. After just two cylinders of buffalo bore 200 grain hard cast the skin on my thumb knuckle had been chewed up by the checkering and was bleeding. Changed those out right away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jtd85,

Darn you, MNSIG! I didn't know they made a MC in the 101! Now off to pick up pop bottles and aluminum cans out of the ditch....