Ruger SP101 snub: Small revolvers and subjective recoil?

[Srigs]

I find grips that fill the hand help reduce recoil more than rubber grips. Most of my revolvers have wood grips that fill my hand and have no problem with recoil. I have a 442 with CT 305 which are larger grips than the standard smiths and they do a good job.

Here is a pic of my favorite revolver my 66-1 2.5"

[Dutch]

That's the first gun we bought for my wife, a 2.5" 66. I was hoping and convinced it was going to be mine, but first outing (and first shooting experience) she went through 150 rounds....
It's got the uncle Mike's rubber grips. Awesome gun.

Got myself a 329NG instead. It's what I carry the most. Very light and comfortable (but not everybody likes to shoot it)

[yuppiejr]

Wow, grips make all the difference in the world... I got a chance to get back out to the range and took some full power defensive .357 with me along with some moderate power .38 reloads to function check and practice my shooting with the snubbie... Replaced were the Ruger stock grips with the Hogue rubber and stock trigger + hammer springs with a Wilson Combat spring kit.

I first warmed up with some 44 Magnum reloads I wanted to test, then it was snubbie time. I put about 50 rounds of moderate power .38 reloads downrange and everything functioned perfectly, trigger was significantly lighter (could still use smoothing) which improved my accuracy a lot. I then put five shots of the notoriously hot Remington 125 grain SJHP downrange and while the concussion and muzzle blast were impressive the gun was not unpleasant to shoot and I actually put together a decent group. Tested 5 Hornady Critical Defense .357/125 grain FTX cartridges and it was much milder without the giant fireball.

So all's well that ends well, other than some remaining roughness in the trigger pull that would likely benefit from some gunsmithing I may or may opt to pay for it's an entirely different gun than it was out of the box. Ruger should really think about switching to the Hogue grips and some lighter springs out of the box, it makes the gun much more user friendly.

Thanks again for all the great insights!

[dsprag]

My brother has a sp101 and I carry a taurus 605. Very similar in size. Except the 605 came with factory rubber grips and was factory ported. My brother wants to trade me. Porting makes a world of difference on this small revolers.

[Pat Cannon]

Ruger has switched to the Hogue rubber grip for the GP100 and Super Redhawk. A lot of the fanboys on Rugerforum.net and Rugerforum.com say they like the original grips better, but I think that's mostly just stick-in-the-mudism. I agree they should at least make it an option on the SP101.

That trigger will smooth out with use. Some folks call 1000 rounds of dry-fire practice 'the poor man's trigger job'.