I will have more photos and shooting impressions on DRTV and the blog as the day progresses...The 3 guns I have are:
1) SR9c 9m compact pistol...10 rounds and ships with a 2nd 17-round SR9 magazine and grip adapter that slips on the longer full-sized mag...slightly larger in slide length and width than baby Glock G26, but slimmer...best trigger I've felt on an out-of-the-box SR9 (even Pincus would like it)...
2) 7-SHOT GP-101 in .327 Magnum...that's right, Ruger as learned to count past 6! This represents a major expansion of the venerable SP-101 line and (along with the next gun) an equally major commitment to the .327 cartridge. The gun is a sweetheart to shoot compared to a .357 of the same vintage, plus it picks up the extra round. I was shooting Federal Personal Protection 85-grain .327s — rare as hen's teeth!
3) MY FAVORITE, and a gun I will definitely be buying, an 8-SHOT .327 Magnum Blackhawk! This is destined to be the small game gun of the year (and we already have some ideas for ourin-the-works handgun hunting show). Essentially, imagine a new Model Blackhawk (the larger XR3-RED gripframe rather than the smaller XR3 on the Anniversary Model .357s) with 8 holes in the cylinder instead of the 6 you expect. My version is stainless with a 5.5-inch barrel. I haven't mic'ed it yet, but the gun appears identical to my .357 New Model and fits all my standard Blackhawk holster. I've shot it with the hot .327s and a whole bunch of .32 H&Rs, and recoil is negligible.
Okay...I gotta go edit video for awhile, but i will be adding photos and more impressions throughout the day. Check in regularly on DRTV as Marshal posts the videos! I'll also be discussing my shooting impressions on the Wednesday podcast.
22 comments:
Finally an SR9c...been waiting!
Color me jaded, but I just can't get excited about the .327 round. I can see the market for the compact SR9, but the .327?? I just don't see it.
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Oil well, my hopes for a 12 shot 22LR Vaquero have been banished - again.
I just don't get the .327 thing, what does it really do that a good .38 special does not????
Please tell me that next in the pipeline is a "Hunter Bisley" version of the .327. Then the coyotes wouldn't stand a chance.
"I just don't get the .327 thing, what does it really do that a good .38 special does not????"
It allows revolvers to hold more rounds, especially those small revolvers that can only hold 5 shots of .357 can hold 6 .327. In this case 7 & 8 rounds.
I would love to see a show dedicated to handgun hunting. I love using my T/C contender with in 3" .410 to hunt cottontails. I would like to see how a 6" Judge would pattern with birdshot.
I've heard it compared to .30 carbine in the Blackhawks. Those are tons of fun, let me tell ya. Mine are lasers and a blast to shoot.
I had a feeling there would be a new .327... but TWO. Nice.
Eight rounds in the Blackhawk--great idea! And a Bisley .327 would be even more awesome.
Maybe I'm not getting something, but what does the SR9c have over the competition? Is it really as tiny as a Glock 26? And while it does look very ergonomic, the capacity is low compared to the 13 rounds in a Taurus 609Ti or a Springfield XD SC. (Though I might be comparing oranges to slightly larger oranges there.)
I wish Ruger would have the .327 on the small frame with a convertible .32-20 cylinder. Blued steel with Walnut grips.
BW
[whisper]Mike, it's a GP100: the full sized Ruger revolvers. SP101s are the smaller variants. [\whisper]
Would love to see a LC9 (LCP sized 9mm, perhaps scaled up to PM9 size pistol).
Random Ruger thinking:
The SR556 SHOULD have be an AK variant. They made a late entry to the very high end AR market. They could be the only major maker doing an AK!! Anyone wanting an AK these days either rolls the dice on some kind of kit gun, or gets a worked-on one from one of the niche gunsmiths. Neither way gets rifles in the hands of people who aren't already somehow interested in black rifles, there's no exposure in gun shops or at the outdoor stores. Ruger already has the distribution network and name recognition.
S&W and Remington are doing this outreach to traditional gun communities with their ARs. Ruger should be doing the same with AKs.
A small redesign (heck they are tooling up already) to add a rear apeture sight, picatinny rail on the dust cover, and to use AR mags would make it very competative even against other black rifles. 5.56, 5.45, and 7.62x39 versions, of course.
Now it kind of competes with the Mini-30 and Mini-14 (okay, exactly competes i.e. accuracy) but I don't see the Minis as being very competitive right now. Retire the Minis for a few years and use the time to make a big splash with AKs. Market the AKs as kind of a Mini replacement, the tough, fun plinker/trunk gun. Then bring back an accurized Mini later with fancy wood as a higher-end semi-auto hunting rifle. The Ruger AK would be all-US made and would fill a role like DSA does for FALs, a US maker doing good business on a perception of quality even with many imported competitors.
The best part of Ruger making an AK would be watching all the Ruger-haters heads explode...
Oh man I was waiting for a .326 cart and revolver with 9 shots. That would have been a fantastic combo.
The Blackhawk should make a good outdoorsmans gun. But I'm afraid the 327 cartridge is dead and Ruger doesn't know it yet.
The SR9....yawn.
RE: GP-100...I know I know...I've got SP-101 burned into some weird circuit in my brain, like why I keep calling my friend Alan "Adam." I write myself little notes, mumble "GP-100" tomyself just before they turn on the cameras and when I open my mouth, out pops "SP-101" and I don't even catch it...
If they'd called the damned gun "Victorious Mongoose" I wouldn't be having this problem!
an humbled mb
"S&W and Remington are doing this outreach to traditional gun communities with their ARs. Ruger should be doing the same with AKs...A small redesign (heck they are tooling up already) to add a rear apeture sight, picatinny rail on the dust cover, and to use AR mags would make it very competative even against other black rifles."
A Galil, basically. Not a bad idea.
"I don't see the Minis as being very competitive right now."
Don't know what you mean by "competitive", but I'd rather have a blue-steel-and-wood honest-to-God rifle than a plastic-fantastic tacticool mallninja zombiekiller any day.
The Mini-14 is a Miata. The AK-47 is a Humvee with Yosemite Sam mudflaps. The AR-15 is a neon-green Civic with a big carbon-fiber spoiler and a coffee-can muffler.
Although the .327 sounds good, where in the heck will any ammo come from? We already have a scarcity of common ammo. Rare calibers will be like finding hen's teeth. Midways says mid March before they will have any, other places are either "out of stock" or don't even list it.
Love the idea of a .327 Blackhawk.Blackhawks are my favorite revolvers. Would also like to see the Ruger LCR chambered in .327.
I hope that the .327 doesn't end up like the 10mm, only in reverse order. The 10mm came out with much hype by the gun-press. Iliked it and still do. Then, these same guys criticized it because you couldn't limp-wrist it. Then they gave us the .40 S&W, or as some call it, the .40 "Short & Weak". Then the 10mm was relegated to the srap heap.
We already have the .32 H&R Magnum, or .327 "Short & Weak". You get the picture....
And, by the way, you can't buy ammo for the 10mm, or the .327, or even the ,32s. Any production capacity will go to the .40 S&W, for sure and any other generic cartridge.
Good luck trying to sell these guns. It seems that the game has changed.
Life Member
OK, I get it, Ruger won't chamber the .327 Fed Mag in a Single Six.
Still. The .327 Blackhawk should have been a seven-shot gun on the wonderful 50th Anniversary / New Vaq "mid-frame," not the honking, .45-Colt-+P-cleared, full sized Blackhawk.
Like a fella said on the Ruger Forum, the gun they're offering is not proportional to the cartridge. A 48 oz .32 is simply too clunky, even if it is an 8-shooter.
Okay, I viewed the demo video on the Ruger website. Michael compared an SR9c with a Glock 26 one-on-one. NICE compact carry. I like the design even better than the Taurus 709. While we don't know whether the Ruger will prove to be as reliable as the Glock, it's certainly prettier!
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