Ruger's GP100 in .22LR: Everyone Needs A Rimfire Revolver

Everyone should own a rimfire revolver. Ruger's GP100 in .22LR is a 10-shot DA/SA revolver that looks good and is even more fun.

May 31, 2024 By J. Scott Rupp

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Everyone should own a double-action .22 revolver. And you might as well go big or…well, you know. Ruger’s GP100 .22 is big—both in capacity and size. It’s a 10-shot wheelgun with a 5.5-inch barrel that weighs in at 42 ounces. Capacity aside, it sounds more like a big-bore revolver, doesn’t it? Maybe so, but its heft and 6.5-inch sight radius pay off in the shooting. If you’re not familiar with the GP100, Bill Ruger designed the gun nearly 40 years ago to be built like a tank. The frame lacks sideplates, giving it the extra strength to handle a steady diet of the .357 Magnum loads the original GP100 was intended for. It also featured a novel peg-style frame that permitted one-piece grips, and instead of the commonly used leaf springs of the era, Ruger turned to the coil-spring design his company had developed for the earlier Redhawk double action.

ruger-gp100-22lr-revolver-review-02 — The GP100 holds 10 rounds of .22 LR. The crane release is a button you push in rather than slide forward or back as on some other makes.

The GP100 is appreciated by many shooters, myself included. When the company offered it briefly in .44 Special with a three-inch barrel, I snapped one up immediately, and it remains one of my favorites. This GP100 is built with a stainless steel barrel, frame, cylinder and trigger assembly. The barrel sports a quarter-lug, which keeps it from being too muzzle heavy. Up top you’ll find a fully adjustable rear sight with white outline and a green fiber-optic front sight set in a dovetail. The barrel flat is grooved to reduce glare. “Ruger-Newport, NH-USA” is engraved on the left side of the barrel while “Ruger GP100” and the caliber are on the right, the latter on the underlug. The “caution” legalese is etched on the underside of the lug. Ruger’s heraldic symbol is found on both sides of the frame.

The grips are cushioned rubber with hardwood inserts. Instead of the grip screw being located on the butt, on this and models with similar stocks the screw is on the left side. It’s blued and surrounded by a brass escutcheon. Due to its design, the grips are easily changed if you’ve got something else in mind, and there are plenty of aftermarket options. The fluted cylinder showed 0.008 inch of end shake, which is good, and the cylinder locking bolt exhibited great timing, with only very faint drag marks leading into the cylinder stop slots.

ruger-gp100-22lr-revolver-review-03 — The stocks are cushioned rubber with hardwood inserts. The GP100 takes one-piece grips that are easily swapped if you prefer another style.

The crane latch is a button you push inward to release the cylinder, as opposed to the sliding latch found on Smiths and Colts. And the gun uses Ruger’s Triple Lock system, which employs a locking lever at the front of the crane below the ejector rod for additional strength. The trigger lever is smooth with a medium curve and medium width. Double-action pull weight was 11 pounds, eight ounces, while the single action averaged two pounds, 13 ounces. The single-action pull is fine, but to me the double action is on the heavy side. On my GP100 .44 I swapped out the factory springs for an aftermarket set, and this dropped the double-action pull weight by three pounds. I’m not particularly handy, but by following the disassembly/reassembly instructions in the GP100’s manual I was able to make the switch without much trouble. The gun shot well from the bench, as you can see in the 25-yard results in the accompanying chart. After that I moved to 15 yards and fired the gun both single action and double action.

ruger-gp100-22lr-revolver-review-04 — The 5.5-inch barrel sports an underlug that’s only long enough to accommodate the ejector rod, and this keeps the gun well balanced.

At that distance, shooting Remington Golden Bullet rounds, I could keep 10 shots inside 1.5 inches in single action. That’s not only perfect for perforating soda cans, it’s plenty good enough to fill the pot with a rabbit or squirrel. The gun’s weight and its balance all but ensure a steady hold, and the white outline rear/fiber-optic front combo is tough to beat. In double action, done at a smooth pace—not too fast and not too slow—I managed 10-shot groups you could cover with a fist. I’m not one to recommend a .22 Long Rifle as a primary defensive arm, but if it’s what you got, it’s what you got. Paired with a defensive-minded load like Federal Punch, the GP100 would get the job done.

Once again, gun weight comes into play here. Combine a heavy revolver with a light-recoiling cartridge like the .22 and you can deliver a lot of rounds on target accurately and in a hurry if you need to. Plus the GP100 puts 10 shots at your disposal. The Ruger GP100 .22 is a fine example of gunmaking, and it commands a premium price at a little over $1,000. It’s a durable .22 that will outlast you and your heirs. However, until the time comes when it’s time to pass this revolver on, you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of plinking or hunting with a handgun that’s all business but looks like a million bucks. I will warn you that at press time Ruger’s website indicated limited availability, but I think a revolver like this is worth searching for.