Ruger GP100 in 44 Mag? Who's interested?

[Rscout6945]

I always thought this would be an excellent pistol.  I know it would have to be a five shot but that is fine with me.  Mine would have a 4" barrel and would go everywhere I did.  Maybe it could also be chambered in 41 Mag and 45 Colt(someone with more knowledge than me could tell if this is possible).

If anyone has comments please post them or just a post with a Yeah, Right on or whatever.

And would it be possible to make the cylinder longer like the Redhawk and Super Redhawk to handle the stronger 44 Mag loads (I'm guessing probably not)

Thanks, Semper Fi

[BCB]

I would much rather see a 44 Special offering...there are enough 44 Magnums!!!BCB

[Rscout6945]

But this would be for people like me that have a little too small of hands to hold the Redhawk easily, although I do get by.

Forgot to add that I would almost kill for one if they made it in that Target grey color.

[poncaguy]

I would go for the 45 Long Colt in the GP 100, it can be loaded to 44 Mag loads and beyond........

[PaulS]

The GP100 is not physically large enough to fit the 44 or 45 caliber cartridges. Although the cases are the same length as the 357 the bullets make the overall length longer than the 357 Magnum when using heavy bullets. The cylinder diameter is too small for the cases and have them line up with the bore. That is why Ruger makes the larger revolvers.

[Old Griz]

I'd love to see a 4" Redhawk.

[Rscout6945]

Now I just saw something from Bowen that had a single action ruger 357 converted to a 5-shot 44 mag or 41 mag.  I think I have also seen something by a custom company about a  gp100 357/44 spec conversion but not so sure about that.

If it is not possible then how did they do it?  The size of the single action and double action cylinders have to be pretty close, don't they??

If for some reason they can't do 44 mag, I would still like to see a 41 mag 5-shot.

[poncaguy]

Check out the  RugerForum.com. I read about one in revolver section..........

[PaulS]

Now I just saw something from Bowen that had a single action ruger 357 converted to a 5-shot 44 mag or 41 mag.  I think I have also seen something by a custom company about a  gp100 357/44 spec conversion but not so sure about that.

If it is not possible then how did they do it?  The size of the single action and double action cylinders have to be pretty close, don't they??

If for some reason they can't do 44 mag, I would still like to see a 41 mag 5-shot.

AS to why it can't be done.... (dimensions taken from my own Ruger Security-Six)
The 357 has a wall thickness on the outside of the cylinder of only .085". It is there to handle the 35000 psi of the 357 mag
The 44 Mag has .077" more diameter on its case and another .060 diameter on its rim.
That means that the cylinder would be reamed .039" per side leaving .046" of wall to take the extra pressure of the 44 over the 357.
The rim of the 44 is .037" larger (from the centerline) meaning that you have .009" from the rim to the outside of the cylinder.
The center part of the cylinder with the star on it would have to be cut away for the rims or the rims would have to be trimmed.
That is why the 44 mags have cylinder diameters that are larger in diameter than the 357's.
The frames are taller so that the barrel can be mounted higher allowing the location of the center of the cartridge (and bore) to be farther from the center of the cylinder pin.
The dimensions of cartridges are the industry standard sizes for the cartridges and do not include the extra .002" - .004" of the chambers diameters. If I added the minimum of .002" of the chambers then it would further reduce the wall thickness to only .044". I doubt that even the Ruger could withstand the 36000 psi of the 44 mag with cylinder walls only .044". The 41 mag is only .005" smaller diameter than the 44 so when you divide that by 2 you would end up with a wall thickness of .0465" - probably not enough to handle the 36000 psi either.


edit - even a five shot 41 or 44 mag would need the larger cylinder - there just isn't enough metal in the 357 mag cylinder.
If you cut the frame and welded it to support a larger cylinder moving the barrel up to align with a larger custom cylinder then you could do it.
Why not just use a larger frame revolver in the first place?

[Racer X]

The reason Bowen (or other custom revolver smith) can convert a single action Ruger .357 to .44 Mag (Blackhawk) is because all Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk and Bisley frames are identical. That is, all New Model frames are identical.

As for converting a GP100 to 44 Mag, I once saw a Q&A on David Clement's website where someone asked about this. He will convert one to a 5 shot 41 Mag, but not 44 Mag. I asked him once about the 41 mag and he said it was definitely a handful to shoot. In Bowen's book, he did mention that if you can find an Old Model Blackhawk in .357, it can be converted to 41 Mag and is a very packable gun.