bookfire1238

I'm going to have to think about that one.

CZ2506

Generally, an exposed hammer will let you fire single action. Which may allow for more accurate shooting, depending on the operator.

Jenks

I have always preferred to "cock" a handgun, I can shoot much better that way. When you shoot "double-action" the trigger pull is so much longer. Not carrying concealed, the hammer spur is no problem. As I think back, the only "hammerless" hand gun that I have owned was a High Standard model B.

I also owned a Makarov, my son has it now(the other son has the model B). It is one of the Russian made jobs that has the adjustable rear sight and it is a .380. I would like to have one with fixed sights and in stainless, it would make a great pocket pistol, a poor mans PPK. Actually, the PPK has adjustable sights, at least the ones that I have seen. Am I rambling here?

Back to the SP101. I like the longer sight picture of a 3 inch barrel over shorter ones, so I would not consider the 2.25. I would be carrying openly, so the 4 inch barrel seems better yet, plus it puts a little more weight up front when shooting .357 ammo. Why not just get a GP100? I have never held one of them, but larger guns like a Smith 66 has more grip then I need, I like the smaller grips better. I also like a 5 shot better because the notch is not right over a chamber where the metal is thin. To each his own.

Nomercy448

If you're buing a dedicated CC weapon, then hammerless is nice. If you'll use it for anything else (plinking, hunting, etc), then you'll likely want the hammer.

The ruger hammers are made for shooting. They're not necessarily very big to excessively snag on stuff, but like any hammer, they DO stick out.

The hammerless model is DAO, it doesn't have a single action notch, so it really cannot be fired SA (sometimes I trick my bobbed hammer S&W's by pulling the trigger part way, then hooking the hammer with my thumb to SA cock it, a Ruger spurless will not do that). The springs in the ruger from factory are HEAVY (14lb mainspring), you'll want to replace them no matter which model you get, but in a spurless that I wanted to pleasure shoot a bit, I'd get even lighter than what I'd use in a spurred gun.

One trick: Buy a hammered model, remove the hammer, send the revolver to ruger saying that you tried a bob-job and botched it (or that you dropped it and broke it, but they'll ask for the broken hammer before they warranty it), they'll replace it at your cost. Now you have 2 hammers. Bob one, keep the other for plinking. Takes 5min to change out.

So personally, I'm not a fan of DAO revolvers, would much rather have a spur, since I shoot my guns a LOT for pleasure, and thankfully haven't had to shoot them in defense of my life yet.

8mm/06

Thanks again everyone,

Sounds as if I have a little more thinking to do , but if I take Nomercy448's suggestion I can have the best of both worlds.

Nomercy, ... you say the hammerless Ruger's won't do the single action cocking trick like your S&W's ... is that soley because of the notches in the hammer? So if I buy a model with a hammer, remove the hammer and send it back and have them install one at my cost (no warranty), I'll then have 2 hammers that WILL operate in a single action cock, but then I can bob my own (or have it done) in the configuration I like? That idea sounds perfect.

I think I'll call Ruger and ask them what that charge will be to install another reg hammer at my cost.

First though, I'll buy the hammered model and see just how much the hammer seems to be in my way in CC.

I love this forum. I don't often need to check on things but when I do there are a ton of folks with unique experience different from mine.

Invaluable info here.