Need help, Ruger info

JimmyJack

Have a Ruger GP100 Model 1751 , that Im considering listing. In researching it very little can be found. I called Ruger and they are not much help. Its cat. no. KGP 831, Serial No. 176-43xxx, is stainless, 3 inch barrel, adjustable sights, has a grey case with an 03 on it. It is .38 special only. Some people said it is a scarce, maybe rare model, and I have not seen another. If I have Ricci list it, I want to know what I have before I do that, and should I hang on to it rather than sell it? Any help would be appreciated. J

charliemeyer007

cut and pasted

So a friend of mine is a Ruger GP Nut. He was surfing gunbroker a couple weeks ago and came across a GP 100 3" with Adjustable Sights and factory rubber hogue grips. Yes it looks funny but this is where its a good thing... He knows his GP 100's and this was an oddity even for him, so he started to do some checking on this. He called Ruger a couple times to get info on it and was told that it was indeed a limited run for Davidson's, but they would not tell him how limited.

Days later he calls Ruger again to ask a couple more questions and the lady lets it slip "the order for Model 1751's was a Davidson's exclusive in .38 Special, 3" Barrel, Adjustable Sights and Rubber Ruger grips... in the quantity of .... let see here, yea there it is, 20 units total" I'm not 100% convinced that 20 it a solid number as I can't see a manufacture tooling up for 20 Revolvers. But it is a tough item to locate, so who knows?

they claim one was for sale here on GB around Feb/2013

added found this https://www.gunbroker.com/item/842149060

Henry0Reilly

The 1751 appeared a couple of years ago with no fanfare, advertising, announcement, etc. They just started showing up on Gun Broker, dealer's shelves and at Davidson's. The best theory at the time was that it was a security contract (overseas?) cancellation or overrun. There ended up being hundreds that hit the street, all through Davidson's as the distributor. When they first showed up there was a buzz as a 3" GP100 with adjustable sights was considered quite rare but soon it became apparent there were a lot of them flushed into distribution so the "rarity" factor evaporated. The model number (1751) tells you it's a pretty recent variation, coming just before the 1752 and 1753 Wiley Clapp GPs.

Found this on the Ruger forum, emphasis added.

JimmyJack

A lot of old theorys, but no substantiated data. Have not seen more than a half dozen or so listed or recently sold. I wonder why Ruger wont comment on serial numbers or production?

dfletcher

FWIW, at the Ruger Forum the response is that 38 Specials are common and the 357 Magnum version is scarce:

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=283324

JimmyJack

I think that is just backwards?

JimmyJack

I have been researching this for days and can find no decisive current data. I have found that the above comment about .38 specials being abundant in the GP100 is absolutely false. I guess I should hang on to this gun until someone can point me to some solid information.

JimmyJack

A moderator of the Ruger forum stated that he had two 1751 GP100s and he is the only one I can put any faith in? That was several years ago.

hillbille

have you tried contacting Davidsons directly?????

JimmyJack

Yes, They told me that they had no records of my serial number in their archives.

charliemeyer007

Well maybe it was an overrun or a sample/prototype of that order and was sold threw normal retail.

Way back in the 70's a guy bought a Hawkeye pistol in 30 carbine at the local store. I saw it in the store and years later in the guy's house that bought it. I don't think they made many in carbine.

dfletcher

JimmyJack wrote:

I have been researching this for days and can find no decisive current data. I have found that the above comment about .38 specials being abundant in the GP100 is absolutely false. I guess I should hang on to this gun until someone can point me to some solid information.

Hanging on to it would seem the best approach. Rather than selling not knowing for sure.

More info from the Ruger forum, 4 pages worth:

http://rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=171255

"Scarce and hard to find info on" seems an apt description.

I see on other posts comments that "Ruger is making them again" and it makes me wonder if there's a rare first run, and a more common larger run. Happens with Smiths, Shorty 40 for example. There's a 250 Mk version, a 1500 run and an about 600 run.