deputy125, I wish I had a buck for every fixed sight gun that came in my shop with "regulation" issues. Remember, fixed sights are great for a CCW where holster snagging can be an issue and "point shooting" rather than "aim shooting" is the norm. If you are going to aim a revolver, do yourself a favor and buy a gun with adjustable sights. In theory, if a gun is sighted in perfect for me, it should also be sighted in perfect for every other shooter. We all know this is not true. Many shooters get a different sight picture or pull their shots during lock time. This will make a gun shoot different for nearly everyone. Yes, Ruger does have problems with all their handguns with windage regulation because the barrels aren't screwed in for perfect front sight alignment. Ruger is not alone ... I have repaired hundreds of revolvers with cocked sights in about every brand on the market. On an adjustable sight gun, a few clicks of the windage screw will correct all but the grossly off front sight.
When ever you have a revolver that will shoot a host of different loads (velocity and bullet weight), no fixed sight gun can possibly be regulated for elevation POI. The shorter the barrel (shorter sight radius) the more critical the adjustment becomes. Example: Assume a 25 yard target. A 6" GP-100 has about a 8" sight radius. Each .009" of sight movement changes POI by 1 inch @ 25 yds. For a 4" barrel, each .006" (about the thickness of a piece of paper) moves the POI by 1". With a 3" barrel, a mere .004" of sight movement will change POI by 1". As you can see, the barrel must be threaded in perfect for front sight alignment (windage). Short barrels rise more when fired to compound the issues. You can easily see a 6" vertical spread @ 15 yds between a 38 Special load and a 357 mag load in a snubby.
Another huge issue is grips. Most shooters don't understand what happens after you pull the trigger because you can't really see the muzzle move. A good set of grips helps keep the sights on the target AFTER the trigger is pulled. That little fraction of a second between the time you break the sear until the bullet exits the muzzle can allow the muzzle to move quite a bit. So here's the rub: You buy a short barreled gun for concealability then put some big honkin' grips on it so it will shoot better. What have you accomplished? You loose concealability way more with a larger grip than you do with a longer barrel.
My suggestion: buy a snubby with small grips and fixed sights and point shoot (SP-101 comes to mind). Buy a 4" GP-100 with full sized grips and adjustable sights if you really want to hit something.
By the way, I sold the whacked GP in the photo. It shot well but not as good as a 4". The weight difference was 3 ounces. Here's my carry gun when I tote a revolver in my high-ride hip holster.
