The new Ruger GP100: .44 Specialists rejoice! (VIDEO)

Ruger recently kicked off a new offering for their long-running GP100 wheel gun line chambered in the classic .44 Special and Hickok45 has the rundown.

The GP 100, as detailed in the above video, has been around in a bunch of .357/.38 and .327 loadings, but that was about as beefy as it got. Now, some 30 years after its introduction, is being offered in a 5-shot .44 Special with a three-inch barrel.

The once-vaunted .44 Special dates back to before World War I but fell out of favor after Elmer Keith campaigned successfully for his hard-hitting .44 Magnum in the 1950s. With just a few manufacturers marketing new revolvers chambered in the easier handling but still effective .44 Special by the 1990s, the round seemed to be staring into the abyss. Now, with modern self-defense loads (Hornady Critical Defense, Speer Gold Dot, et. al) upping the ante on what the near cult-status round brings to the table, the new Ruger offering will no doubt be popular with .44 Specialists.

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