Comments on: Ruger SR9: First Impressions

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:02:26 +0000

I recently recieved an SR9 for Christmas from my wife, it is the first handgun I’ve ever owned, but not the first I’ve ever fired/used. I am a veteran of the U.S. Army and was in OIF/OEF 3. I am quite familiar with the Army’s 9mm Beretta and have never been very happy with it. My current job as an armed guard had me qualify and carry a Glock .40cal. I like the Glock for it ease of firing but would much rather carry my SR9 as the grip fits so much better in my hand. Take down was in my opinion much better and safter than trying to take the Glock apart. The high capacity magazine was also an added bonus. Shortly after recieving my SR9 I went to the range and over the next few days went and fired about 300 rounds through it, and did not experience any problems what so ever. I am very pleased with this weapon and would place mine and my wife’s life on its reliability.

By: bear

bear — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:03:11 +0000

bought an sr-9 and lcp on same day. both work great and both have worked great so far. lcp is my back up at work and fits in my vest great. sr-9 felt nice and might take space on off duty work.

so far no complaints and like both just fine. would reccomend to anyone if it fits your hand.

By: Eben

Eben — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:50:28 +0000

I had no plans for getting a new gun OR concealed carry permit until I saw the Ruger SR9 at the Shot Show. The narrow profile and styling reminded me of a Colt Pocket 32 my Dad used to have. I had never seen a double stack magazine hangun that fit my hand before. After that Shot Show viewing, we dreamed up an excuse to buy Ruger SR9 pistols for in-house security at our place of business and protect our key people in transit back and forth from home.
At the range, the SR9 hit plenty accurate with reliable function shot after shot. I expected the trigger to be difficult but it’s not. Even shooting one handed with my left hand and left eye I hit the bulleseye every time at 20 ft.
Right now my SR9 sits in my desk drawer loaded with 17 rounds plus one in the chamber with the safety on. The drawer is locked at night until I get my carry permit. Then it will go back and forth from home to work with me. My Carry Permit Instructor also has an SR9 and his Bianchi Carry Lock holster looked like about the best idea for retention and concealment. By the way, he LOVES his SR9… I’m wondering if TD actually handled an SR9 before writing his review. I absolutely love my SR9 and will recommend it highly!

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:32:45 +0000

My first experience with the SR9 a few days ago was not what I would call a good one. After reading about the problems that some of you were having with the trigger, failure to eject, and stovepipeing, I thought that I would look into these problems before getting one myself. I have a P89 (great gun) and a P95 (KP95DC, super great gun) and wanted to compare the trigger pull of the SR9 to the P95. One of the local gun dealers sells both guns so I decided to compare the two side by side. The trigger pull of the SR9 was not much different then the single action of the P95. After two or three dry-fires with the SR9, I felt something shoot out of the rear of the gun and go up my coat sleeve. It was the “striker status indicator” rod. It broke on the inside where it connects to the striker. The rod is about two inches long. The magazine was in the gun at the time I was doing this. The indicator rod is cheap plastic. This was the dealers display model and never had a live round through it. This was not a good sign and as a result I will not be owning a SR9 anytime soon and may wait until the second or third generation of this model before I spend money on one. I am a loyal Ruger fan and I am somewhat concerned. I hope that this is not a trend of things to come. I am looking forward to getting my hands on the new LCP 380. I hope that we will not be referring to the new Ruger guns as “post Bill Ruger Rugers” like pre and post 1964 winchester’s.

The limp wrist is not in my opinion a good excuse for a bad gun design. If you think about it, in a self defense situation one may not have the luxury of a firm locked wrist prior to discharging their gun. I want a gun that I can depend on like my P95. I would not trust my life with the new SR9.

By: Daniel Dolan

Daniel Dolan — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:21:02 +0000

Ruger has to have a polymer frame pistol, although they already have one. The reason is cost of production. You simply can’t compete in the market without one. All the safety features on this new pistol are in response to legislation. Some states already require a magazine disconnect safetyor soon will. The same with the other features, Even Glock couldn’t sell their pistols in some markets without a safety catch. ( yes, there are Glocks with safety catches).
I am a firearms instructor of long experience and I favor magazine disconnnect safeties. I have personnaly witnessed numerous accidents prevented by them and numerous accidents that they could have prevented, had they been installed. There are an astonishing number of negligent discharges, even among trained people. You don’t hear about them because nobody wants that kind of press. i just had my new Ruger SR-9 delivered and i bought it because of it’s safety features. You can’t trust people to always act safely. Having been almost killed a few times, I trust nobody with a loaded gun.

By: Sub-1MOA

Sub-1MOA — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:41:18 +0000

IMHO, the trigger, as delivered, is unacceptable. Disassembled pistol after 100+ rounds, found bore where striker runs was extremely rough. It was wearing a bright spot on the striker, and if you pushed the striker thru its travel, you could feel the roughness. About 10 minutes with a jewelers file and some light polishing with 320 paper yielded a nice smooth finished. Metal doesn’t seem very hard, so if you attept this, go very slowly and remove very little metal.
When you pull the trigger, you can see the cocked indicator move rearward as you pull it thru. I found that there is a metal shim built into the plastic piece that the striker spring pushes against. Mine rides high in this bore, and i found the edge of the shim is square edged, and was trying to dig into the plastic as it passed thru it. Again, 5 minutes with the jewelers file produced a small radius and drag is eliminated.
I removed the roll pin (no easy job) in the striker and inspected the bore, which was finished properly. I coated the bore with a light coat of Rig SS lube as it was virtually dry from the factory, and reassembled it.
If you turn your slide upside down, try pushing the striker to the rear thru it’s travel with a straight blade screwdriver. If yours is not silky smooth, I believe you can benefit from the mods listed above. If you are not mechanically inclined, find a gunsmith to do this for you.
If you think you trigger was acceptable before, wait til you try it after!

Ruger are you listening?? My airsoft pistol has a better trigger than the one you shipped me. This was not rocket science, and should never have left the factory like this.

By: russell hibbs

russell hibbs — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:58:37 +0000

the loaded chamber indicator is useful for checking in the dark. to make sure one is in the chamber.

By: William Davidson

William Davidson — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:04:16 +0000

We just put 200 rounds through an SR9 purchsed for my 27 year old son for CCW purposes. I tried to steer him to a Glock but he researched this pistol and made his decision to go with the SR9.

200 rouds with no malfunction of any kind. The trigger is getting smoother. The gun hit dead nuts on right out of the box. Serial number is in the first 1300 range. Came with Columbia River Knife & Toll folder.

We tested the gun on a day when the outside temperature was six degrees. The gun has been fine up to this point. No jams. The feel is better that any gun I’ve carried in my life. I have been a police officer since 1976. I carry a Beretta 92 daily on duty and a Glock 19 daily off duty. I wish the Ruger was approvable by my department. With the manual safety and magazine safety; it will never be approved on my department.

Conclusion:

My son is well armed.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:05:50 +0000

First impressions:
1) The safety - I like safety, but out of the box on an unfired gun, it was extrememly difficult to operate. If the safety was on and I depressed the trigger, then tried to take the safety off, it would not disengage. A little trouble shooting revealed that the trigger had to be pushed forward with my index finger to get it back to its starting position before the safety would work. The good news s that the safety has loosened up after 100 or so rounds and is now functioning properly.
2) Jams - I had one jam on the first magazine and my girlfriend could not even shoot the gun without jamming it. Now I must come clean and say I am shooting left handed due to a cast on my right arm (yes, I am right handed), so perhaps it is because of my limp wristed shooting style. I know the gf does not hold the gun securely. After holding the gun a little tighter, it seemed to function OK. Once the cast is off, I will give it a more honest assessment.
3) Accuracy - no comment as I was shooting left handed
4) Trigger - different. I’ve never had a striker fired pistol before, so I have no baseline. Considering the purpose of the gun, which in my case is home defense, I find it acceptable.
5) Thoughts - barring the 3 jams which may have been my fault, I like it. The gun feels great and holds lotso bullets, which is why I bought it in the first place. More shooting will ensue….

By: The Unforgiving Minute » On Magazine Safeties

The Unforgiving Minute » On Magazine Safeties — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:39:06 +0000

[...] comment just came in on an old post where no one would see it, but it raises a good point: What’s the angst about a magazine safety? [...]