Ruger SR9 impressions

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In the FORUM RIFLES AND CARBINES thread entitled, “Ruger’s new PCC” I posted about my Ruger9 PC Carbine., I was so pleased with it that when I saw that GRABAGUN had a full size 9mm pistol that shared the same magazines with it on sale for a low $311, I decided to purchase the pistol. It is an early Ruger designed SR9 and will be used solely for home protection.

This is review of my impressions of the SR9, not a detailed technical commentary.

I made one component replacement before shooting the SR9 for the first time. I replaced the front sight with a HiViz fiber optic sight and blacked out the white dots on the rear sight obviating any negative influence on my front sight focus when I line up a shot.

My first range session with the SR09 was a positive experience from the standpoint of gun handling, mechanical operation and accuracy. Therefore, I do not intend to make any other changes to the stock pistol.

During my familiarization shooting session, I used 17-round magazines and loaded three kinds of ammunition; 221 rounds of S&B 124gr FMJ, 50 rounds of Federal 124gr HST. The SR9 handled all without the pistol suffering a single failure.

When shooting, I stood in an icicles stance. The pistol pulled easily from a DeSantis E-GAT Slide holster. Pistol balance allowed for manageable recovery after recoil. However, I was surprised to find that the recoil was sharper than that of my sub-compact M&P shield.

The SR9 accuracy is good. My hit patterns on targets placed from five to ten yards was fairly tight both doing slow fire and rapid double taps. I attribute this to the SR9 having a longer sight radius than my smaller frame pistols.

Attached are 5, 7 and 10 yard targets.



The SR9 has two noticeable features different from my other pistols; a high rise loaded chamber indicator and a magazine disconnector. Neither feature interfered with my handling of the pistol.

This range session also showed me that if I had purchased the SR9 as an EDC, when loaded with a 17-round magazine it would be too heavy for me to carry as my EDC all day long. But, for the purpose I purchased this pistol (a home protector), its performance at the validated the SR9 as a good choice.

My conclusion is that the SR9 is a decent pistol at a modest price and it fully meets my reason in choosing it.

[LockedBreech]

Good write-up. I remember helping a friend choose the SR9 and his first (and I think only, still) pistol. He wanted a gun with a manual safety and mag safety due to a young child in the home, so that he could stack that with a hidden Gunvault and be reasonably assured the kid couldn't easily access the gun.

We took a few range trips and I remember liking the gun quite a lot. The trigger was slightly heavy but broke clean and the adjustable backstrap was pretty well done for the time. I remember finding the grip rather narrow and comfortable for a 17+1.

He paid $400-450 at the time which I recall thinking was quite reasonable for the quality. The current $300 price range makes them a leader in the sector along with the Smith SD9VE.

Good write-up, thank you.

[JAH 3rd]

I bought a Ruger SR9c when they first came out. I really like everything about the pistol. But at times I had misfires with certain ammo. It's been so long ago, I don't recall the ammo. But that ammo would fire with my other striker-fired pistols. So I cleaned the striker and made sure the striker channel was clean and dry. Still occasional misfires. So I called Ruger and explained the problem. I also mentioned the above observations about ammo and other pistols. So I was sure the problem was pistol related, not ammo. I expected that they would want me to send it in, but no. The customer service person told me to shoot only the ammo that the pistol functioned with. I shoot it occasionally but it's not used for self-defense at all.

[LockedBreech]

I bought a Ruger SR9c when they first came out. I really like everything about the pistol. But at times I had misfires with certain ammo. It's been so long ago, I don't recall the ammo. But that ammo would fire with my other striker-fired pistols. So I cleaned the striker and made sure the striker channel was clean and dry. Still occasional misfires. So I called Ruger and explained the problem. I also mentioned the above observations about ammo and other pistols. So I was sure the problem was pistol related, not ammo. I expected that they would want me to send it in, but no. The customer service person told me to shoot only the ammo that the pistol functioned with. I shoot it occasionally but it's not used for self-defense at all.

That's unacceptable. When did you call? I would call again and ask again as if you've never called before. If they say that again, politely tell them that's unacceptable, and ask them to send a box for it. If they won't, send the pistol along with full disclosure of the problem.

I don't expect a pistol to run reloads or re-manufactures, but I absolutely expect it to function 100% with standard-weight factory-first brass-cased ammo.

[JAH 3rd]

It was a good 3 years ago when I called. Factory ammo was probably Remington and/or Winchester. Since I posted this, I may break out the pistol and take it to the range to record more definitive information about the misfires.