I bought a P97 just a couple of weeks ago after shooting one at my local range. I shot the one at the range just as a lark. I'd never shot a Ruger semi-auto and wanted to see how it compared with other pistols I've owned.
I was impressed. So much so that I went out and bought one the next day and now consider it my best/favorite handgun. It has everything that I consider important in a handgun - .45 caliber, reliable, accurate, durable and a good SA trigger. And for $300 after rebate, I don't have to worry about shooting it and fearing that I might scratch or dent it (like I would if I had, say, a Wilson or Kimber or HK).
When I was waiting to buy my P97 at the gunshop counter, I just happened to pickup the new Shooting Timers Autoloaders Buyer's Guide 2001 magazine. Inside there just happened to be an article by Dick Metcalf on the P97. He was very high on the pistol, saying:
"It is also, I will tell you right up front, the most durably accurate service-grade .45 auto I've ever reviewed . . . . It is a damned fine sidearm."
He goes on to offer further praise, but you get the idea. In addition, if you search this board on the Ruger P series, I think you'll find a lot on comments on how reliable and surprisingly accurate they are.
After shooting my new P97, my opinion on the gun remained very positive. I've shot 500 rounds through it with no, zero, zilch problems - no feeding, firing, extracting, ejecting, cycling or locking back failures, not one. I couldn't even say that about the HK USP .45 that I owned. Even the HK gave me some stovepipes and a couple failures to feed or lock back. As for accuracy, again, I have been very impressed with how easily I am able to keep all my shots well within in the black, even during rapid firing. Taking a little more time, I've even gotten off-hand groupings <1 inch (i.e. all shots touching) at 10-15 yards. Although polymer framed, the recoil and muzzle rise are light. The single action trigger still continues to surprise me - a little bit of take up, but it feels very light and breaks crisply and cleanly - especially for the price of the gun.
All in all, I'd say the P97 compares favorably with the HK USP .45 that I had (with the exception that you can't carry the P97 cocked and locked), and the P97 is less than half the price of the HK. Plus, although the P97 looks big, it is surprisingly comfortable. The grip is nice and thin as is the slide, whereas the HK slide was an unwieldy square block of steel that made the pistol uncomfortably top heavy.
One last note, something I didn't know until I read the Shooting Times article is that the design of the P97 is different from that of the P95. To reduce/prevent wear on the polymer frame caused by the slide contacting/slamming into it during cycling, Ruger came up with a new guide rod/spring guide design. The takedown pin/slide lock in the P97 goes through a hole in the guide rod end. The guide rod itself has angled ramps that the barrel lockup lugs fit into. When the gun cycles, the barrel drops down and locks up with the guide rod lugs (the guide rod being held in place by the takedown pin), and the force of the slide retracting is directed to the takedown pin/slide lock - rather than the polymer frame directly. Anyway, according to the article in Shooting Times this is a new design, something the writer called truly innovative, and it is different from the P95 design. Just FYI.
