P89 safety

[tote4570]

I have a "special edition" Ruger p89. There is nothing wrong with the gun but I was wondering if there is a way to tighten up the safety? It functions fine but there is a slight bit of wiggle.
Also, I have read that it is worth it to upgrade the recoil spring and the hammer spring. If I do, should I go heavier or lighter withe the springs?

 

[JohnKSa]

I suppose it's possible, but I know of no simple way to do it. Every one I've ever handled is noticeably looser on one side than the other.

If you've ever taken the P89 apart, you'll find that only one of the safety levers is really operating the internals, the lever on the other side is a loose fit and all it does is actuate the main lever.

Also, I have read that it is worth it to upgrade the recoil spring and the hammer spring. If I do, should I go heavier or lighter with the springs?

I'd leave the recoil spring and hammer spring alone. If you want to do something relatively simple that will make a noticeable improvement with very little chance of negative repercussions, replace the original trigger with a factory trigger from a Ruger P95. It can require some fitting, but usually it's a drop-in. The different trigger shape gives the shooter more leverage, a shorter trigger reach and less overtravel. It makes the gun a lot more shootable.

Here's a picture of a P89 with a P95 trigger.

 

[g.willikers]

Yes, don't mess with the gun design without a good reason, and plenty of know how.
Especially if the gun is working good.
The springs are part of the overall design.
They all work together, not independently.

 

[Mac's!]

I have several Ruger P-89's and love them all. I carried one as my primary duty weapon for a lot of years when I worked in uniform for law enforcement. Yeah, I had bigger calibers, more expensive pistols, less clunky pistols, etc. but none more reliable than my old Ruger P-89.

The only big changes that I made to mine were a set of nite sites, better grips, our Tuff-Gun finish, a slightly heavier recoil spring and tightened up the safety levers some. All of mine fired any type of ammo that I fed them, even low powered range ammo. I bought a set of heavier recoil springs (Wolff) and went to the range. Duty type high powered ammo took one grade of spring and low powered range ammo took another grade...sorry, I don't remember what grade they were. The idea was to keep increasing the spring power a pound at a time up from factory until I had a jam, then decrease it by two pounds. It stayed very reliable but follow up shots were more accurate due to the recoil being spread out more.

The loose saftey/decocker drove me crazy. It wasn't loose in that it would flip itself from one to the other or cause any type of mechanical problems but just wiggled. It is possible to tighten it up but it required a little work. First, I refinished the slide with our Tuff-Gun finish. I made sure that it was applied inside the saftey/decocker bore inside the slide. Then I polished off the excess inside that bore. The idea was to fill in the scratches, grooves, etc...all of the imperfections in that area. I also coated the safety levers but wasn't concerned about getting the internal areas of them finished perfectly....just the exterior surfaces for appearances. Some Dremel work to clean off the inside area....the parts of the safety/decockers that actually stick inside the slide...and they were ready for the next stage: Nickel plating.

The Tuff-Gun finish is unaffected by the Nickel plating solution so only the bare metal parts were plated. I wanted the exterior to be "discrete". Only the internal barrel parts of the safety/decockers were plated. It all reassembled nicely and was quite a bit snugger than before.

Overall, I like my P-89's and would bet my life on them any day. I had been carrying one for a while as a duty weapon when my wife shot it for the first time. She wouldn't give it back to me! "But honey. It's my duty weapon. I need it for work!" I had to promise to get her one. Keep yer powder dry, Mac.
Tuff-Gun Finishes. The Name Says It All.
Mac's Shootin' Irons
http://www.shootiniron.com