Ruger American 9MM

W

WVMountaineer

New member
Has anyone bought one of these pistols? I have been looking around for another 9MM and waned to know thoughts on these guns by their owners. I handled another today and it had a good feel to it as it had the medium grip installed. Does the frame get into your thumb being as it is so wide? I'm basically just looking to see what you think of the gun. I can pick this one up for $399. God Bless
 
I don't own one but did rent one at Shooter's World in Phoenix. I liked it, it functioned perfectly and had a nice, solid feel, a bit heavier than other polymers. Definitely gave the impression of being an improvement on the SR series. I recall good accuracy.

Trigger was similar to Glock, maybe a little smoother and I don't recall the trigger lever in the middle being an issue as it is for me with .40 Glocks.

Didn't notice any problems with the grip. Good feel.
 
I liked it a lot more than the other Ruger semi-autos. With the small grip option it fit my hand very well. Better than the other full size guns I have shot.
I'm waiting to see if they release some sort of compact version and how they hold up for a year or so as it is a new design.
It uses a chasis just like the Sig modular designs(Shown in this video at 6 minutes). I haven't seen that fact advertised much of anywhere.

No one seems to own one, be interested in owning one, or know anyone who owns one. Ruger doesn't seem to be interested in putting much into marketing. It was designed to meet "MHS requirements", but they did not submit. US DOD purchase programs may be a convoluted political mess, but most foreign militaries are worse. That tells me they won't be looking at military contracts. I'm not sure they want to get into US LE contracts. They are way behind in that game.

I would not be surprised if this ends up a collector item after a short production life span.
 
Last edited:
No one seems to own one, be interested in owning one, or know anyone who owns one.
Click to expand...

Agreed. After the recent flurry of new double-stack polymer striker-fired pistols (PPQ, VP9, P320) these past few years, interest in the new Ruger just isn't there.
 
I have shot them and looked at them in depth at one point, was even offered one. I passed.

The trigger is way too complex with way too many small and fragile parts for my liking. There are a lot of really good striker and hammer fired polymer framed pistols on the market that will be better long term. That pains me, as I actually own stock in Ruger, and I think they hit a homerun with the Ruger American action, models and the RPR offshoot of that action.
 
The trigger is way too complex with way too many small and fragile parts for my liking.
Click to expand...
Due to the chasis system?
Due to the trigger safety?
I've not been able to take one apart in person and giving a good look over, so I am genuinely curious.
I know the first one I fired had a trigger that gave two other shooters problems. I had to force it to malfunction, but they had consistent problems. It was a very early gun so it didn't worry me much.
 
Fishbed77 said:
After the recent flurry of new double-stack polymer striker-fired pistols (PPQ, VP9, P320) these past few years, interest in the new Ruger just isn't there.
Click to expand...
Yup, regardless of its attributes, the American is all too easy to pigeonhole as a "Me Too" product.

In addition:
  • Thanks to consecutive panic-buying frenzies, seemingly everyone who wants a 13-17rd striker-fired poly-frame 9mm already has 3 of them;
  • Ruger's reputation for using early-production auto pistol buyers as beta testers;
  • Ruger's reputation for making reliable and inexpensive but cheaply-finished and unexciting full-sized centerfire autos (instead of "wow, it's an all-new SIG!" it's "meh, it's just a Ruger").
All of the action at my local LGS's right now is in subcompacts. If Ruger had instead released the LC45s, the dealers wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.
 
I have one and am really happy with it. Reliable and accurate so far. Solidly built. As mentioned before, the trigger pack is similar to the the one on the Sig P320, but has a few small pieces that can shift to the wrong position when you remove it if you're not careful. I would give it a solid 8.5 out of 10.
 
I have such a mental block when it comes to the safety features and warning billboards on Ruger pistols that the design is lost. Ruger seems to be so involved in glitzy levers to stick up from the top or out the side, they should take the warning sign engineers and see if for once they can design a unique pistol without signs, levers and warning bells. If they ever do i will be in line to buy one.
Like Rugers other center fire pistols (full size) they are too bland and much too late so there is a very small market left for them
Ruger struck it big with their American rim and center fire rifles...every one i know that has one says "tackdriver", my 300 Blackout and .22 certainly are. Why they cannot develop a decent full size pistol is beyond me. The rifles, unlike the semi auto pistols have been engineered to compete heavily in a known market.
 
I shot the "Pro" model and was pleasantly surprised. I don't think it is going to be the "Glock-killer" that every gun manufacturer in existence has been trying to build; but I think it will do well with Ruger's traditional handgun market (budget-minded Americans) and it is a solid value.

I've got to say though, the Pro I tried had one of the lightest triggers I've seen on a factory production pistol.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=571727
 
Love the look of the Ruger American Pistol, but I fondled one at a gun shop and was very disappointed in the trigger, very heavy with a real long reset.
 
I have a Pro version here, and 5,000 rounds of Black Hills 115 FMJ to run through it for a short endurance run.
Start with 4 or 5 JHPs of various 9mm brands for out-of-box accuracy, fire the 5000, repeat the accuracy tests at the end.
Denis
 
Has anyone changed the grip modules very much? I'm wondering if anyone has had any issues with the change. I did on the one I was bale to shoot, but I think it may have been buggered up before I touched it.
 
I really like my Pro model. With the medium and large grips I was getting my thumb smacked by the frame but that went away with the small grip which fits me best anyway
 
My take is a little different than many. I really like the SR series, especially the 9 and 9c. Compared to the SR series it just doesn't excite me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top