Ruger SR9 - Anyone have one?

T

The Famous Grouse

New member
OK, we had some issues with perps getting chased by police into our neighborhood the other night. Suddenly about 11:00 I'm waking up hearing helicopter overhead and a cop car drives by.

So I'm downstairs in the den getting on NextDoor (great site, btw, for info sharing) to find out [beeep] is happening. So I find the details, cops chasing drug perps that ran after a traffic stop, doing yard to yard searches, stay inside.

Suddenly it occurs to me, my weapon is upstairs and I'm downstairs with bad guys running through yards within a block of me. I need to gun up on multiple levels of the house, not just one in the bedroom.

Was looking at the Ruger SR9. Anyone have any reviews on this one?

I would use it as a secondary home defense gun and also it would be nice to have a lower-budget "truck gun" for road trips or whatever. Taking more expensive guns along is more wear/tear than it's worth.

But it has to function and shoot or it's not worth anything. I read some good reviews, but actual owners out there it would be great if you would give me the real story.

I can get one for $329 right now. No tax, no shipping. Based on the reviews, this seems like a good deal for this weapon.

Many thanks.

Grouse
 
I have one and am more than happy with it. Havent had any problems and I am sure it shoots better than I can. I am not a great shot with a pistol. It feels a lot like my 1911.
 
I had one for a couple of years. Sold it only for the seed money to get a 1911. I reloaded for it and a Smith M&P so I shot it quite often. Put a lot of rounds through it.

If you are planning on reloading, let me know, I have an accuracy load for it back at the shop.

It is a lot of pistol for the money. Very good value. I had no problems and no complaints with it.

I put my crimson trace on it for a while. The switch sits a little far forward compared with my M&P, but that probably isn't an issue in your situation.

Jim
 
I had one of the early post recall sr9's and it was a pretty decent sidearm. I did have to send it in to ruger for some warranty work after about 150-200rds though. They had an issue with some of the earlier ones where the front of the barrel hood would get peened from the slide. Mine was very minor compared to others but it also didn't have many rounds through it. That wasn't even the reason I sent it off, one day at the range after a couple of partial mags fired the mag release button locked up solid and would not allow me to drop the mag. Tried cleaning and oiling then cleaning and oiling again and finally got the mag out but the button was gritty as [beeep] so off to ruger for repair.

They replaced basically everything on the pistol except for the slide and frame. I never had any troubles after that but probably only shot another 100rds before selling it to fund other stuff.

other than the warranty issues it ran like a champ with everything I fed it cept for steel case which was a non issue for me. FWIW I like my fnx-9 a whole lot better.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

Midwest, I've looked through a lot of options and the Ruger is seeming really hard to beat for the price. Closest FNH is almost $100 more from prices I can find.

I have read that there were early gen issues with the Ruger, but reviews since the recall have been very positive.

I'm trying not to gold plate this. I need a solid extra defense gun that goes bang and can hit with appropriate accuracy and authority. I know I could spend a ton more money and overkill the situation totally, but realistically there can be no justification for spending over the top on this.

I just want to be able to quickly gun up either upstairs or downstairs so I'm never having to run up or down a flight of stairs to get to a weapon. It really hit me the other night, a holy-cr@p realization that I just went downstairs and turned on lights screaming "Hey, I'm in here," when a couple of meth perps were running around looking for a way to get away from the cops.

The last time I had a little "incident", I was upstairs in bed and a perp tried to break into my garage. So all I had to do was lay my hand on the safe and it was go time. Have to say that it was pretty funny when that perp sh!t himself after he noticed the little red dot on his chest and looked up just in time for me to turn on the trillion watt flashlight. I think he thought his come to Jesus moment had arrived.

Grouse
 
Grouse, you are spot on with the reviews of the rugers and the price on the FNH. Early pre recall did have some issues and a couple slipped through the cracks on a few of the very early post-recal which is what I had. All in all the sr9 is a very good pistol and the one I had ran 100% flawless with any brass cased ammo. I tried some WPA steel stuff just for some cheap plinking ammo but after 5 or so rounds and all failures I never tried any other steel in it. blazer, magtech, fed, or rem ammo were all good. Im not a top shot with a pistol but I would definitely consider it up to par for a SD application.

One thing I will point out, when I called ruger for the warranty return process about the peening they had question if I was running any +p/+p+ and IIRC 147gr which I was not. I run 115gr fmj/hp. Something about +p stuff in 147gr could cause the peening issue I had.

Maybe they have addressed that issue since I had mine or maybe it was just the tech I talked to but im not sure. Might be worth a call to ruger if you were planning on running that type of ammo.

At the price point you can get one, I would say the sr9 will suit your fancy well.

BTW is it stainless or blued, full size or compact?
 
I also have an SR9. Wouldn't let it go. It is more accurate than I am have never had a feed problem ([beeep] I have never fed it any steel or alum ammo).
I do have a story of an instance that happened to me while shooting some older reloads that I loaded with a Lee progressive. Had gone through about 50 rds or so when I had what I thought was a misfire. I ejected it and went to fire the next round. Seemed like a little heavier recoil and it did not load another round. Upon checking I was unable to manually eject the fired casing. The gun was completely jammed.
After making the gun as safe as possible I checked the bore and could see the expended case. I then decided to check the ammo I was shooting. Only had about 15 rds left so I decided to pull the bullets and look for over chg. I was pretty shook up wheni discovered 2 rounds with no charge at all (SQUIBS)!!!
I think what happened was that I had not had a misfire but had a squib, and had fired a live round with a bullet already lodged in the barrel. Now I have seen several pictures of handguns that this had happened to with disastrous results to both gun and shooters hands.
The SR9 held together and saved my hand from injury. I know there a lot of variables to account for here, but I think it says a lot for both quality and strength of the SR9. Also I am not blaming Lee for this as it is my responsibilty to check the chg in every reload, but I did purchase a new progressive(Hornady) the next week.
IMHO you cannot go wrong with an SR9.
 
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I dont have an SR-9 but a buddy did and he loved it till some meth head broke his pickup window out one nite and stole it out of his center counsel. I have an LC-9 and have shot tons of rounds through it, and will never part with it.
 
Not answering the original question since I've never owned one, but guess how many people i pulled out of other peoples garages/houses/etc who ran from stops and arrests. I had a knack for finding other cops runners. Hint, its well into the double digits.


Fwiw my preference for sd pistols is glock.
 
I have had one for a few years. It runs as smooth as anything I own. Great gun (especially for the money), buy one and never look back!
 
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