Another Glock Clone – The Ruger SR9
November 27th, 2008 by Syd
Yawn. I’m proud of Ruger for trying to build some self-defense guns. (I wish they’d build a lightweight snubby, but they don’t seem to care about developing new revolvers.) Anyway, back to the SR9: it does vary from the Glock and XD in that it has a “1911-like” manual safety. Woo-hoo. I think it looks a little better than the Glock, but the funny thing is, I never see all that stuff when I’m firing the gun.
I have a plastic Glock-clone, a Springfield Armory XD-9 Tactical. and I like it well enough. I’d shoot it more if I could get it away from my son who really digs it. Still, I have a hard time getting excited about these plastic guns: the Glock, S&W M&P, the Kimber Whatever-you-call-it, this Ruger, the Taurus Whatever-you-call-it – the list goes on. Of course, I’m a stupid Luddite stick in the mud with my 1911’s and snubbies, but they keep on working for me so I keep on liking them.
But I digress. The SR9 has already been through one safety recall. Apparently, it would go off if dropped in just the right way, placing it in good company with some of the world’s great guns. The moral of that story is, don’t drop your gun. Ruger did the same thing with their .380 LCP pocket gun. “Abundance of caution,” don’t ya’ know. (Guys, how about doing a drop test BEFORE you release the new product?)
I haven’t fired one of these, and I probably shouldn’t be writing about it, but it’s a slow night, and it’s this or the terror attacks in Mumbai. I’d rather write about guns. From what I hear, the trigger is mediocre to crappy, and you can damage the firing mechanism if you dry-fire the gun without a magazine in it. (That’s pretty weird.) My 1911’s don’t give a damn about whether there’s a magazine in them for dry-firing. The snubbies want to know, what’s a magazine?
Ruger has priced these guns very competitively, and if you don’t mind a crunchy trigger, this could be an option. Were I buying one of these, I think I’d go first for the pocket .380, the LCP. Nevertheless, the SR9 represents the current trend in personal defense handguns as interpreted by Ruger. I like Ruger guns, but I doubt that this one will be joining my armory anytime soon.
The Firearm Blog has a detailed review with bunches of user comments. If you want to get a sense of this pistol, this page is a good place to start.
Those snubbies are always rocking the boat.
I looked at one and didn’t care for it. If I’m going to buy a DAO pistol in the fashion of a Glock (spitting here) I wouldn’t buy one with a thumb safety. As for my opinion about Glocks, I’ve developed that opinion after extended use and observation.
I had a Kahr P45 for a while and didn’t like it. I finally traded it off on a S&W M&P compact. My M&P has no thumb safety, mag safety nor built-in Brady lock. I’m still practicing with it to get more familiar before carrying it.
The S&W beats the Glock and Kahr hands down. It has an easy take-down needing no tools. It can be field stripped in seconds if need be and so far with 300 rounds through mine, I’ve had no FTF or FTEs. To boot, the sights match POA and POI for me.
This will be my fourth S&W after a M19, M13 and M442.
The pre-recall triggers could be cleaned up and made dang nice. That is, if you don’t mind the internal SPROING feel of a striker fired pistol. The new triggers have that same thingy on ‘em like the Glock’s and XD’s. The safety recall was a little overkill, imho, because it still couldn’t fire if the safety was engaged. Hadn’t heard about dry-firing without the magazine…
It’s very slim, and much prettier than a Glock. Being a Ruger, I’m sure it’s insanely tough. I’d consider one to supplement my 1911 or keep on hand for an end-of-the-world gun or just to make the incoming administration mad about my magazine capacity. Except the Glock 17 has been around a whole lot longer, anybody can work on ‘em, and spare parts are everywhere.
Ah, the hell with it. I’ll stick with my 1911 after all… LOL.