Ruger P345D, Good, Bad, Ugly?

[Jack19]

I've been out of the shooting sports for awhile and haven't kept up. Lately, I've been looking for an inexpensive .45 and I'm considering the Ruger P345D.

I notice that there were some issues with them three or four years ago. Has Ruger ironed out the problems?

If you have one, I'd like to hear your impressions.

 

[JDGray]

I had one 3 or 4 years ago, and it was a great shooter. Very accurate, very light recoiling 45! The gun was a little chunky for carry, and traded it. They like to run wet, and the trigger will vary model to model, so dryfire one before you buy(with an empty mag inserted, or you'll effup the firing pin block safety) The only downside of the weapon is the mag disconnect design, but it can easily be removed if your state law allows it.

 

[jmr40]

Agree. I had one briefly. It is perfectly fine, Ruger even advises it is OK to do so, to dry fire the gun. But if you do it without an empty mag inserted in the gun it will screw it up royally. And it only takes a few times and you will start getting misfires.

When the first ones came out even Ruger did not realize the potential problem and they had to fix a lot of guns for free. Including mine. Newer guns have a warning about this in the manual. Early guns did not.

I really liked the gun, still do, but this was a deal breaker for me. After Ruger fixed mine I sold it. Even if you buy a brand new gun, you have no guarantee that someone else didn't dry fire the gun before you bought it.

The mag safety can be removed and the problem will go away. I strongly considered that, but decided that for me I'd just buy something else. Too bad, because otherwise I think very highly of the gun.

 

[Kymasabe]

I had one for years, traded it in for a brand new one, all black, with the accessory rail. Never had a problem with either of mine.

 

[JTQ]

I don't believe the P345D is currently in production. The "D" model would be the decocker only version. The current production models are all safety/decocker models.

I believe they have a generally favorable reputation. Many folks do complain about the abundance of safety features.

The grip is slim, and the trigger reach is short. Both are improvements over older P series Rugers. I find it very comfortable in the hand.

 

[maddy345]

Mine was new and had never been dry fired when I got it. THe DA pull was REALLY heavy and one out of every five or so pulls the hammer would drop but the gun would not go off.

I sent it to Ruger twice (they said it was a timing issue) but never managed to get it fixed. I traded it off quickly.

 

[9x19]

Mine has been great. I don't dry fire much since I have a range out back, but like the others said, use an empty mag and you'll have no issues.