There Is No Better 45, Than a Ruger P Series 45

[Claude Clay]

it works
its inexpensive
if it fits your hand, lifestyle and
you can shoot it well...

than for you it is good

--->and speaking of good...thank goodness there are other
makes & models to choose from

 

[silicosys4]

Had a ruger p series, and my experiences weren't good. In my case the gun would fire with the safety engaged. You'd put the gun on safe and pull the trigger, the first few times were as normal with no engagement....then the next few pulls you'd feel the trigger start to catch...then the next pull would engage and make the hammer fall, then from there it was as if it wasn't even on safe, full trigger engagement and hammer movement, firing pin strike....spooky to watch.

That was enough to turn me off to the design
I'd strongly disagree with the thread title for various reasons, that being a good part of it.

If I'm going to look at the best pistol in terms of reliability, cost, and ease of use, I'd look at what police are carrying, and afaik, the ruger p series didn't make a good impression on LE.

Edit: I never actually checked with a live round to see if the gun would fire on safe, but the hammer would definitely fall.

 

[weblance]

Had a ruger p series, and my experiences weren't good. In my case the gun would fire with the safety engaged. You'd put the gun on safe and pull the trigger, the first few times were as normal with no engagement....then the next few pulls you'd feel the trigger start to catch...then the next pull would engage and make the hammer fall, then from there it was as if it wasn't even on safe, full trigger engagement and hammer movement, firing pin strike....spooky to watch.

How can this even be possible? When the safety is engaged, the firing pin is pulled into the slide so the hammer CANT strike it, and the trigger is completely disconnected from the hammer. There is no way that the gun can fire with the safety on, at least with my P95s. My earlier pistols are Decockers, but Im pretty sure the safety system is the same on those.

 

[silicosys4]

Good question. It was a p89. I never tried it with a live cartridge so I can't say for sure that it would have gone off, but watching the hammer all of the sudden start cocking and falling after a few trigger pulls while on safe was enough to leave me with an intense desire to get rid of it and not look back.

Probably just a fluke but so far it has been the only major safety issue I've experienced with a firearm, and it left an impression.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

God bless the OP, but I despise those P-series guns!:banghead: My dad really liked them, and had several, but I thought the ergonomics really sucked. The P-95 part particularly egregious; it was bristling with levers and protuberances that that jabbed and stuck the user. I will say the gun was as reliable as death and taxes but it carried like a 2x4...maybe even worse than a Glock.

That said, I kind of wish I had one of Dad's old ones. He loved them so it would be a nice memento. At the time he passed away he no longer had them- Dad practiced "serial monogamy" when it came to guns! It was a joke between us that a family heirloom was any gun he had long enough that it needed to be dusted or cleaned.

 

[45_auto]

When you look at used 45 pistol prices, there is nothing that compares in accuracy, construction, and reliability.

Kind of like saying that there's nothing that compares to a used Yugo in speed, construction, and reliability.

It's a true statement, but why would you want the bottom of the barrel?

You can't find a used Glock, S&W, Sig, etc on the used gun shelves around here, but the shelves are filled with used Ruger P-series guns that they can't give away.

There's a reason that 96.1% of the competitors at the 2012 IDPA Nationals disagreed with your choice of manufacturer (100% disagreed with your choice of a P-series).

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Quote

... The P-95 part particularly egregious; it was bristling with levers and protuberances that that jabbed and stuck the user. I will say the gun was as reliable as death and taxes but it carried like a 2x4...maybe even worse than a Glock.

I always felt the same way, and considered the P95 to be particularly blocky/bulky. Until I did an actual comparison of the P95 to the Glock 17, side by side, and found that the Ruger was smaller in a number of dimensions (or so I thought, at the time -- I have neither at the moment.)

Part of the P-series "problem" was aesthetics: they just weren't pretty and didn't look "gun-like" in ways that many folks expected. But they did gun-like things in a very competent manner.

The newer SR-series guns have come a long way in that respect, and I think Ruger must have spent extra time and money getting the "look" right. I know that the SR9 I own is a big step forward in that regard.

 

[HKGuns]

As well built as most rugers are, all da/sa decockers are inherently flawed. That system is pointlessly complex for use under stress in a deadly situation.

Wrong. Perhaps for you they are too complicated. Best you stick with your gLoCk's.

I agree the Ruger's are nice pistols and most of Ruger's products are reliable and well made.

It is not, however, anywhere close to being the best .45 available.

 

[malakili]

Wrong. Perhaps for you they are too complicated. Best you stick with your gLoCk's.

I will, sir, thank you.

Perhaps I should have been a bit clearer. Sa/da pistols with slide mounted decocker/safeties, in my opinion, add pointless complexity with no real advantage, no matter how well made the pistol is. In a deadly situation requiring immediate accurate fire, I, personally, would rather simply draw, aim, and fire several shots with a consistent trigger pull. I'm not sure how it helps me to have to draw, thrust my thumb skyward to disengage the thumb safety, then try to fire multiple accurate shots with a trigger pull weight that immediately changes, all of this while filled with stress, fear, and adrenaline.

I understand the concept that training and experience with the particular handgun will mitigate all of that, I just don't see why it's worth the effort. Even if you're using the world's best pistol, which is apparently a .45 caliber Ruger P-series.

Someone asked me if I could come up with particular real world incidents where someone lost a fight due to having a decocker pistol, and honestly I can't off the top of my head, though I have read of instances in U.S. military training where guys would accidently activate the slide-mounted safety on their M9s while practicing immediate action drills. That would suck in a fight.

 

[weblance]

I understand the issues with a DA first shot, and then SA shots after that... But why would you have a DA pistol, with the hammer down(the purpose of the decocker) and the safety ON? That makes no sense what so ever. The P series pistols, that have a manual safety, the safety is also a decocker, so after the decock, you flip the safety up and carry with the hammer down.

 

[huntershooter]

A rather broad and subjective statement.
glad it works for you.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Sa/da pistols with slide mounted decocker/safeties, in my opinion, add pointless complexity with no real advantage, no matter how well made the pistol is. In a deadly situation requiring immediate accurate fire, I, personally, would rather simply draw, aim, and fire several shots with a consistent trigger pull. I'm not sure how it helps me to have to draw, thrust my thumb skyward to disengage the thumb safety, then try to fire multiple accurate shots with a trigger pull weight that immediately changes, all of this while filled with stress, fear, and adrenaline.

I don't like two different trigger pulls, either... but focusing on the trigger pull is a good skill to develop whether you're firing a DA/SA gun or a striker-fired gun... Stress and fear doesn't make that skill less critical. The same can be said of AIMING.

That said, I can't think of anyone who shoots competitively or who carries a DA/SA decocker-equipped gun who also starts out with the safety engaged. Fact is, many of the more popular decocker-equipped DA/SA guns don't have safeties. More importantly, nearly all such guns are equipped with a firing pin block and the first shot takes a longer trigger pull for the first shot; I'd argue that a person using a DA/SA weapon starting from hammer down is less likely to squeeze one off by accident (negligently) than someone using a typical striker-fired weapon.

I can't think of a single good reason to carry a modern (safety-equipped) DA/SA gun with the safety engaged if the hammer is down!

 

[bc1023]

This thread was entertaining on the other forum as well.

The OP needs to expand his horizons a bit before jumping to conclusions. I bought my P90 for under $300 and for the money, its very good. For the money, that is...

 

[malakili]

Carrying with hammer down and safety off is a good option, but with murphy's law i'd be paranoid about the safety being engaged by accident somewhere along the line, and not finding that out until the draw.

Decockers with no manual safety such as the sig i would definitely have less of a problem with.

 

[schmeky]

As well built as most rugers are, all da/sa decockers are inherently flawed. That system is pointlessly complex for use under stress in a deadly situation. Simpler setups such as glocks, xds, m&ps or revolvers make far more sense.

I can't believe anyone would post such a comment . . . . .

 

[malakili]

I can't believe anyone would post such a comment . . . . .

With the massive and overwhelming popularity of non-sa/da platforms among both civilian and law enforcement, I don't think my opinion is all that uncommon.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

But why would you have a DA pistol, with the hammer down(the purpose of the decocker) and the safety ON? That makes no sense what so ever.

I agree. That's why on the 8th day, God created Sig.

And since the OP was voting for his opinion of the best .45 auto handgun available, I'll vote for mine. I assume after my first comment it will come as no surprise that my personal favorite and IMO the best out there is a P220.

malakili, I agree that decockers on pistols that also have a manual safety is a flawed system and has the potential for a screw up at the worst possible time.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

With the massive and overwhelming popularity of non-sa/da platforms among both civilian and law enforcement, I don't think my opinion is all that uncommon.

Opinions are like... oh well, you know the argument: everybody's got one.

Can you provide verifiable statistics to back your assertion about the "overwhelming popularity of non-DA/SA platforms among both civilians and law enforcement?"

While Glocks have been popular with the LEO community, I never saw data that showed that police departments or state agencies were dominated by the Glock brand. Many of the agencies I've been around (in this state and elsewhere) used Berettas and SIGs as well as Glocks.

The U.S. military sure hasn't fallen all over itself in a rush to use non-DA/SA guns. As best I can tell, the DoD has bought more BERETTA handguns over the past 15-20 years than all of the weapons purchased by local and state LE agencies combined. I don't know about civilian handgun sales totals, but they'd have to be substantial to offset the DoD's purchase of Berettas and SIGs alone.

The last figure I saw said there were about 750,000 (sworn) LEOs in the U.S., and most departments don't replace weapons frequently. (Every 4-5 years?)

That being the case, and if Glock has 60%-65% of the total, a figure I've seen, it's still not that much of the total, and that total is still not CLOSE to the total number of Berettas sold to the U.S. government since the end of the Vietnam era.

Glocks are good guns -- I have several -- but it's easy to be overwhelmed by Glock's very effective marketing efforts. Since 2009, the U.S. DoD has purchased an additional 600,000 or so M9's, along with other DA/SA and SA weapons. The original purchases prior to that also totalled about a half million guns. the most recent DoD purchase was in 2012. The total number of Berettas purchased by the DoD must now be well over 1.2 million. (They also bought some for the Afghan Army, not included in theses totals.)

 

[Potatohead]

My idjit son in law pawned his inherited grandfathers P90.
Did not find out in time.
Not gonna say what I'd like to do to him!!!

He sounds like a winner

 

[JR47]

I own a KP90 Ruger, with an honest to goodness safety/decocker. I use the lever, which is quite inconspicuous, to lower the hammer, but then, the gun goes back to fire. Only the earliest P95 guns had a safety option. Most were decocker variants, which automatically return to fire position after decocking. My KP97 is also a DC variant, as I think that they all were. Once again, you cannot have them "somehow" go to safe, as there is NO safe position. My P345 is similarly, a DC gun, as well.

Making sweeping statements drew criticism for the OP, it should do the same for the incorrect statements made about decocker levers vs. safeties.

I also own an SR45. It's great gun, but, to me, striker-fired guns stink of cheap. Most of the early cheap pistols were striker-fired, and everyone was always cautioned about carrying them with a round in the chamber.

Anyone care to comment on the claim that the P95 was full of levers and lumps? Mine came with ambidextrous levers, very small ones, and a slide lock lever. Even Glock has a slide lock lever. Where do these people get their information from?

The man likes his Rugers. He's NO different than those who espouse Glock, HK, Sig, or S&W. ANY gun can have problems, but, instead of making blanket statements of "I wouldn't own another", try having it repaired. Or does that make too much sense?

 

[Arkansas Paul]

While Glocks have been popular with the LEO community, I never saw data that showed that police departments or state agencies were dominated by the Glock brand.

Glock claims that 65% of police officers nation wide carry Glock handguns.
Now that is coming from Glock, so I'm not sure of its accuracy.

I know every single law officer I've seen in the last several years in the state of Arkansas have been carrying Glocks. That's not to say its the same everywhere.
I do know that some agencies are using Smith & Wesson M&P handguns, but that is a striker fired gun too, much like a Glock so it doesn't really help the argument.

 

[mavracer]

Glock claims that 65% of police officers nation wide carry Glock handguns.
Now that is coming from Glock, so I'm not sure of its accuracy.

That's what they try to get you to believe, if you read the fine print it's 65% of police are approved for carrying Glocks. So if a rural PD allows you to carry anything they count it even if none of the officers carry a Glock.

The P series Rugers are as reliable as a hammer but they are crude. There are many better 45s.

 

[weblance]

The P series Rugers are as reliable as a hammer but they are crude. There are many better 45s.

No one has given any evidence that their Sig, Glock, XD, M&P or whatever, is better in any way. Are they more reliable? NO. Are they more accurate? NO. Were they cheaper to purchase? NO. Are they better built? NO. Many people dont like the look of the P series. does that make a pistol you do like the looks of, a better pistol? The only advantage I see, could be capacity.

 

[TarDevil]

With the massive and overwhelming popularity of non-sa/da platforms among both civilian and law enforcement, I don't think my opinion is all that uncommon.

And in America, the home of free speech...

 

[mk70ss]

Uh, yes there is. Several in fact. No slam on the Ruger, but there are better.