Why was the PC9 discontinued?

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As a current PC9 owner, I'll have to attest to its accuracy and handiness at SD ranges. I can consistently print 10-15 shot 3-4" groups at 25yds rapid firing. It has a heavy, but crisp trigger. Its actually more of an on/off switch than anything approaching a trigger. What I mean by that is there's no squeeze through, its on/off. That quick, that crisp. You don't squeeze it, you jerk it and you still get great accuracy. But it is heavy as hades. The first time you shoot one you'll swear the safety is on when it isn't. People complain about it but it's that way for a reason. You can shoot it under stress very easily and very well.

I got mine earlier this year used in the local shop for 360.00. I've seen them as recently as March, new at gunshows for 400.00. Bud's was selling them online for about that price at that time too. Not sure what they're going for now.

The idea was of course to sell the PC9-P89/95 and PC4-P91/94 idea to LE, but as others have said it didn't materialize. They were always available to civilians though, but the civilian marketplace probably didn't see the utility either. As for me personally a P89 was my first handgun and I still have it. For SHTF possibilities I like the idea of mag interchangeability between weapons.

I wish Ruger had made one in .45ACP that had mag compatibility with the P90/97/345. I'd have one of those if they did.
 
I have had one now for about 10 years...I like it, and everyone who shoots it likes it. Just about no recoil and you CAN shoot (quote from the Ruger manual) "9mm Luger or .40 Auto ammunition, standard, high velocity, +P or +P+ ammunition manufactured to US industry standards".

It is a pretty accurate carbine, with good ammo (my reloads :) ), I like knocking down bowling pins at 75-100 yards.

With the price of ammo going through the roof, I have been shooting it more often lately.

Only really complaint is it is a little heavy for a carbine and the ergonomics leave a little to be desired.

It has a heavy, but crisp trigger. Its actually more of an on/off switch than anything approaching a trigger.
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Agree with you there, the trigger pull is heavy.

On a side note, my daughter likes it (shes 13), gives her a little more "Bang" than plinking with the .22's and it is sized pretty good for smaller folks.
 
The problem I saw with the PC was that we couldn't give them away. They were expensive and most people who want to shoot a rifle want to shoot one in a rifle caliber. I do know of one town that issued Ruger P-89 pistols, and it was Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, which is an extremely wealthy town. Their officers took no end of abuse from their brothers over that, even though the P-89 is actually a good choice for a police sidearm.

The Remington pump action rifles sell well in some areas. Hunters in Pennsylvania must use a manually operated rifle, so if they want a faster second shot than a bolt gun, it's a lever action or a single shot. Some hunters want the fast second shot and don't trust a semi automatic. They may also want to use a cartridge other than the normal lever action calibers. Of course, this is an issue because they didn't maintain the semi auto properly, but they don't want to hear that.
 
I always wanted a PC9; I understand the concept; having a pistol and a rifle that share the same magazine. But the prices I saw for new ones a few years ago seemed a bit expensive for me. Perfect idea, except for the fact that few law enforcement agencies use Ruger pistols.
 
Also, note that the gun had little "sporting purpose."
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Disagree with you there.

All guns have a sporting purpose.

Also pump action rifles are legal in virtually every state.
 
Probably ordinary pressure 9mm won't be that powerful out of a carbine. OTOH, I know that HiPoints will fire +P, possibly +P+ rounds which does get between .38 Special and .357 Mag, IIRC.
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Sorry about the nit-pick, but standard 9mm is between .38 Special and .357 Magnum in muzzle energy.
 
FWIW, I have a PC9 and I have a lot of fun shooting it. It seems very easy to get on target and keep it there when shooting off hand. I bought it because I have a couple P series handguns that use the same mags. Now I don't know if I'll ever get rid of the PC9. Like my P series handguns, it seems to be very reliable too.
 
too heavy

I came very close to buying a PC9 once but it was about a pound too heavy and $100 too expensive. Maybe if Ruger came up with something different like a 357 SIG or 7.62x25 version they would have been able to compete with the other carbines.
 
All guns have a sporting purpose.

Also pump action rifles are legal in virtually every state.
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The PC9 is not a pump action rifle.

Sorry about the nit-pick, but standard 9mm is between .38 Special and .357 Magnum in muzzle energy.
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From a short barrel. Not the same question.

9mm uses a smaller volume of fast-burning powder to get good performance from a pistol. That's perfect for a pistol round, but it means you gain little from having a long barrel.

.38 special is irrelevant; nobody buys a .38 Special only carbine for anything but CAS or just for the hell of it, and those are replicas of ancient rifles.

.357 has a big case, and its velocity goes up and up with barrel length (within bounds of reason of course). It becomes an acceptable deer hunting round in a carbine.

I can see the value of a PC for home defense, like rantingredneck describes. However, the VAST majority of personal defense situations involve a handgun, so clearly the market for defensive handguns is far greater than the market for pistol-caliber defensive carbines.

Two things could have helped:

1. Price around $399 regular retail -- there's no reason that couldn't have been done with a blowback gun in a plastic stock.
2. Bolt-on adapter compatibility with magazines from the top 5 most popular pistols, one adapter comes with the rifle and additional ones are $50.

Especially as a Californian with somewhat limited options, I am sad to see an American-made defensive carbine go. However, as many times as I contemplated buying one, I never did, and I've bought a lot of other guns since. So it's my fault too.:)
 
I had a PC9 about five years ago. I was accurate, reliable, etc., but not awe-inspiring, even with 30-round mags. I sold it to fund an M4-style AR-15 purchase. I considered that an upgrade, and I don't regret passing the PC9 on down the line.

Recently, when I heard that Ruger had discontinued the PC series, I scuttled plans to get a CMP M1 Carbine and picked up a PC4GR (w/ ghost-ring sights) instead. I took it to the range one time, which was all it took me to relearn that the PC carbines are not much to write home about (at least not to me). Having been exposed to ARs, the PC4 seemed even more underwhelming, and its excess weight really got my attention. I traded it for an SKS and an SMLE, and I was happy to make that deal. Coincidentally, I'm now awaiting the arrival of a CMP M1 Carbine, too. :D
 
Quote:
Also, note that the gun had little "sporting purpose."
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I have a PC9 and like it very much. It makes a hell of a squirrel gun. There are places where a .223 is impractical but a shorter range pistol round is perfect. I can shoot squirrels up in the trees without worrying about rounds coming down in the neighbor's yard a mile away. I hate the stock sights (ghost ring), but have a Bushnell red-dot sight, and with that setup it's dead-nuts accurate up to 50-60 yards. Anything past 75 yards and the bullets start to fall off, though.

I have to admit that my Ruger has become a safe queen over the past couple of years. It's almost too accurate to be much fun at indoor ranges (you really can get bored punching ragged little holes through a 10 ring at 25 yards), and since I got my first AR I haven't used it much. Still, I don't think I'll ever sell the PC9, especially since I only paid $300 for it used about four years ago.
 
Remington pump rifles are excellent and hunters that use them love them.
You can use pointed bullets in the mags and make follow-up shots incredibly fast.

The PC9 felt too heavy to me for such a light round.

miko
 
Man! I never realized what a worthless piece of junk I had until I read all of this. I bought mine brand new a couple of years back for $450 at a gun shop in VA. I guess I paid way too much based on what you guys are saying these things are worth but you know something, I never minded that after taking it out for the first time. I've got the PC9. I think it's a bunch of fun and the kids love to shoot it too. No recoil to speak of, fairly accurate, reliable and ammo cost is reasonable. I always thought it would make a great home defense gun to boot.

May have to dump it now that I've found out the truth. Might just sit it out by the curb with the garbage since no one could possibly want it.
 
LOL

People were asking about why it didn't sell in droves, not whether it was worth the price. It's a neat gun, IMO, though I, like many others apparently, bought a Mini-14 instead. I was just talking about why the gun might not have sold as well as others. Ruger has recently dropped whatever didn't sell well enough (whatever that means) for the price to produce it, to make room for new products like the 14 Target, the 6.8 SPC Ranch Rifle, the Gold Label that apparently does exist now, various CAS revolver variants, etc.
 
well it blows.
i for one would gladly buy one. id pay up to $450 for the ghost ring pc9 model. oh well.

i guess the real reason why i want one has to do with CA law and ammo costs.

1. CA legal
2. cheap ammo
3. very accurate (I was doing about 3" at 75 yards offhand, cheap ammo)
4. sturdy construction
5. hi cap magazines avaialbe if grandfathered
6. can be used on pistol ranges
 
Yeah I know, I was just pokin a little fun.

I think the reason it never sold well is just that it doesn't fit neatly into any of the standard catogories. It's black with a synthetic stock so the wood and blued crowd didn't give it a second look and it's just not got enough "golly, jee whiz factor" for the black rifle crowd. They pretty much adopted the Beretta Storm to put their stamp of approval on. (for a pistol caliber carbine)

I like both of those catagories so I guess that's why I bought one. I do think that if it had been offered in .45 ACP it would have helped sales. Also, if any accessories were available it couldn't have hurt.

I have seen a couple of used ones in the 325 to 350 range.
 
I picked up a used PC9 to compliment my P89. Basically, I love it! Not a long range rifle at all, but at closer ranges, for me, 50 yards or less, I don't think it knows how to miss. I would think that with more practice and tracking ballistics, it would be good for 100 yards, maybe more. Pop in a 30-round mag, and it's a flat out awesome rapid-fire carbine.

As for why it was discontinued, I believe it's simple economics. Very little LE useage, which eliminated it's intended purpose, almost no public exposure due to lack of advertising equals little or no sales. No sales, no need to manufacture them.

Funny though, you look around at the firearm auction/sales websites, there are almost no PC9s available, meaning the demand IS there for them. Too bad Ruger didn't realize that.
 
Not that Remington pump rifle

I don't think the original poster was making fun of the classic Remington pump rifle. He was probably talking about the 7615 Patrol Rifle, which is based on the 870 pump shotgun, but fires .223 via AR-15 magazines.
 
yes! the rifle im referring to is the 870 / ar15 bastardized rifle that is ugly as sin and worse yet, tries to be tacticool.

which remington pump rifle are YOU guys referring to? I wasn't aware that there were others. thanks for the history lesson.
 
yes! the rifle im referring to is the 870 / ar15 bastardized rifle that is ugly as sin and worse yet, tries to be tacticool.
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Yeaah cause nothing says tacticool like checkered walnut:rolleyes: As if the PC series isn't pretending to be a 10-22 for operators, or rather a rifle that mall ninjas trained on the 10-22 can make an easy transition to with little additional training
smsil_7615.jpg



Let me think a 7lb $500 9mm carbine with dubious acuracy and reliability potential with little to no aftermarket support vs a 7lb $550 .223 carbine based on one of the most reliable firearms on the planet that exhibits outstanding accuracy and has vast aftermarket support.

Now remind me which one is retarded!


Like rugers other semiauto centerfire rifles with the PC series you ended up paying $500 for $300 worth of gun.
 
Actually, Krochus, before the current wood-furniture and camo models were introduced, Remington had been marketing them towards LEOs, with pistol grip stocks.
 
Somewhere in my archives is an info sheet from somewhere in the early 90s about an SMG Ruger had in the works. It never went any further that I know of.

Years ago I bought some Ruger stock so I pay some attention to their marketing and sales. It always has been like trying to figure out what the Kremlin was up to during the Cold War. Bill Ruger did some good things back in the old days, but I think as he got older he sponsored some turkeys and made bad calls. The XGI was another, as was the .357 Maximum, his infatuation with single shots and double shotguns, and the P series pistols for LE. His son took over for a short time but that was a nonevent. My admittedly distant take on it is that Bill R. was a lot like Henry Ford--he did some very innovative and good things and built a successful company, then became a built-in headwind.

Last year I talked to the then new interim president, Steve Sanetti, who seems fairly savvy. He thought I was going to ask him a gun-related question, but instead I said, "What the hell happened to my stock dividends?" He blinked, and then responded, "They'll start up again when we make some money."

Can't really fault that. As you note, a number of slow sellers have disappeared, and the QC on the 50th year Flattops and NVs that I have seen is much better.

Still no stock dividends yet, but I am hoping as the stock price has rebounded nicely lately.

Just goes to show that you have to do it all over again every day, and not take your customers or your market lightly.
 
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