So, I bought an SR9! I have been wanting an semi-automatic handgun for years but never bit the bullet, so to speak. I wasn't really caught up in the Obama gun buying craze, but I did use it as an excuse to convince my wife into letting me buy one. She is great by the way!

Background:

I am a rifle guy, but that doesn't mean that I am a handgun idiot! I have owned several revolvers over the years and they have been a lot of fun and accurate as well. There's an oxymoron for you. Handgun and accuracy! Having always been a rifle fanatic and benchrest shooter, I have certain expectations of accuracy. And handguns never lived up to these expectations! Now before some of you go cutting me down, I am talking true carry handguns, not scoped benchrest guns that can be made to shoot very accurate. I am not going to carry one of those on my side or in my pocket!

Now, back to the SR9 ... kind of. A little bit of history first. Several years ago, a friend approached me asking for advice on what semi-auto to get. From the tidbits that I had picked up over the years, my first response was "Get a Glock!". They are fairly accurate (as far as striker pistols go) and ultra reliable. So off to Cabelas we went to look. First stop: Glock 17! He was impressed, but didn't have anything to compare it to. After handling it for a few minutes, the salesman handed him a Springfield XD .40 S&W. "Ohh," he said slowly to my dismay. "Hey", I thought. "I'm the expert. Put that away and get back to the Glock." He handed it to me as I rolled my eyes. "This feels better than the Glock," he said. I gripped it and pointed it at the deer head hanging on the wall behind the sales counter. Then I did the same thing with the Glock. "Hmm...the XD does fell better. Points better too." I racked the slide. It was buttery smooth. Pulled the trigger. I hate striker triggers, but this felt alright. The pull of the XD seemed to be a little more linear without the buildup or tingy sound at the break.

A little bit of research that night revealed that the XD has a proven track record and is very reliable. It has an added bonus of being sold by an American company. To clarify, SOLD, not MADE. The hand gun is actually imported by Springfield from Croatia. Better, I thought, than a total foreign company. My friend later bought that same .40 S&W XD and has had no problems since.

Fast forward to late 2007 and Ruger's release of the SR9. I have always been intrigued by new technology. I am a sucker for the latest and greatest! But I never like to jump on board with bleeding edge technology. A little bit of time usually helps to get the bugs ironed out. And sure enough, spring of 2008 had Ruger announcing a recall and a trigger redesign.

Now, I have to pause and put things into perspective.  I am not affiliated with Ruger in any way. They do not pay me anything.  They do not advertise on this site nor have they ever given me anything. They have never given me a loaner gun to test and I bought my own SR9!  So this formal review will be unlike most of the others.  I can say whatever I want about the gun.  But one thing that I cannot understand is all the negativity surrounding the recall.  You can find comments all over the web like “Don’t buy the SR9, it has/had a recall.”  What???  So it’s a bad thing that Ruger is fixing a problem???  A recall actually gives me a bit of confidence knowing that a manufacture is resolving issues rather than sweeping them under the carpet or pretending they don’t exist.  It is interesting to note that shortly after the recall to fix a problem with the gun firing if dropped, the SR9 was approved for sale in California and Massachusetts. Both of these states have aggressive drop tests which it appears the pre-recall SR9 could not pass.

Before the election, I kept telling my wife that if Obama gets in, I am going to buy a handgun.  I could not sense any resistance from her so I started my ritual research of digesting all the information about different guns that I could find.  I finally narrowed it down to two; the Ruger SR9 and the Springfield XDm.  Now I would like to explain my thought process.  The XD is a fantastic handgun and the XDm looked to be even better.  I wanted a 9mm and at the time that I started seriously looking, Springfield had just released the XDm9.  But they were few and far between.  In November, I finally laid my eyes and hands on the real thing.  It looked and felt great.  And everything on it was very smooth, especially the trigger!  But no one had a demo model that they were willing to let me shoot because they were too busy selling them.  At this point in time, it was apparent that Obama was going to be the next president and all handguns were selling as fast as the dealers could get them in, including the SR9 and XDm.  One local shop had some range guns that I did shoot.  I compared the SR9 to several XD models, but never an XDm.

To help understand my thought process, I have listed what I see as the pros and cons of the different models that I was considering at the time. Please note that these comparisons can be made between the SR9 and any model of gun. I included these models to illustrate the comparisons that I made before deciding what to purchase.

After going back and forth between the SR9 and the XDm, I finally decided to spend the extra money and get the XDm.  The main reason: the trigger! The XDm has a very nice trigger (for a striker) but the SR9's is horrible. It is gritty and has a hard pull!  But about two weeks before Christmas, I stumbled on a piece of information that changed everything. I heard a rumor that Ghost, Inc. may be working on a 3.5 lb Rocket kit for the SR9. A quick call to Arthur at Ghost confirmed the rumor. Hallelujah!  That meant that I could get an SR9, fix the trigger and still save $200 over the XDm9 biotone. A little more research on the web confirmed that Ghost, Inc. is a viable company that makes quality aftermarket triggers for Glock. Arthur was very helpful and seemed very knowledgeable. He spoke very highly of the SR9 and it's engineering.

Finally... I got me an SR9!

So the plan was set.  I wanted to get a post recall model SR9 so I could give a true evaluation of the gun with the kinks worked out.  I was able to take my pick out of two models and I picked the smoothest trigger.  But it was still bad.   I never measured it but it took at least 8 pounds to pull the trigger!   Just go to the store and compare the trigger of an SR9 to an XDm and you will know what I am talking about.  Regardless, Christmas morning came and I was a happy camper caressing the grip of my brand spanking new SR9.  And they all lived happily ever after… right?  Not necessarily.

The first shooting session showed signs of a big problem.  The front of the barrel locking lug (the part that fits into the opening in the slide) had formed a lip.  A few more shots confirmed that the slide was slamming into the lug and was starting to deform (peen) the front of the lug.  I only shot 52 shots that day and upon inspection, the underside of the slide was starting to wear from the raised metal on the barrel.  NOT GOOD!  I had read about others who had experienced this problem with pre-recall models but I had not heard of the problem on any gun since the recall. I assumed that Ruger had fixed the problem. I assumed wrong! I was no longer a happy camper!

This photo shows the peening on the barrel after only 52 shots. Notice the gap between the barrel lug and the slide. According to Ruger customer service, this gap is the source of the problem.

This shows the same area after Ruger fixed the problem. Notice there is no gap between the barrel lug and the slide.

After talking to a customer service representative at Ruger, he said that the tolerances on my gun must have been loose enough to cause a gap between the the lug and slide. As the gun is fired, the slide moves independant of the barrel and slams into lug, causing the deformation of the metal on the lug. Ideally, there should be almost no gap and upon firing, the slide and the barrel should move together until the barrel drops out of the way of the slide.

Got it back!

So, at the request of the Ruger Customer service representative, I sent the gun to them and got it back in about a week.  Ruger paid for shipping both ways! Upon inspection, I found that they had replaced the barrel and slide.  It was also apparent that they had worked the rest of the gun over as well.  The trigger was noticeably smoother and lighter. "Cool," I thought. "I can live with this!"

Speaking of the trigger, before I sent the gun back to Ruger, I handed it over to my 12 year old son to try out. Now before anyone goes all Hillary on me, my son has passed all hunter safety programs and is of legal hunting age. He is very familiar with guns and was supervised during the entire process with me by his side. His first shot was very interesting. I had him dry fire the gun at the target first so he could get a feel for the gun. He pointed the gun at the target, took the safety off and just waited. He then brings the gun down and examines it with a puzzled look on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Which way do I have to flip the safety to shoot it?" was his response. I explained that the trigger was just hard to pull and that he just needed to pull harder. He did so and his hands were physically shaking from the exertion it took to pull the trigger. Now my son is of average build and strength for a 12 year old so strength was not the issue. The trigger was simply that bad! And this was the gun with the better trigger out of the two I choose from at the gun shop! To me, this is absolutely unacceptable. But on the bright side, once the gun was worked over by Ruger and I let my son shoot it again, the first observation he made was, "Wow, the trigger is a lot better!" Kudos to Ruger for fixing the trigger but shame on them for having released such a horrendous trigger in the first place. For this reason, I am really looking forward to getting my hands on one of Ghost's Rocket kits as soon as they are available!!!

After putting another 150 rounds through gun, it shows no signs of barrel peening.  I am confident that this problem is fixed.  The gun shoots and feels good and the trigger is drastically better. Here are a couple shots of my oldest son shooting the gun.

The gun does point and shoot well. It is just my assumption, but I think the Ruger engineers threw a Glock 17 and a 1911 in a pot, stirred and pulled out the SR9. The mechanics of the gun are all Glock. However, the rounded slide, ergonomics, manual safety and checkering on the grip resemble a 1911.

Things that I like:

• Not a lot of muzzle flip. It really is a pleasure to shoot!
• Feels amazingly slim while being able to load 17 rounds in the magazine!!!
• I haven't tried a large variety of loads through it yet, but it has digested everything that I have fed it with 100% reliability.
• This little pistol appears to be very accurate and consistent!
• Price! I believe the XDm is a better gun. However, at a price of more than $200 less, the SR9 is the better value.
• Adjustable sights! I love having the ability to tune individual loads to get pin-point accuracy. Elevation is easily adjusted with a regular screw-driver. Windage is a little more difficult. Loosen the locking screw (Allen wrench), tap the side of the sight with a rubber mallet and re-tighten the screw.
• Loaded chamber indicator. Many people do not like this but, having kids, I like the added safety of being able to glance at the gun and know in an instance if a round is in the pipe!
• The manual safety. Again, I like the added security. However, it does get in the way a bit as I rack the slide.
• Reversible back strap. To me, this is not a big deal. But it does change the feel of the grip somewhat. I opted for the flat side.
• Picatinny rail for mounting a laser, light or other accessories.
• Once you know how, detail stripping is relatively easy.
• Magazine disconnect can be removed. HOWEVER, RUGER DOES NOT RECOMMEND THIS! But it does allow the owner to choose.
• Looks great! This is highly subjective, but other than the cheesy looking checkering on the plastic grip, I do like the looks of the gun.
• Made in America by an American company!
  

But it does have a few draw backs.  Here are the things that I would like to see changed:

• Lighter, smoother trigger!  Yea, I know... stay tuned for the Ghost Rocket review! But it should not come from the factory with such a lousy trigger.
• It would have instilled more confidence in me if Ruger's quality control would have found and recognized the barrel peening problem on my gun.  Ruger still needs to address this problem which has existed since they first released the gun over a year ago. This indicates that their manufacturing tolerances are too loose! However, Ruger did fix the problem in a very professional manner.
• Sharp serrations on the slide.  I had heard of the problem before I purchased mine but brushed it off as no big deal.  But, they are sharp!  My hands are fairly calloused so I don’t think I will have a problem.  However, there have been reports of people cutting themselves while racking the slide.  Having owned one now, I believe the reports.
• The top of the manual safety digs into my skin as I rack the slide. Between the safety, the heavy recoil spring and the serrations, racking this little pistol can be a painful experience!
• Smoother slide action.  I handled my friends XD and another friend's Glock the other day and was once again amazed how smooth and easy it was to rack the slide on these two guns.  The SR9 simply is not as smooth or as refined.  I don’t think that this will affect accuracy or reliability, but it does not inspire the “Wow, this is a nice gun” feeling either.

Conclusion:

Do I recommend the SR9?  The answer is yes ... but with reservations. If money is not an issue and you don’t care to support American made products, then get the XDm, hands down.  But if you are on a budget, can live with the trigger or plan on upgrading it, then I think the SR9 would be an excellent choice.  Its ergonomics are top notch and I think it will be a very reliable gun. I have to admit that the more I shoot it, the more I like it. There's no doubt that it is a very good value. I plan on keeping mine!

I do not recommend purchasing an SR9 sight-unseen due to the barrel peening problem. This problem is easy to identify by slowly moving the slide back by pressing on the front of the slide and barrel. As you do this, if you feel any movement of the slide without the barrel, don't buy it. Ask to look at another one! Also, dry fire the gun to get the feel of the trigger. If you have a choice, pick the one with the best trigger... or just wait for my review of the Ghost Rocket kit and don't worry about the trigger!