Anyone know the Ruger P series pistols? Inform me.

[gunfun 3,931]

So my dad is not a gun guy. In fact he is abusive to firearms in the extreme. He is also kind of a tightwad. His boat guns were finally stolen, and I'm looking for a few things to replace them.

 

Anyway, I know that ruger P series 9mm pistols in stainless are not hard to find in the $300 range. I also recall being told that some models were a lot nicer than others.

 

Stainless is a must.

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

I know that when people put them back together wrong they are very difficult to get back apart. That's about it. 

[Sdustin 578]

The only one I fired jammed but I was inexperienced at the time and couldn't tell you why. But since I've talked to several people that love them and not had any issues.

 

Sorry about your dad's stuff. I suggest a revolver. I just sold a rossi 6 shot 6" stainless 357 they go for like 400 new. Well I traded it for another j frame. But that gun was great and would make a great knock around boat gun. Its funny I hate Taurus from personal experience but all the rossis I've had were good and they are owned by Taurus and supposedly the worse one. The only issues was the trigger return felt like draging an engine block down a dirt road.

[TapeWorm3 104]

I have had several over the years. Two 9mm and one .45. I did not buy any as a carry or got pistol I just acquired them in trades or could not pass them up for the ridiculous low price co-workers were asking just so they would have beer money.  I shot all there and the function was without problem. The accuracy of the 9mm was adequate to say the most and the .45 was worse. I sold them all and warned the new owners not to rely on them past 25 feet.  They were just not the pistols for me even though they fit my meat hook hands well.

[Arik 565]

They arnt bad but not good either.

[storm6490 2,768]

Ha! The chevy pickup truck of the gun world. It's ugly as hell and can double as a hammer for tent stakes. Stainless will need some care as well. Nitride finishes need less care than stainless.

 

There is a reason that they are cheap. The fit and finish is poor. The thing is ugly and they have had problems in the past that can easily be fixed. The P89 is a good one, never seen it in stainless. One ugly sucker but it strikes hard even on commie ammo. Decocker is good to go and DA is the way to go.

 

Century has a super cool pistol out there from Slovakia. A K-100 by Grand Power. They are cheap because nobody has a clue about them. STI sold them for 7-8 hundred a few years back as a GP7. The finish and barrel can be neglected for it's entire life and it will be the most dependable and accurate pistol in your entire collection. No shit!

 

You're a good son! Keep up the good work!

 

Correction! The K-100.. I was thinking of my revolver again! Sorry!

 

http://youtu.be/7ivu09lQwJA

this is uzi hot 9 surplus

Edited June 9, 2014 by Stryker0946

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

My stainless P90 has been my primary carry piece for nearly a decade (first gun I ever bought). I've never had any issues with the gun other than 1 FTE and once the safety became very difficult to move. Both happened within the first 100 rounds out of the box. Other than that it's been totally flawless. The safety thing really freaked me out and now I just make it a habit to cycle the safety before I holster it. NEVER has happened again.

 

As far as the criticisms above:

 

1 - The fit and finish on mine is better than or equal to most polymer frame guns (including my Glock and WAY better than my LC9). It's not a $2k 1911 though.

 

2 - Mine is plenty accurate out to the maximum distance that I'm realistically capable of shooting a pistol and making good shots (for me.. that's about

75-100 feet in a dim light (not dark) gun range with all shots comfortably center mass on a 3/4 scale man sized target. My groups are much tighter with my Glock and other higher quality guns, but the Ruger would still mean DEAD.

 

3 - It's just slightly more difficult to field strip than a Glock and the take down is tool less. Not sure what EVL is talking about. I didn't know ANYTHING about guns when I bought mine (other than basic safety, of course). I read the manual and had it stripped in 2 minutes. I never had any cause to remove the fire control components so maybe that's a pain? Just field strip and regular cleaning.

 

Other thoughts:

 

4 - Easily runs +P ammo and since it's so heavy its actually a pretty nice gun to fire +P with.

 

5 - HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY... Dear god is it heavy. Did I mention its heavy? Oh.. and it weighs a ton. In my opinion, forget about paddle holsters and such... I carry mine in a Bianchi Shadow through the belt loops police style holster (which has also held up very well).

 

6 - The factory grips SUCK... A $30 set of Hogue grips turns it into a masterpiece to handle.

 

7 - The factory steel mags are some of the best constructed magazines I've ever seen. I'm not convinced that they aren't stainless as well. They're bare steel and don't appear to be plated and don't rust... so...? They're also out of production (as far as I know) and are expensive if you want spares. The gun shipped with 2 mags originally so if you decide to purchase try to find one that includes the 2nd mag.

 

8 - Factory sights aren't perfect but along way from terrible. The rear is adjustable.

 

9 - You can pretty much forget about pulling the hammer back with your thumb as part of your draw. The hammer is waaay too stubby to realistically grab it without pointing the barrel at the sky. I have huge hands and I still can't reach it.

 

For the price you can't go wrong. I wouldn't bother with a 9mm in a P series. The gun is so heavy already, and the single stack mag holds so few shots anyhow, that you may as well step up to .45acp. Around here stainless P89s are like unicorns, the P90 is much more common and even Gander Mountain only wants like $380 for them in good shape.

 

If you would like some pictures of particular things on mine I'd be happy to take some. As far as I'm aware mine was manufactured in the early 2000s.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Maxwelhse

[pjj342 632]

A ruger p95 was the first pistol i owned.  After the first couple hundred rounds I may have had one or two malfunctions in 3-4 thousand.  It was eventually my bedside gun, thats how happy I was with its reliability.  I shot primarily wolf or tula steel cased ammo and never had any problems.

 

One thing i recall, is dont limpwrist a p95.  I always shot it fine, but for a while my wife literally could not fire two rounds without getting a malfunction, she wasnt holding it firm enough.  After she adjusted her grip, she never had another problem with it.

 

My suggestion gunfun, what about a smith and wesson sigma(or whatever their called now sd9ve or something).  These can be had for around 300 and are much seem a bit better than the rugers, imo.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Boomsick42

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

My suggestion gunfun, what about a smith and wesson sigma(or whatever their called now sd9ve or something).  These can be had for around 300 and are much better than the rugers, imo.

 

Do not buy a "Sigma". They were jam-o-matics (and I've personally experienced it with 2 different guns). 1 of the guns also had its nitride (or whatever coating) start coming off at 2 months old and had to be sent in for warranty. I've heard they've gotten much better now that they're called something else..

[garnaz 215]

My first gun was a P89dc in stainless.

Heavy gun not carry friendly.

Recommend changing grips.

 

I put about 5-600 rounds threw it never cleaned it and never had a failure.

Sold it and it still runs

[magsite20 1,664]

shot a P90 45 several times and liked it better and better

but had too much stuff already for a 1911 and just couldn't see getting more mags and a holster for a different gun at the time.

the one my buddy had ran flawlessly and shot fine groups.

[pjj342 632]

 

My suggestion gunfun, what about a smith and wesson sigma(or whatever their called now sd9ve or something).  These can be had for around 300 and are much better than the rugers, imo.

 

Do not buy a "Sigma". They were jam-o-matics (and I've personally experienced it with 2 different guns). 1 of the guns also had its nitride (or whatever coating) start coming off at 2 months old and had to be sent in for warranty. I've heard they've gotten much better now that they're called something else..

 

The new ones are much better.  I know two friends who have them, one is a 9mm and the other is a 40cal.  I have been on extended shooting trips with both friends and never had a problem with either gun.  My buddy with the 40 claims that his has never malfunctioned (through around 2000rds) and the other with the 9 says he only had a couple ftfs during break in, after that flawless.  The biggest difference i noticed, was the new ones had much better triggers. However,  I am not the definitive source of low price smith and wesson reliability knowledge.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Boomsick42

[sparky63 46]

I have an p 89 since 91 no issues dead on ,gave my son the pistol when he became a marine, hade an p 85 as well, it loved any ammo.

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

I have an p 89 since 91 no issues dead on ,gave my son the pistol when he became a marine, hade an p 85 as well, it loved any ammo.

 

I forgot to mention that... I've run some hardcore junk ammo through my P90. No issues.

[gunfun 3,931]

Thanks for the comments.

 

I've weighed options like revolvers the ammo is my main reason for not going with them. I mentioned dad is a tightwad. While I can make him 38s or 9mm for equal cost, 9mm is a lot less bulky for a boat and the brass is much easier to come by. If he is buying, it is way cheaper. Also standard 9mm is better than standard 38s ballistically.

 

I'm mostly asking Which 9mm P series is best, not whether to get a P series or something else. I seem to recall that the ergos on newer P series were a lot better than older ones, but I don't recall which is which.

 

Here are the considerations in order of priority.

1) durability with corrosion resistence being key. the more black parts on there, the worse.

2) Reliability

3) ergonomics. I recall big blocky controls, that were crude. While normally a con, when you are wearing rubber gloves covered with blood and slime, those become a plus.

4) sight radius- full size preferred.

5) mag availabilty SS preferred.

6) cost.

 

Not considerations at all:

1) concealability

2) looks

3) resale.

 

So which 9mm P series is preferred?

[gunfun 3,931]

I know that when people put them back together wrong they are very difficult to get back apart. That's about it. 

 

 

Knowing him, that may never be a problem. Idiot crew might be an issue though.

Ruger made a police carbine that used the same mags as the pistols I once saw one in SS with a side folder and I was broke. That would be the perfect boat gun other than retarded cleaning procedure.  If I ever find one again...

[gunfun 3,931]

For the P89 like this one, is the frame blued, nitrided SS, or anodized aluminum?

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=420722436 

 

It looks like I am probably most interested in a later production P89 so long as that is not blued, or possibly a P95, prefering the metal frame. The P95 grips just suck, but I can probably stipple them up. 

 

 

 

Century has a super cool pistol out there from Slovakia. A GP100 by Grand Power. They are cheap because nobody has a clue about them. STI sold them for 7-8 hundred a few years back as a GP7. The finish and barrel can be neglected for it's entire life and it will be the most dependable and accurate pistol in your entire collection. No shit!

 

 

Thanks. I'll have to look into that as well. Badly maintained Smith 66s tend to survive well in those conditions. The sights don't stay pretty though. 

It just occured to me I should also look into taurus SS pt92/99 models and see what those are going for.

 

People make fun of taurus and the M92 variants, but IMO they shoot great. My mid 80s PT99 went through over 6000 rounds without a failure. Eventually I wore out the magazine, and it started having issues. New mag solved that. It has a very good trigger too. The ergos are a lot better than the rugers, but the Ruger's SS magazine is a real selling point for this application.

[nlacy 692]

I got a P95 as my first "real" pistol (I say real because I'm not counting .22 pistols I've had since I was old enough to buy them) and I love it.  It's never malfunctioned, and it's a beast.

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

For the P89 like this one, is the frame blued, nitrided SS, or anodized aluminum?

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=420722436 

 

Link doesn't work for me, but my P frame is cast aluminum with some sort of coating. The entire gun is holding up very well and looks like I bought it new yesterday. The price for stainless is what pulled me in initially. Glad I went that way all these years later!

[gunfun 3,931]

Since you took the time to answer in detail thanks. I will respond in line

My stainless P90 has been my primary carry piece for nearly a decade (first gun I ever bought). I've never had any issues with the gun other than 1 FTE and once the safety became very difficult to move. Both happened within the first 100 rounds out of the box. Other than that it's been totally flawless. The safety thing really freaked me out and now I just make it a habit to cycle the safety before I holster it. NEVER has happened again.

 

As far as the criticisms above:

 

1 - The fit and finish on mine is better than or equal to most polymer frame guns (including my Glock and WAY better than my LC9). It's not a $2k 1911 though.

If I buy something for him, it will look like it went through a rock tumbler. Which looks best covered in fish blood and scales?

 

2 - Mine is plenty accurate out to the maximum distance that I'm realistically capable of shooting a pistol and making good shots (for me.. that's about

75-100 feet in a dim light (not dark) gun range with all shots comfortably center mass on a 3/4 scale man sized target. My groups are much tighter with my Glock and other higher quality guns, but the Ruger would still mean DEAD.

 

Accurate is good, but frankly most people aren't good shots as it will be used.

 

3 - It's just slightly more difficult to field strip than a Glock and the take down is tool less. Not sure what EVL is talking about. I didn't know ANYTHING about guns when I bought mine (other than basic safety, of course). I read the manual and had it stripped in 2 minutes. I never had any cause to remove the fire control components so maybe that's a pain? Just field strip and regular cleaning.

 

A valid concern, but as stated in reply to Evl, it may be a moot point. I'll ship it up with a cleaning kit, but I don't expect it to stay together for long.

 

Other thoughts:

 

4 - Easily runs +P ammo and since it's so heavy its actually a pretty nice gun to fire +P with.

 

This is a real pro and one of the considerations that appealed. I like to make 125 grain mild +p as my standard load. I'll probably make him a thousand or so. (aproximate ballistic clone to Critical Duty. I suspect these are comparable power to a lot of Euro spec 9mm)

 

5 - HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY... Dear god is it heavy. Did I mention its heavy? Oh.. and it weighs a ton. In my opinion, forget about paddle holsters and such... I carry mine in a Bianchi Shadow through the belt loops police style holster (which has also held up very well).

 

The service is similar to a truck gun. Not a problem. Probably a help for jittery shooters.

 

6 - The factory grips SUCK... A $30 set of Hogue grips turns it into a masterpiece to handle.

 

My dad likes pachmeyer- I was already assuming I would be getting the hogues. It also looks like a lot of the used ones have these anyway.

 

7 - The factory steel mags are some of the best constructed magazines I've ever seen. I'm not convinced that they aren't stainless as well. They're bare steel and don't appear to be plated and don't rust... so...? They're also out of production (as far as I know) and are expensive if you want spares. The gun shipped with 2 mags originally so if you decide to purchase try to find one that includes the 2nd mag.

 

They are SS- Again key selling point

 

8 - Factory sights aren't perfect but along way from terrible. The rear is adjustable.

 

That was my impression of the 45 model I shot. They reminded me of the S&W duty pistols from the early 90s. I like that they are adjustable and also probably OK to use as a prying and impact tool. Not so much that they are fat and 3 dot.

 

9 - You can pretty much forget about pulling the hammer back with your thumb as part of your draw. The hammer is waaay too stubby to realistically grab it without pointing the barrel at the sky. I have huge hands and I still can't reach it.

 

It won't be a carry gun, but even if it was, I would never advocate this practice.

 

For the price you can't go wrong. I wouldn't bother with a 9mm in a P series. The gun is so heavy already, and the single stack mag holds so few shots anyhow, that you may as well step up to .45acp. Around here stainless P89s are like unicorns, the P90 is much more common and even Gander Mountain only wants like $380 for them in good shape.

 

If you would like some pictures of particular things on mine I'd be happy to take some. As far as I'm aware mine was manufactured in the early 2000s.

 

I mostly want to know if any of the parts inside are blued. The literature I found said they were all aluminum frame, which is fine. However, I want to be sure that there weren't any steel frame versions that I could buy by accident.  Springs can't be helped, but even ruger has been gradually sneaking many more blued parts into their stainless guns. Having 3-4 10/22s of various age on the boat gives an interesting perspective on material substitution. (stainless is not all the same either. Old AMT Lightning 10/22 licenced clone > 1990s ruger.> 2000s ruger)

[gunfun 3,931]

A ruger p95 was the first pistol i owned.  After the first couple hundred rounds I may have had one or two malfunctions in 3-4 thousand.  It was eventually my bedside gun, thats how happy I was with its reliability.  I shot primarily wolf or tula steel cased ammo and never had any problems.

 

One thing i recall, is dont limpwrist a p95.  I always shot it fine, but for a while my wife literally could not fire two rounds without getting a malfunction, she wasnt holding it firm enough.  After she adjusted her grip, she never had another problem with it.

 

My suggestion gunfun, what about a smith and wesson sigma(or whatever their called now sd9ve or something).  These can be had for around 300 and are much seem a bit better than the rugers, imo.

 

Thanks for the limpwrist info. That suggests that cycling is marginal. So with ammo that is getting corroded or has yucky stuff on it in a dirty gun...

 

I haven't shot sigmas, but they have a bad rep. I'm not really interested in anything with the standard DA-ish striker trigger.If I were, I would probably be considering the SR9 series for him. I forgot to mention that he is kind of a ruger fan. As much as I hate the looks and insulting "safety" features ruger smears on those, the SR9C is a great shooting little gun with about the best striker trigger I have tried yet. (Please no glock fanboy flame. It's better. I've shot both. I hear the PPQ is the striker trigger to beat, but I haven't compared yet.)

The newer replacements to the sigma model line are getting pretty good reviews and might be worth a look in a couple years when they show up as used. 

Edited June 7, 2014 by GunFun

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

Since I had to strip it to look at the internals for ya, I decided to document the process. Honestly, if he just shoots some break clean down the bore and squeezes some sort of gun oil down there it will probably be a fine boat gun for ages...

 

Anyhow:

 

I forgot to turn the flash on for the next 2 pictures (doh!) but the finish on mine is still very nice. I don't get to carry that often usually, but its had many thousands of carry hours in all climates.

 

You made mention of the controls, which I honestly like. The most important controls, the slide release, mag release, and trigger, should be EASILY manipulated by a slimy gloved hand. My hands are large and you can see how controls compare to my thumb and index finger. Also of note, the gun is ambidextrous. The mag release can be flipped by the safety is always left and right. Soo.. if he would use the safety it can be operated with either hand.

 

 

To strip.. Push that black tit down...

 

 

There it is, pushed down.

 

Push the slide back slightly and slide the slide release over in the frame. That's it.. The rod, spring, and barrel are nothing special to remove. This is all the further I've ever had mine down.

 

 

The internals appear to be all stainless except for that tit tidbit I pointed out earlier. It's blued. I did check all the parts with a magnet (including the slide) and they are all magnetic, so it's probably not a super expensive SS alloy. Good enough for me for $350 though.

 

[gunfun 3,931]

Thanks. It looks like it would have orange sights and a piece that appears to serve as an ejector. The modern M&P pistols are pretty good about stainless too, but a $200 hammer with stainless magazines seems to be the fit. 

 

I will be looking for a p89 for him, and maybe some corrosion resistant sights.

 

Next up is the shotgun, which will be harder to find. I am looking for an 18" or 20" Stainless Smith and Wesson 916 police with the full length feed tube. They came with either vent ribs or pistol sights, and survive better than anything else I have seen in the marine environment. This seems to be an uncommon version as almost all that I find online have a low price and a long barrel. My uncle's had a very rough life and was still the smoothest pump I have used. None of the current manufacture marine models from any company are truly marine worthy. So until someone makes me a stainless S12 or V12, this seems to be about as good as it gets for a working boat gun.

[pjj342 632]

 

A ruger p95 was the first pistol i owned.  After the first couple hundred rounds I may have had one or two malfunctions in 3-4 thousand.  It was eventually my bedside gun, thats how happy I was with its reliability.  I shot primarily wolf or tula steel cased ammo and never had any problems.

 

One thing i recall, is dont limpwrist a p95.  I always shot it fine, but for a while my wife literally could not fire two rounds without getting a malfunction, she wasnt holding it firm enough.  After she adjusted her grip, she never had another problem with it.

 

My suggestion gunfun, what about a smith and wesson sigma(or whatever their called now sd9ve or something).  These can be had for around 300 and are much seem a bit better than the rugers, imo.

 

Thanks for the limpwrist info. That suggests that cycling is marginal. So with ammo that is getting corroded or has yucky stuff on it in a dirty gun...

 

I haven't shot sigmas, but they have a bad rep. I'm not really interested in anything with the standard DA-ish striker trigger.If I were, I would probably be considering the SR9 series for him. I forgot to mention that he is kind of a ruger fan. As much as I hate the looks and insulting "safety" features ruger smears on those, the SR9C is a great shooting little gun with about the best striker trigger I have tried yet. (Please no glock fanboy flame. It's better. I've shot both. I hear the PPQ is the striker trigger to beat, but I haven't compared yet.)

The newer replacements to the sigma model line are getting pretty good reviews and might be worth a look in a couple years when they show up as used. 

 

Personally, I would give the green light on an sr9c.  Its my primary ccw and the most reliable semi auto ive ever owned.  Even when my glock had problems for the first few hundred rounds, my sr9c had none.  The only malfunctions ive had happened because of a laser tightened too tight on the rail and was squeezing the frame, and from a 'too large' reload that didnt chamber.  No light primer strikes ever, perfect ejection and feeding always. 

 

Before I reloaded i shot the cheapest ammo I could find.  Tula, wolf, remington bulk pack and wichester white box never gave me any problems what so ever.  Even now, using reloads exclusively, Ive only had one malfunction in two years.

 

My sr9c has a better trigger than my glock, and a way better trigger than the low priced smith's ive shot.  I also love the grip angle and sights.  I shoot the small ruger better than my full sized g17, for what its worth.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Boomsick42

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

Thanks. It looks like it would have orange sights and a piece that appears to serve as an ejector. The modern M&P pistols are pretty good about stainless too, but a $200 hammer with stainless magazines seems to be the fit. 

 

I will be looking for a p89 for him, and maybe some corrosion resistant sights.

 

 

I'm thinking its probably an ejector as well. It's a fairly simple part. You could probably fab one out of SS if you wanted to get crazy.

 

If I run across a marine model pump I'm not going to tell you about it... I'll be too busy buying it! I agree with your thoughts. Most of the stuff I see is nickle plated steel and they pass it off as marine grade... I don't think so.

 

I am curious about what situations you may encounter on a boat that would require a pistol and a shotgun. I suppose I'm thinking the shotgun would be plenty.

[gunfun 3,931]

For me, I would. for the boat, at the price no. Also, too much non-stainless.

 

But if I were seriously considering buying that for myself, I would look at carry guns and end up getting something else entirely.  I hate the frame safety, mag safety, paragraph, the crudeness of the loaded chamber indicator. If I owned one I would remove the first two, and file down the third so it was subtle. The trigger is good and so are the sights. It is nicer to shoot than glocks- I agree there. I think I would rather have the M&P 9c though. Or maybe a g model Px4 storm.... But there will be another 7 nice choices for me to flip flop between by the time I have the cash, so that's a moot discussion. In the meantime I will go on carrying my ridiculous huge PT99 and dreaming of something smaller.

 

Thanks. It looks like it would have orange sights and a piece that appears to serve as an ejector. The modern M&P pistols are pretty good about stainless too, but a $200 hammer with stainless magazines seems to be the fit. 

 

I will be looking for a p89 for him, and maybe some corrosion resistant sights.

 

 

I'm thinking its probably an ejector as well. It's a fairly simple part. You could probably fab one out of SS if you wanted to get crazy.

 

If I run across a marine model pump I'm not going to tell you about it... I'll be too busy buying it! I agree with your thoughts. Most of the stuff I see is nickle plated steel and they pass it off as marine grade... I don't think so.

 

I am curious about what situations you may encounter on a boat that would require a pistol and a shotgun. I suppose I'm thinking the shotgun would be plenty.

 

 

 

"Any Lawful Purpose."

Also, you forgot the stainless mini-30. - Since they don't make stainless AKs either.

[TacSat 90]

Had a p85 mk iii. Anything earlier had numerus problems fixed in the mk iii seris. Sloppy action not the most accuate. Pulled high right. No it was not me it was common complaint. I spent alot time firing it. Traded it for a pt 92. That 20 plus years ago.

[gunfun 3,931]

Thanks.

[Sdustin 578]

as far as shotgun your right that will be hard to find have you considered a mariner mossberg 590?

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

I know where a SS Mini-14 is that you could probably get for cheap if you are interested.