Ruger American Pistol, 9mm, 4" barrel

[SA Friday]

Review of the Ruger American Pistol in 9mm Luger.

It appears the Ruger engineers finally got their heads out of their asses. This third attempt at a semi-auto pistol isn't too bad. I prefer the Glock and M&P over it, but I think I like better than the Sig P320 so far. 4" barrel, 17 round mags, DAO trigger, modular frame that can be take out of the receiver (ala P320), and three different sized backstraps. The trigger mechanism is more straight forward than the P320 also. I can see a company coming out with a drop in kit to make the trigger better fairly easy. My wife, Erin from DCF Guns, and myself all shot it with pinpoint accuracy. Trigger broke consistantly at 5lbs, 10 oz. Ambi mag and slide releases on it out of the box. It retails for under $500.

The detractors from the gun are not terminal, but stuff I would have liked to see better. The slide is fairly thick, it has a chunky feel to it, that hasn't changed from Ruger Semi-auto pistols. Although it's a lot better than their P series shitboxes. The take-down lever is pretty obtrusive on the front and this will be an issue for holster manufacture and wear. It's a MIM part and you can see they were re-enforcing a nub doing this. The grips could use some more stippling on them for grip. I found my left hand sliding all around the gun during recoil. The trigger has a little more pre-travel than I think necessary in a DAO and the wall to break distance is excessive, over an 1/8" to break. It's doable, but screams for some geometry redoing. The magwell is pretty narrow and the polymer is thin. I found myself catching the sides with a mag when reloading. A touch more thickness and just internal chamfering would have sufficed.

All in all, pretty decent. We will see what the future holds for it. Decent gun for just under $500.

[brutal]

Isn't that mag capacity going to be an issue here behind the lines?

[Madeinhb]

Isn't that mag capacity going to be an issue here behind the lines?

But if you but it in WY....

[ray1970]

I handled one when they first came out. I wasn't impressed with the overall ergonomics and I agree it seemed kind of bulky compared to the competition.

[colorider]

Isn't that mag capacity going to be an issue here behind the lines?

depends on where you purchase it. Many shops will allow the mag to be sold with the gun as long as it leaves the shop unassembled. Therefor it is not a magazine, but rather a magazine repair kit.

[J]

But if you but it in WY....

Can't buy pistols out of state. Mags, sure, but still an issue for staying legal.

[Madeinhb]

Can't buy pistols out of state. Mags, sure, but still an issue for staying legal.

Well ya. I was referring to the mags.

Private sales can technically be bought out of state. With no registration - nothing prevents it.

[MarkCO]

I got one to test earlier this year and dumped a lot of rounds through it when I was picking pistols for the American Marksman competition. Sent it back. Not only are there the issues mentioned, but after several thousand rounds, it started to have reliability issues. The trigger assembly is just too fragile, which makes it unreliable long term.