Ruger P85

Don't own one, but shot a number of them. Solid shooters, go bang every time, reasonably accurate. Yeah, not the most beautiful, but, like the "thick" chick in school, lots of fun for an afternoon.....

Ive had P89s and 90s. They were reliable and accurate, although bulky and unrefined. Kinda miss my last P90. Getting factory magazines is the biggest challange with these nowadays.

Glad you found a nice one!

I still have an old P944 (.40 caliber P94) I bought in the late 90's. My biggest dislike about it is that it has the slide mounted safety. I wish I had known enough when I bought it to get the decock only version.

I have a P-97 DAO, love that thing! My only complaint about it is that it don't like semi-wadcutters, but it eats anything else that I put in it.

I have P-series pistols in 9mm, 40, and 45acp. All of them were under $300 OTD. All of them go bang every time and are reasonably accurate. I am pretty sure I will wear out before any of them do.

View media item 1943

Another P-guy here.

My P95 beater I picked up for $200. Its rough but it works flawless. The P series aren't great guns, but they are good guns.

I own a Ruger P85 MKII. Paid $300 in like new condition (2 hi caps) It's my bedside gun. I'd never let it go.

2 P95's here----the blued one serves home defense duty and the stainless one is still new in box------had a 3rd one but let it go for a M&P 2.0 compact

When ever I see a P series Ruger I think Dump Truck. It’s big, bulky and it gets the job done.
No one will ever say that they are a work of art, but there are other guns on the market that make them look good.
I also believe that they are one of the most underrated handguns on the used market.

Had one. Wish I still did. Shot everything I could cram in the mag. Accurate with a 150 grain swc and sensible load of Unique or Herco. Was great for eating up rounds that my other nines didn't like. Big, heavy and indestructible.

Shot an early series P85 back when they were new, briefly. Then, link jam. Bad one. The several others bought as rentals at the same time also had issues.

All back to Ruger, got fixed up and ran forever then.

I have a P94 as my ‘truck gun’. It’s big, clunky and it works. I have three mags for it. It doesn’t reside in the truck completely, I bring it in at night despite the fact that I have a safe in there. More of a second gat/NY reload to my primary.

I bought it for bears in Alaska. I thought my 10mm was overkill.
J/K.

There’s some love in my home for the P-Series. They’re one of the lower priced pistols that work no matter what.

To be more specific, I have a P89 in 9mm, a P90 in 45acp, and a P94 in 40 caliber.

I bought all of them used. The P89 needed a new spring. Other than that they have all functioned perfectly.

I got them all in the past year or two. IIRC they ranged in price between $200-$250 plus shipping and FFL. It's hard to get a better deal, IMHO.

View media item 1727

Good Ol' Boy said:

Another P-guy here.

My P95 beater I picked up for $200. Its rough but it works flawless. The P series aren't great guns, but they are good guns.



View attachment 841809


View attachment 841810

Click to expand...

That one has polymer rails, right? That always impressed me. Not sure if there are any other polymer framed pistols out there with polymer rails.

If they'd refined the P95 to have the P345's ergonomics, that would have been a great gun.

Cheap and ugly as homemade sin, but they are Rugers. That means they will work exactly as advertised. Full stop.

I like the guns. Kind of like the old smith autos. Overbuilt and underrated IMO. Most of mine are decock versions with no safety. The link doesn't bother me anymore than the link on a 1911, But I'm not convinced it really offers anything either. I've never seen one that shot terrible either.
All my 45s function with any ammo (unlike my Sig 220s which cant even accept certain HP in the magazine or many of my expensive 1911s which wont feed HP half the time). All mine have light single action triggers while the double action pull is pretty terrible. Not great but plenty usable in either mode.

I picked up a gunbroker find (sig 320) the other day at my LGS. They have a used one (p94) for 350. Kings had one for a little over 300 too and it was pretty rough. I like them but they aren't worth what a used Glock, USP, or 226 etc are (to me at least) , and locally that's the price range. Last one I bought was a stainless 97dc for 300 bucks when a used Glock was 4-450 and the usp or 226 was closer to 700. At the moment the market is wierd though. I watch gunbroker and they usually go for 300+ which is currently what the (previously) higher end guns go for used. I'll buy all I see for 200 maybe 250 but I never see them for that. For 299 I'll just get a trade in glock or sig with night sights and better capacity and easier to get and cheaper mags but I wont part with my old rugers either.

As far as the size and such it's funny how that works. If you mention a USP the size is "over engineered" and means Quality but on a cheaper gun its "heavy" or tanklike. Kind of like that same HK guy will comment on a Glock or Hi point being a brick or unergonomic when that same USP is likely the least ergonomic gun made since the 80s but it's known as a classic. I pay no attention to anyones opinion really. Buy 1 of each and try them all. I like the old Rugers.

I don’t know, but the Ruger P-Series are a bit large for what they are.

G23.4 to a Ruger P-94

13+1 rds of .40 S&W to 10+1 rds of .40 S&W.





Flush at the bottom on the mag








Are they ridiculously larger? No, but they are a bit overbuilt.

Part of that is the casting though (which makes them relatively inexpensive).

GunnyUSMC said:

When ever I see a P series Ruger I think Dump Truck. It’s big, bulky and it gets the job done.
No one will ever say that they are a work of art, but there are other guns on the market that make them look good.
I also believe that they are one of the most underrated handguns on the used market.

Click to expand...

We agree, I had one back in the 80's and is actually one of the few guns I have sold....good bye, it got swapped out for a Beretta 92FS. One thing I remember on the Ruger is you could snap your wrist and actually cycle the gun. It also gave rattling a new name....I think where every part came into contact with another part would rattle if you not so much as shoot the gun but picked it up.

I look at them as a 1980's version of a hi-point.....however the hi-point might be a little more refined.

I always looked at the P series as something that might have been built by a Com Bloc weapons designer who defected to Ruger.

I had an 89 and it was a very solid gun. My buddy's only handgun is a p95 I helped him pick out at a gun show about 10 years ago. Still going strong.

My first issued autoloader was a P85. Didn't shoot it as well as I did the wheelgun I'd been carrying up until then, but I'd never had any formal training with autoloaders. Shot it well enough to qualify, and that was enough in those days. I found it rough, rugged, and reliable. Left law enforcement in the early nineties and turned it in.

Bought a P95 back in 2015. Used, but in LN condition. I shoot it much better than I remember shooting its predecessor. It's my bedside pistol these days, with a WML affixed. I even carry it every now and then (after removing the light.)

I had the P944, the .40 version of the P94. A very good working gun, as you would expect from Ruger. Also had a P 95, a very popular polymer version of the P series, and it was also a great working gun. They are large, though. My theory is that the design was conceived before the days of widespread concealed carry, so compactness wasn't a consideration in marketing. The only negative opinion most people have about the P series is the size, but I wouldn't CC my BHP's or CZ 75's either, so that's not really an argument. Some people don't like the looks of the P series, but then again, some people don't like the looks of Rugers in general. I don't agree with either of those opinions. Great guns.