Any thoughts on the Ruger P 345?

Be wary of recoil.

I would bet it would work. It is not a very large pistol for a .45, and probably is designed for a CCW crowd. Ruger generally makes things that work, for a long time they work.

I suppose if the price is right...

but if you'll spend just a little more you'll be able to get something better and more modern.

The main problem with the 345 is dry firing without an empty magazine in the gun.

If dry firing was done without the magazine in place it will damage the firing pin.
I would remove the firing pin and check it for peening.
I doesn't take too many strikes to damage the firing pin.
Other than that, they are a great reliable, and accurate gun.
I cleaned under the rear sight on mine ( removed the magazine disconnect) so I didn't have to worry about the firing pin.
It was very accurate. I never had any malfunctions of any kind. Recoil was actually very soft.
I would still have mine except I couldn't get used to the DA /SA and the flexing in the grip frame under recoil. I grew up on 1911s and I can't seem to warm up to polymer frames.

I've had mine for 3 years and have enjoyed shooting it. It had been reliable and accurate. I have my pick of many other fine some greater costing a lot more but I still like the Ruger. If you can get a good deal but it, if you want something more modern look at the SR-45.

Here is a Guns & Ammo P345 video you may like.

http://archives.gunsandammo.com/video/handguns/reviews/torture-tests/ruger-p345-pistol

I always thought the P345 felt like a good handling gun. While I'm usually ambivalent on the subject of magazine disconnect safety's, the P345 seemed to have a rather poorly executed version. If you follow the owners manual you shouldn't have any problems.

The P345 is now out of production and Ruger, while standing behind their product, as usual, is beginning to show signs of not supporting their older, out of production models. I've seen posts from guys with broken P97's getting replacements, but with different models. Depending on how you look at it, that could be a good thing.

If you can find a P97, it was a better pistol. I had one of the decocker models that I foolishly sold; it remains the most accurate .45 ACP pistol I've ever shot.

Unless the gun is super light, the recoil of the .45 ACP is very manageable and not harsh. In fact, it's one of my wife's favorites in both her KP90 and my Glock 30. She's looking to buy an SR45. There's nothing inherently wrong with the P345; all guns have pros and cons and all have their supporters and detractors. It's you're money, if you like the gun there's no real reason not to own one.

The main drawback to any gun chambered in .45 ACP is apparently the significant marginal cost of the ammunition over other calibers. I say "apparently" since I hand craft all my ammunition and am going strictly on what I read in gun forums on this topic. Again, it's your money and only you can decide.

I recently sold this unit to finance a different firearm. The P345 was a very accurate gun and reliable, as I shot it very well. Recoil was not bad at all. I sold it to a relative of my wife, $400.00. As others have mentioned, I wish I kept it.

joe

Buying new, yes, used, probably not. I bought one of the first guns when they came out. It was accurate and reliable. Until the firing pin became damaged from dry firing. Even Ruger was not aware of the problem until guns started being returned.

With most guns with a magazine disconnect they simply will not drop the hammer with no magazine in the gun. With the 345 you can dry fire the gun with no mag in place and the firing pin block prevents a round in the chamber from firing. But doing so will damage the firing pin and it only takes a very few cycles of this and the gun will sometimes fire, sometimes not.

I returned my gun to Ruger,who fixed the problem and returned the gun along with a revised owners manual advising against doing this.

I promptly sold the gun. While there was a lot I liked about it, I felt anything so simple that could damage a gun and make it competely useless has no place on a gun meant for SD. Many advise simply removing the magazine disconnect. I considered that, but for liability reasons decided it was probably not a good idea to bypass a guns safety system. While I think the gun has a lot of potential, there are other designs without this feature that fill the same role.

Excellent pistol! Trigger feels horrible, but for some reason it hit at point of aim better than most. I'd buy another in a heartbeat if the price was in that $350-$400 range.

I have been tempted by this gun many, many times.

The sights seem a little strange to me - like the dots are too small. But, it seems to be a nice gun., I cannot find anyone with one in my area to let me try, though.

But - as others said... I'd only buy a new one. WIth that dry fire issue - I'd never buy one used.

I bought one from my nephew, and it's been great.
As has been mentioned, it shoots where it points and it fits my hand.
Recoil isn't bad at all
I'd have to be pretty hard up before I'd sell mine

I bought mine 3 years ago and haven't had any issues with it. It's very accurate, has soft recoil, is easy to field strip and clean and mine is carried in a High Noon Split Decision IWB when not in the bedroom. Some of the repair issues posted were early on and using an empty mag for dry fire is no biggie. I shoot outdoors about 50 - 100 rounds at a time and have put over 1000 round through it now. That's an average of once a month due to rain and bad weather over the 3 year period. Double action pull is a little heavy so I single action at the range. I bought mine used but it had only been fired once (or maybe not at all) and had the paperwork in the box from the first owner. A price of $350 to $400 is fair. Compare it to the S&W M&P 45 or the Ruger SR45 if you can find any.

jmr40 said:

Buying new, yes, used, probably not. I bought one of the first guns when they came out. It was accurate and reliable. Until the firing pin became damaged from dry firing. Even Ruger was not aware of the problem until guns started being returned.

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When I was buying my first handgun my LGS had a KP90 & a KP345 in the case. I dry fired both a few times. So even buying new you never know...

(I wound up with the KP90 because I liked everything about it more than the 345)

I returned my gun to Ruger,who fixed the problem and returned the gun along with a revised owners manual advising against doing this.

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Actually, they replaced the firing pin and told you how to avoid the problem. They did not fix "the problem" itself.

P345

Since they hit the market I've gone through four of them (I shoot and trade).
They have always been reliable and accurate. My current one has been Magna-Ported, Front Hi-Viz Sight, Wolf extra power recoil spring and 5% extra power magazine spring, reduced power hammer spring and I removed the magazine disconnect. And of course I had Kirpatrick make up their TSS holster and ammo carrier for it. This is a very sweet shooter and will be using it in and up coming shoot. It would seem that a lot of the nay sayers are comparing it against a $1200.00 single action pistol.

There are a couple of forums dedicated to everything Ruger. The one I frequent has ways of dealing with some of the "issues." Search "cleaning under the rear sight."

Never mind... let me.

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=...42,d.eWU&fp=e90a1558987db8c4&biw=1024&bih=648

Haters say my KP90 is "big, heavy & ugly." Well, I don't think it's ugly. I prefer "businesslike." "Big and heavy" aren't issues because if it's not at the range it's sleeping in the bedside safe. Always gonna be haters no matter what.

Jim NE said:

Thanks. Haven't decided what I'll do about that, yet. I haven't read of any negative effects of disabling this function so I'll probably end up doing it, but I'll wait to shoot it first.

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The biggest negative I've read about (and it goes for most guns) would be if you need to send it to the factory for warranty or other work. Example: Send your unmolested 3 screw Blackhawk to Ruger and it will come back with the transfer bar safety and you probably won't get the original parts back either. MIGHT be an issue with your local gunsmith. Returning a gun to the owner without the as issued safety features, regardless of who removed them, could open a major can of liability worms.

In my humble opinion, the SR45 has made the P345 obsolete.

Maybe, but I love to shoot mine. Perhaps I'll get the sr45as well. I have to do a comparo with the s&w m&p 45c when it comes out. I hope to get an XDs also. Can you tell I like .45acp?