Ruger SR9c

AStone said:

I predict that by this time tomorrow - 4 hours, I will own an SR9c.

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Pictures!

Wait till you get about 300 rounds through it, then the trigger gets REALLY nice. It'll serve you well!

Sr9c

Another vote for the little Ruger. Colorado is right, above. Wait till you get a little wear onto the trigger assembly. I felt the same way you did in your recent post. Still love mine, wouldn't trade it away, ever. Mine shoots better than guns twice the price. As an SD gun, ditch the 17 rounder, pick up a couple more 10s, add tails to the mags and get the right back strap, and you're gonna be in love all over again.

AStone

Good to hear that you finally went with the SR9c. Everything you liked about the gun (the trigger, easy to acquire sights, overall feel and handling), was pretty much how I felt about it after I tried one at the range. I like the 17 round mag for the range but prefer to carry two of the 10 rounders for CCW.

AStone,

Glad you liked the gun !......I always say "a man has to love his gun"....and that encompasses many factors aside from just reliable functionality.

I've handled, worked on, and shot literally hundreds of Glocks in my old line of work.....been to 2 Glock Armorer's schools, owned a couple for undercover work, etc.......great gun and it'll shoot in some of the worst conditions imaginable. But, with that said, is it the best gun ?.......not necessarily, but a lot of that depends on the individual or their preferences.
Much of the law enforcement saturation when it comes to Glock's isn't because of the gun itself. A lot of it is due to the law enforcement gun sales packages that Glock offers. You buy enough, you get them for this price......they have very good programs geared towards police.

Some of my old instructor cohorts are so "Glockinized" as I call it, they miss a lot of other great firearms available.......and some just as good for less money.

I'll admit that I've loved Rugers for many, many years, but I don't focus on a name, nor am I "brand specific". The reasons were, (primarily) they offered a gun that I liked, that fit me, that was well made, that shot well, and that was affordable. Years ago, just prior to the P85 being released, I managed to acquire two of the first couple hundred of them released from the (then new) Prescott, AZ facility for testing. Both guns had fixed sights and I shot the hell out of both of them. One of them I liked better than the other (a tad smoother), so I sent the other one back and inquired to purchase the one I kept. Through law enforcement sales, I purchased the gun for around $275 back then and I fit it with a front sight off of a Speed Six and an adjustable rear sight off of a Ruger Mark 2. I do most of my handgun shooting at 25 yds. and that gun would just stitch em' in there all day long with cast hand loads.

I shot a law enforcement auto match with that gun and the ribbing and harassment from my buddies over the Ruger was horrible. Guess who won the match ?...........They are all great shooters and I was among some of the best locally, but they all did a BIG wow.....Considering that the gun was a 9mm and most were shooting 45's in the match. I knew I was going to be "up against it" bringing a Ruger auto to the match and if it failed, or I shot crappy, I would never live it down......but......as it turned out, it shined. Stunning showing......

I just recently bought the SR40c and I've been casting and reloading for it, but I haven't had the time to do load work on the gun quite yet. It functions and shoots like crap through a goose though. I usually break guns in with full power loads at first incorporating several cleanings between shooting sessions. It's always worked well for me to break guns in properly. A major point is that it fits me well........as soon as I picked it up it was like a well made glove......the Glock ?.....not anywhere nearly as well. I've had the same good feel from CZ's, Browning Hi Power's, several 1911's (one of which was a Ruger 1911 btw).

Like I said......Glocks are great guns, I know them intimately......but they aren't the be all & end all.....even though some of my best buddies think so. There's not too many bad guns out there nowadays to be quite honest.

Glad you got the gun and hope you enjoy it....

Bob

Handgnr

What sold me first of all on the SR9c was the grip shape. Sort of reminded me of a larger version of the old Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless design. Tried the the other similarly sized 9mm.s, like the Glock 19, SA XD Compact, and the S&W M&P Compact, and felt that the SR9c had the best "hand in glove" feel to it for me. I also loved the trigger right out of the box, how the sights just seemed to line up perfectly as I brought the gun on target, and the other design features like the ambi safety, the interchangeable back strap insert, and the different magazine options. All in all it had just about everything I was looking for in a compact 9mm. (well I could live without the LCI), and has been great for CCW.

bannockburn,

Yeah, functionality wise, the Ruger is every bit as good as anything out there, and in some cases, better. One of the biggest things (aside from me liking much of the Ruger line) is the grip of the gun......very ergonomic and "feel friendly"......like it belongs in your hand, or was made for it.

I honestly don't mind the LCI. At first it was kinda........"another dumb owner safety" thing, like the HUGE roll stamped crap they put on their barrels years back. Now that's one thing that Ruger did that I hated.......makes a gun a walking disclaimer and unpretty. The one thing that I liked about the LCI (in concept) was that during a confrontation at night, you could feel it with your finger just to double check that you had a round chambered without taking your eyes off the target. I'm sure it would've been helpful during my old "night fire" drills back in the day, if for nothing else....peace of mind.

During the heat of battle, you can do some seemingly dumb things, and overlook a lot.....unless you train in that realm often....."muscle memory".

AStone said:

I was taught that in two handed shooting, my right thumb is to overlap my left thumb. But when shooting yesterday, I naturally gravitated to the opposite: left thumb on top. Same basic grip, but left thumb up. It felt more natural to me -- perhaps because I have smaller hands -- and I shot better and easier that way.

Is there a good reason I should break that habit and retrain my hands to get my right thumb on top? Perhaps my grip is really not quite right ...

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I'm not sure that thumb position is critical, but there may be reasons to do it differently than you propose... addressed below.

Most folks who shoot the two-handed approach in competition do so that the palms of their hands form a sort of pivot point for the grip of the gun. Then, as the gun recoils, it tends to recoil UPwards, because the hands are applying somewhat balanced pressure on the butt of the gun. (This is explained in the NRA link, at the bottom.)

How do you position you hands against the grip?



Here's an image of someone doing as you propose, with left thumb high, resting on top of the right. Doing it that way might work, but the chance of the thumb rubbing against the the slide -- which could slow the slide and affect extraction or feeding -- seems greater.

If you point both thumbs toward the front of the frame while keeping them ON the frame, it might not matter which thumb is on top.



Here's a link to an NRA site that explains it better than I can:

http://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2011/11/18/thumbs-forward-handgun-grip/

A closing comment on that site is:

AStone here is a link to a video Hickock45 made about grip. It sounds like you might be doing something similar to what he does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22msLVCtPk8

I taught myself to shoot using a thumb forwards grip like Walt posted above. The instructor at a self defense oriented class I went to wanted us to use a thumb over thumb grip with the left thumb basically pointed straight up & away from the slide. His reasoning was that it was better for weapon retention if you were in a close quarters fight. You are going to have to find what works best for you.

He just wanted the non dominant thumb to be pointed basically straight up over the dominant thumb. His reasoning was that is someone tried to grab the gun it would help you hold on to it better than a thumbs forward grip.