Anyone carrying a Ruger P345?

[Babalouie]

Well, I've been eyeing the P345 for sometime now and really like the look and feel. What's it like to carry? I carry a Taurus Mill Pro PT140, which is shorter but a bit wider than the Ruger. I like the extra barrel length on the 345 and I've been reading that its a bit like a commander size weapon. What can you tell me and what would be a good price?

 

[osteodoc08]

I have a Ruger P89 that I have put a lot of rounds through 4K+ WITHOUT A SINGLE PROBLEM, (Unless you count the slide releasing itself when I slam a full mag home). Bottom line, I think that Ruger makes a very durable firearm, however, were never really known for beauty, at least thier autoloaders.

 

[birddog]

Yep. I carry my KP 345 quite a bit. It is, of course, easier in the winter when heavy outer garments make OWB concealment more feasible. It's a light gun, relatively slim and, when coupled with a quality high-ride leather holster, pretty easy to make disappear.

I got the KP 345 "PR", with the picatinny rail. Haven't gotten around to finding a light for it yet.

The gun's functioning has been absolutely, 100%, guaranteed flawless. No failures to feed, eject, nothing of the sort. Aside from my handloaded 230 FMJ's and lead round nose, I've shot factory 230 fmj's from Magtech, Winchester, Wolf (steel-cased), and American Eagle and never, repeat never, have had a problem with one single round.

Here's a brief range report, with photos, that I did shortly after buying the gun.

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=118219&highlight=ruger+345+range+report

It's a breeze to field strip and clean, has good sights, good ergonomics...

I think you'd like this gun.

 

[Murphster]

It's a great gun. Unless it breaks. Like mine did the first day I had it. Thought mine was an anomaly but I recently got a couple of other Rugers and have begun checking the Ruger forum. From reading there, it appears more 345's have problems than the other Ruger models. Most folks have no problems with theirs but too many folks have had major and/or continuing problems with them. I'm admittedly prejudiced being a member of the got-a-bad-one club. Might want to run a check here first and then draw your own conclusions:

http://www.rugerforum.com/cgi-bin/c...iauto+Pistols&number=2&DaysPrune=5&LastLogin=

 

[PILOT_OF_LIGER_ZERO]

I UESD TO HAVE A P345 AND IT WORK GREAT AND IT WAS GOOD FOR CONCELMENT AND IT WAS A HAND CANON WHAT MORE DO U WANT IN A GUN

 

[Rob1035]

evidently there's something more to want, because you said 'used to have'

 

[Tom Servo]

I UESD TO HAVE A P345 AND IT WORK GREAT AND IT WAS GOOD FOR CONCELMENT AND IT WAS A HAND CANON WHAT MORE DO U WANT IN A GUN

Good lord, that just makes my head hurt. A run-on sentence with four spelling errors and a total lack of punctuation is annoying enough, but typing it out in ALL CAPS just adds icing to the cake. Please, reach over and hit that key next to the "A" before typing! Think of the children!

A friend of mine has one of these, and I have to admit to being pretty impressed with it for the price. I've always had three principal complaints with Rugers: weight, size and trigger. The P345 is as light as one of those Austrian plastic dealies, it's much thinner (and the checkering is really nice), and the DA trigger is very light, though still a bit gritty. SA is a bit heavier than I'm used to, but I'm also used to paying >$700 for most of my guns

I detest magazine-disconnects, and the safety (to me) is backwards, but if you're okay with that, it's a solid $400-500 gun. I've not heard of any problems beyond the usual internet stuff, and it seemed reasonably accurate in the little time I spent with it.

As far as long-term reliability, it IS a new model, so you might want to wait. One thing you'll hear quite often though: Rugers may be big and clunky, but they simply don't die.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

I had the same problems with my P345.

Failure to feed, failure to eject, slam shuts (insert mag and slide goes home), and that's about it.

Sometimes rounds would cram themselves straight up in the action. Sometimes they would start to feed and then stop halfway through. Sometimes they would just jam up in the magazine and not feed correctly.
A guy at my local gun shop gave me the "there's a burr on the bolt face that's making all that happen." speech. It seems all of his customers who had purchased the 345 had this same issue. All of them. And, he had a quick fix.
I kept running ammo through mine just accepting that it was an autoloader and that's what they did. When I shot IDPA, jams and failures were de rigeur for the brasspuker set. And, I griped a lot about it on here and on rugerforum.
Then, I went back to CZ. A CZ85 combat to be exact. No problems.

The problem isn't so much the gun. I just expect more out of Ruger than to force customers to beta test a weapon. I bought in early when it was released. I have lots of respect for John Taffin, so when he wrote a favorable article on it, I ran out that day and bought one. In JT's defense, I understand he has one on his nightstand. That's how much he likes them.
700+ rounds (quite a bit of money) and plenty of failures later I have a ton of money invested in a weapon that I absolutely cannot trust with my life.
A friend offered to trade a Dan Wesson .357 for it and I jumped on it.

I do like the ergos, weight, and feel of it. It's a fabulous weapon if you find one that works well. Mine was laser beam accurate. It's a shame really. Ruger should never have let them out the door with these problems. I'll never buy another Ruger autoloader.

 

[stolivar]

had one

I had one and loved it. I also hated it. The biggest drawbacks for me was the disconect and the backward safety. I had to sell it.


steve

 

[The Goose]

I had one and loved it, for about the first 400 rounds. Then things started to go wrong. FTF's, FTE"s, jams, slide not closing etc. No doubt Ruger could have rectified these problems, but quite simply I lost confidence in the gun. Sold it cheap to someone willing to deal with it.

When it worked it was great. Comfortable to shoot and accurate. I just was not willing to work out the bugs.

 

[puffiewon]

My KP345D

I actually just bought one about a month ago. No problems with it so far. As far as the backwards safety, I got the decocker model, so no probs with that either. Most of you who had problems probably bought them when they first came out, I suggest that you take another look at the new ones. I wish it could take a 10 round mag, but when using 230 grain hydra-shoks, I don't think I'll ever need 2 extra rounds. My rule of thumb is when buying things like guns, cars, houses, is never to buy the first year of production or the last year of production. Of course, in CA everything comes later with guns.

 

[MCgunner]

I wouldn't buy the safety model and if I did, like I do with my P85, I'd kick it off safe soon as I decock it. I prefer the decocker model like my P90. You don't need no stinkin' safety on a DA gun, that's the whole reason for being DA in the first place! Only reason I have a safety model with the P85 is I found it like new, used, for $200 and wasn't about to let it go at that price! It's a real nice gun, but does have a stiffer trigger than my P90. But, it's fun to shoot accurate and reliable.

I'd thought about getting a P345, but I really don't want a .45ACP carry gun. .45 is a great caliber, but I think the 9mm is just as good in the self defense roll and it works better in smaller guns. I don't think I'd carry a P345 anymore than I carry my P90, so, I don't really want one all that much. The P90 is reliable to the max, accurate to the max, my favorite auto pistol for sure, but at 33 ounces and rather large, it's a bit porky for a CCW in south Texas. I still carry it in winter from time to time just because I can, but it's not an all day gun like my little 9.

 

[dookiesbud]

On my P345, the slide didnt want to close at first, but I think I solved the problem to mine. I think the problem was the tension on the magazine. If the magazine was full, the slide didnt closed, but when I took one or two, the slide would closed. So I just loaded the mags to full capacity for a while till the tension loosened up. It worked, I havent had a problem since then.

 

[dookiesbud]

Ohh by the way, which holster do yall use to carry. Im going to need a concealed holster soon. My CHL will be here this week.

 

[psychophipps]

I use a Ted Blocker DA3 IWB for my P97DC. Seems to be a good, secure holster even without the safety strap. Not sure if he has a P345 model made up yet.

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )