Fate and a New Gun

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USMC 1975

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Yesterday three of my buddies and I decided to ride our motorcycles to breakfast and then hit the gun shops looking for a new 9 mm for myself. The breakfast was great but the trips to the gun shops were depressing.

One shop after another had nothing but overpriced 9's sitting on their shelves. I wanted a good reliable rugged 9mm strictly for the range.

At the last gun shop I said screw it, let's head back home these guns are to rich for my blood. As I was heading out the door a guy standing there with his young son had a 9mm he was trying to sell to the dealer. The guy behind the counter said the owner wasn't in and he couldn't buy it.

When we got outside I asked him what he had and he opened the box and there was a Ruger P-85 in stainless and in mint condition. I asked him how much he wanted and he said $ 200 bucks.

My next words were SOLD.

I got the gun home and went through it and it looks like its brand new. I don't think 100 rounds have been fired through this gun. He said he has had it since new and never used it.

My son in law who is a LEO is running the numbers to be sure it isn't stolen but I do not think it is. No one in their right mind would take a gun into a gun dealer and try selling them a stolen pistol.

So I finally have a 9mm to shoot at the range. Now all I need to do is find ammo.......:(

Chris
 
Nice grab. I have often wondered how gunshops feel when they don't buy a trade in and another customer buys it.
I had a chance to buy a Browning HP that the shop turned down because the gun owner wanted more than the shop would pay.
I did not do it because I was purchasing a vintage pistol from the shop, but wondered how the shop owner would respond.
 
You may find that some folks are critical of the P-85 for various reasons.

I've regarded them very fondly since the weekend I borrowed one from a neighbor for a defensive shooting course. Over that weekend, the P-85 fired TWELVE HUNDRED of my cast-bullet reloads without a single bobble, and without cleaning. It was FILTHY, but still working just fine.

I think you got one heck of a good gun for a VERY nice price. When it came time to buy my daughter her first autoloader, the P-85 was long out of production...but the later P-95 has served us very well. It's too big for a lady's hide-out gun, but that wasn't the reason for buying it. We saw it as a training and fun-shooting piece and the whole family enjoyed it. (Her carry gun is a short-barreled Springfield 1911 in .45 ACP.)

Congrats, and pay no attention to the nay-sayers. You have a good pistola...
 
I saw a P85 at a pawn shop just yesterday. They wanted $459 for it! This pawn shop is notorious for their high prices though.
You got a great deal.
 
I believe the P-85 was built specifically for the military and LEO's. It is an extremely rugged gun and will take a great deal of abuse and keep firing.

But the drawbacks of the P-85 is that they are not as accurate as their brothers the P-89 and P-95's. The 85 also had a recall on the safety. Supposedly a couple guns misfired when the decocking safety was applied and the gun had a broken firing pin. Ruger has offered free replacement of the safety to bring it up to standards. Mine has yet to be converted.

I did notice it has a very long trigger pull but it is smooth.

Still, for what I want it for, I think its a nice cheap rugged 9 mm to play with at the range. My other choices were two to three times as much money so this fit the bill and made my banker ( the wife ) very happy. :)

Chris
 
I saw a P85 at a pawn shop just yesterday. They wanted $459 for it! This pawn shop is notorious for their high prices though.
Click to expand...

I saw one at a Gun & Pawn shop here last week, price tag $450, out the door for a used gun . This P85 had never had the safety mod done either.
 
The Good news is that my son in law ran the serial numbers on the P 85 I just bought and it came back clean.

The bad news is I am still trying to locate 9 mm ammo. :(

I solve one problem and run into another. Hopefully this problem will be alleviated once I start reloading. My dealer had 3 boxes of 380 ammo on his shelf ( Target quality ) and wanted $ 40 a box for it. He had no 9mm ammo at all and had no idea when he would get more in.

There is alot of hoarding going on I guess.

Chris
 
Now all I need to do is find ammo.......
Click to expand...

I ran into the same problem when I purchased my XDm 9. I had to resort to the internet at first. I went to ammunition to go as they had decent prices. I still cannot find 9mm in my area except for a range about 45 minutes from me. It was worth the drive though as they had Magtech 115gr for $219/case.

I think you got a sweet deal on the gun. Congrats!
 
Early Ruger P series is one the better deals out there. Three years ago I scored a p-89 w/ three mags. for 200 $ It looked as though it were never / hardly fired. The GF and I shot hundreds if not thousands of rounds through it without so much as a stovepipe. It took a lickin' and kept on tickin' and goin' and goin' and goin' ! I say they are pretty good guns for the money !

I later sold it to a friend that was looking to protect his home and family from numerous breakins, fearing the guy (his stepson 'banger) might later hurt someone. I sold it to him for the same $200...............:cool:
 
I have never cared for them, but a buddy at work has one and loves it. :) At that price, you could not go wrong.
 
The P 85 is a very heavy gun. It was designed for the military and for LEO's but to carry it as a personal weapon, I probably never will. Its just to big and I will rely on my Bersa as a carry weapon.

The P-85 is not known to be dead accurate but it will take a great deal of abuse that the average gun owner will never put their guns through. I find the size perfect for my ham hands and actually wished it had a slightly bigger grip.

Here is a link on the P-85 series gun.

http://www.webwonks.org/Extra/NRA/Armory.html

Here is a link I found on the history of " P " series guns. It covers everything from the first P-85 up through the P-95.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruger_P_series

I plan on using it strictly for the range and at home as a defense weapon.

Chris
 
I just bought a 1991 P85 MK II. $180, but no magazines.

Search Rugar's website and you can find the manuals in PDF form. They were offering to install the safety upgrade for nearly free. You pay to ship to them, they pay to ship to you, and they throw in a 10 round mag for your troubles.

They also have a phone number to call to see if your P85 needs the upgrade done.

Another link on their site shows when the handgun was made based on the serial number. Mine starts with 302- so it was made in 1991.

I picked up a used 17 round mag in the clearance bin of a local gun shop, $4.99 :D. I also bought a couple from some sellers on www.gunbroker.com. I'll look them over closely once they come in to see if they are as advertized or if they are counterfeits :scrutiny:.

I can't wait to wear it out this weekend!

9mm ammo is hard to find, but out there here in Tennessee. $21 for 50 Winchester target rounds at wally world. About $1 a round for defensive ammo at the local gun shop.

-Jim
 
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