Looking at SR9C

[DavidB2]

My wife is wanting her own pistol. She likesy glock 19 but wants a pistol with safeties. Needs to bigger than compact, but small enough that she can purse carry. Also wants to be able to shoot it at range. She doesn't want it so small that she would fight muzzle flip.

My search has focused on Ruger SR9C. Small enough to carry but large enough to shoot at Range. Especially with extend/adapter clip. The only only option is M&P9 shield. Any thoughts?

 

[bangswitch]

I have a SR40c and love it. The 9mm's lower recoil would be nicer for a woman. The .40 is just incrementally larger than the 9mm; they will fit the same holster, but the .40 is a tighter fit. That's for comparison sake; my .40 fits my hand perfectly, and I wear a size 8 surgical glove. The double stack grip isn't so big unless you have tiny hands. My .40 came with a 9 round and 15 round magazine, I believe the 9mm holds one more in each size mag.

The action on mine is very smooth, the safety and slide lock are nicely located, and the trigger pull is smooth, break is crisp. If you've shot a Glock, the trigger pull feels similar. The safety and mag release are ambidexterous.

If she needs something smaller, the new, striker fired LC9 is nice, too. It's a single stack and even easier to conceal than the SR series. The lighter weight gives a bit more felt recoil, though.

I own both, BTW, the LC9 and the SR40c.

 

[RustyShackelford]

M&P Compact?....

Did she look at a Smith & Wesson M&P Compact?
It comes in a safety(ambi/frame) version. With or without a magazine safety.
The S&W models come with lifetime warranties too.

note; the Ruger SR pistols come with a mag safety only. S&W gives you a choice. I prefer the non-magazine safety but some CCW/private citizens like the safety feature.
In short it means a pistol magazine must be properly seated for the handgun to fire.
The Bersa Concealed Carry 9mm, Hi-Powers & a few others have magazine safeties.

She could look at the Beretta PX4 Storm Compact. It comes with a slide type safety & is highly rated.
It does not have a magazine safety.

 

[DaddioDan]

David...ultimately, the choice is hers - what she likes, what feels good in her hand, how she shoots with it.

Having said that, I have a SR9c and absolutely love it. Accurate, reliable and a superb trigger. In my opinion, of course. Your mileage - and most importantly HERS - might vary.

Other reasons I like the SR9c a it has a safety. It has a safety. Silly me, but this is both important and comforting to me. Yes it has the Glock-like safety trigger, but I am uncomfortable relying on just the safety trigger to prevent a ND incident.

Yes, it has a mag disconnect. I am ambivalent about the mag disconnect. However, it's super simple to remove, if you so desire. As if it was designed to be easily removed, which I've done. And I can put it back in just as easily.

It does have a pretty stiff spring which may make the slide difficult to manipulate. Part of the reason its such a soft shooting pistol. There are, however, techniques she can use to deal with this.

Bottom line, best she handle and shoot one to see if it fits her needs and comfort. There are smaller 9s but to me it is a great compromise between size and comfort. And I'll throw in very good accuracy and easy followup shots.

Good luck to you both.

 

[rule303]

The SR9C is a solid choice if it feels good to her. Take her to the gun shop with you, or even better a range that has rental guns. Once she tries a few, she may find something totally different than what you were originally looking at.

 

[verdun59]

Great gun at a good price. Mine has been totally reliable and I like it better than my Shield. But the shield is a good gun also and a little easier to carry. I realize I haven't helped at all. It's a tough choice just try both of them.

 

[Armored farmer]

I think you're on the right track with an SR9c. My son has one. It is smallish, reliable, and very easy to shoot accurately. Almost anyone that picks it up can begin ringing my homemade double-bull buffalo steel target. The loaded chamber indicator is a nice feature, as is the hi-cap extended magazine. My son has a weapon light on his too, if you like that sort of thing.

 

[bangswitch]

note; the Ruger SR pistols come with a mag safety only.

I respectfully disagree. It comes with at least three safeties:

1-Trigger design, means your finger must be on the trigger in order for it to be moved to the rear to fire (just like the Glock Safe Action trigger)

2- Magazine disconnect, gun will not fire with magazine removed

3-slide safety, which is ambidextrous. It blocks the striker when engaged.

4- you could almost consider the loaded chamber indicator a safety. It is readily visible, sticking up if there is a round in the chamber.

But, the most reliable safety is operator awareness, not to trust mechanical safeties. Keep your booger hook off the bangswitch until ready to fire.

 

[spacemanspiff.mc]

I think you misunderstood his post. What I read is the the SR9C comes only with the mag disconnect safety (does not give you an option, it will come this way in the gun). The M&P may be ordered with or without the mag disconnect safety. He is not saying that the mag disconnect is the only safety on the gun.

 

[likesguns]

I have one and love it,I don't really care for the safety so I do not use it,I also removed the magazine disconnect.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Post #8, oh BangSwitch......

By magazine safety only I mean the Ruger SR pistols do not have customer/buyer choices of with or without like the M&Ps.
Of course, the Rugers have other safety levers. The magazine safety is not a choice.

Rusty

 

[fanchisimo]

My SR9c is my EDC and I can't praise it enough. I've tried other pistols, but I always perform better with my Ruger. Mine probably has 1300-1500 rounds through it and with no malfunctions that I can think of. If you're looking for a SD round, my SR9c does well with Federal HST standard pressure hollow points.

If the Mag Disconnect is a concern, it is a 2-5 minute job at the most to remove it. I think the Loaded Chamber Indicator is obnoxious, but doesn't impact function one bit, just aesthetics. I wish they'd offer it without the manual safety though. I use it and practice disengaging it when drawing, but that is only because I know there would be a chance the safety gets turned on during my daily movement if I went around with the safety off. Bottom line, I'd trust the pistol to be safe without a manual safety, but since it has it there's another step that could go wrong in an SD situation. That's just my 2 cents though. It's a good pistol and you can't go wrong with it.

 

[TarDevil]

Fantastic gun. It would still be my EDC if not for chronic back pain that drove me to a smaller, lighter gun (Ruger LC9s). Utterly reliable through 2000 rounds, ergonomically perfect for my hands, low recoil, accurate. Hard to beat.

 

[herrwalther]

Keep in mind the SR9c is almost the exact same size as a G26, the subcompact in Glock's 9mm and smaller than the G19. If she likes firearms about the size of the G19, the full size SR9 or 9e would be a better choice to fit her preference. I am unsure about how the M&P9 models compare as I have yet to handle any.

 

[Scarpia]

Needs to bigger than compact, but small enough that she can purse carry.

If you consider other calibers besides 9mm, you have a greater selection of guns that fit this requirement. I'd look at a 380 Auto such as the Sig P238 or P938 in 9mm. If these guns are too light for range use, then I'd look at a Browning BDA 380 or possibly a Bersa Thunder in 380. The 380 list is endless.

 

[ku4hx]

It does have a pretty stiff spring which may make the slide difficult to manipulate. Part of the reason its such a soft shooting pistol. There are, however, techniques she can use to deal with this.

This. Wife likes hers a lot ... so do I. But the RSA is rather stiff and raking the slide takes more effort than say her LC9. She now uses the "hand over" method.

Other than that, it's a great gun: reliable, accurate and "soft" shooting.

 

[bannockburn]

Like others have posted I love my SR9c. I tried a number of compact 9mm.s, including the Glock 19 and S&W M&P Compact and the Ruger had the best fit for my smaller hand size and the best ergonomics. I also liked that it had a manual frame mounted safety. The trigger on my particular gun is better than the ones I tried on the Glock and S&W guns and the sights are easy and quick to acquire. All in all a great choice in a compact pistol.

 

[TfflHndn]

My SR9c is my predominant carry gun. Reliable, more than "self-defense accurate" and comfortable to shoot. It's a good gun at a good price.

 

[DavidB2]

Magazine dis-connect safety advantage

From personal experience magazine disconnect is an advantage for new shooters. A friend of mine not familiar with his new pistol once racked a round and dropped the clip while we were target shooting. He then pointed muzzle in my direction. I yelled at him that gun was still loaded. He was oblivious thinking if magazine was out the gun was safe; and I never went shooting with him again.

This incident showed me the value of a disconnect safety when it comes to new or inexperienced shooters.

 

[stchman]

Did she look at a Smith & Wesson M&P Compact?
It comes in a safety(ambi/frame) version. With or without a magazine safety.
The S&W models come with lifetime warranties too.

note; the Ruger SR pistols come with a mag safety only. S&W gives you a choice. I prefer the non-magazine safety but some CCW/private citizens like the safety feature.
In short it means a pistol magazine must be properly seated for the handgun to fire.
The Bersa Concealed Carry 9mm, Hi-Powers & a few others have magazine safeties.

She could look at the Beretta PX4 Storm Compact. It comes with a slide type safety & is highly rated.
It does not have a magazine safety.

The magazine disconnect on Ruger's SR pistols are easily removed. There are dozens of videos on YouTube that show you how to remove them.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Slow your roll....

First; re; #19, I would not go target shooting with anyone that reckless or inconsiderate. The magazine safety issue wouldn't be a factor.
I do agree though, the pistol mag safety is ideal for the casual shooter or new gun owners who may store a home defense pistol without a mag in the frame to deter any "little hands" or untrained adults from tampering with it.
I think Ruger's robust & popular P series(P90, P89, P94, etc) had magazine safety devices too but I may be wrong.

I'd add that if you use a Ruger SR pistol or any semi auto with a mag safety for CCW or home defense, I would not remove the safety or tinker with it.
If in the future, you need to fire the pistol in a lethal force event, a firearms examiner or criminal investigator may bring up the point that you removed a safety device from the handgun.
You might say; "hey, so what" or "who cares" but these points can & do come up.
Massad Ayoob, www.MassadAyoobgroup.com , wrote of a lawyer who had a ND with his .45acp pistol. The bullet struck & killed his office assistant. The woman's family filed a civil action & in the trial, the lawyer's Hi-Power 9mm pistol with the magazine safety removed became a issue in the case.
I've seen well known pistol-smiths state on the company websites they will not alter or modify magazine safety parts for legal/civil action reasons.

 

[bangswitch]

By magazine safety only I mean the Ruger SR pistols do not have customer/buyer choices of with or without like the M&Ps.
Of course, the Rugers have other safety levers. The magazine safety is not a choice.

Rusty

I gotcha now. My bad. I read it as that being the only safety on the pistol, not that it was the only way the pistol was offered. What's the big deal with a mag interlock safety anyway? I just go bang, bang, bang until the slide locks back, and have another full mag ready. And if you remove a mag before finishing it off, the proper procedure is to rack the slide to ensure an empty chamber.

 

[xxjumbojimboxx]

I loved my sr9c, I put almost 20000 rounds through it before I let her go. Still kinda sad about it. It was the first handgun I'd purchased and I was most accurate with that than any other (probably because I shot it so much). I got almost retail for it because it didn't look like it had eaten that many bullets. It held up so well. Never shot any high pressure loads threw it though. I think shell like it. Recoil is mild, trigger is a little stiff but otherwise very easy to learn and be accurate with.



EDIT. Good lord, I spent a LOT of money feeding that thing... Oh well... it was worth it.

 

[fanchisimo]

I have a decent reason for removing my mag safety. Sometimes during the course of the day I will move just right and hit the mag release. Should that happen and I have to use it my pistol will be unable to fire. Granted if I hit that mag button I will only get one shot, but that's better than none. Plus it lets me dry fire it with less wear on the weapon.

 

[Mike J]

Rusty Shackleford wrote

I think Ruger's robust & popular P series(P90, P89, P94, etc) had magazine safety devices too but I may be wrong.

The only P series Ruger that had the magazine disconnect safety was the P-345. I seriously considered buying on back in '07. I really liked the ergonomics. If you want to know why I didn't google "P-345 click no bang". From what I have read the newer SR pistols use a more robust magazine disconnect safety but I still don't like Rugers magazine disconnect design. From time to time I think about getting one of the SR series striker fired pistols but this coupled with the fact I really don't need one always holds me back.