Ruger P Series

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I had a P85 in the early 90's. What I wanted was a Sig 226 at the time, but what I could afford was the P85. I liked it much more than the M9 that I was issued.
 
Got's me a SS Ruger Model P85 MKII in 9mm. Brick of a gun, pretty in it's own right. Eats ammo like a croc eating a Zebra. Super reliable, decent trigger. At 1 to 20 yrds, It'll put a group no larger then a silver dollar on it's mark. A keepers keeper. It is my nightstand gun.
 
I have a few of the 9mms. My wife likes them because the slides are easy to operate and the recoil is low. I like them because they're durable and reliable.
 
I have the last model of the P, the P345. I like shooting it. Nice feel in the hands. It's my reload tester also. :)
I always figure I would buy one of the older ones if I came across one. I haven't seen one in the stores yet.
 
I bought a P89DC as my first semi-auto in 1991.

I traded for a P95DC in 2001 and just put Handleit grip tape wraps on it. Feels great

Both great pistols
 
Here's some good P-series eye candy for ya. My P89 , P89 limited run , and P90. I also have an extra P89 Decock-only slide assembly to turn my P89 a decock-only from the safety-decock. All I have to do is put on the slide and then I have a Decock-only P89.

IMG_6692.jpg
 
I got into P-Series guns after they were discontinued, and all of these were the result of bargain-hunting at local shops.

My first P-Series gun was the special edition P90 with the carbon slide, stainless controls, gray frame, and wraparound grips. It had been a police confiscated weapon and I got it for $180. It is in excellent condition. I have a complete P90DC slide and original "slab" grips on the way from ebay just for funzies so I can switch up the configuration.

I have two identical late production P95s that I got as a package deal for $300. Oddly, though they popped into the store's used counter on the same day, they had different origins. One had just come in in trade, and the other was from the store's shooting range and was being retired. It wasn't a popular rental and nobody could ever even remember it being rented. The range gun has no wear whatsoever. The other has slight holster wear. They were sitting side by side in the used cabinet and the owner wanted them gone because they specialized in newer, popular guns. Both had the yucky 10-round mags, and I just outfitted them with Mec-Gar 17 rounders. Now they are 17+1 guns and I'm happy. :)

The early model two-tone P-95DC and the P89DC are in brand new condition and both were bought for a song.

Here is a group pic.

92508635_515633972454136_8583942769024696320_n.jpg
 
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I've owned several. They are all gone and I don't miss them at all.

But Antonio Banderas sporting twin Ruger P90's in the movie Desperado was one of the cooler uses of the P series guns. Probably sold a lot of them.
 
Since we're talking about these pistols, I want to ask those who were around in the late 80s when these came out, what was the draw to choosing these over other semi auto pistols at the time? Was it solely the price (I read on wikipedia these were $100 less than other semi autos) or was there not much to choose from back then for higher capacity/doublestack semi auto pistols?
 
TTv2 said:
Since we're talking about these pistols, I want to ask those who were around in the late 80s when these came out, what was the draw to choosing these over other semi auto pistols at the time? Was it solely the price (I read on wikipedia these were $100 less than other semi autos) or was there not much to choose from back then for higher capacity/doublestack semi auto pistols?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the P series was always cheaper than Sig, Beretta, Browning and S&W. But the growing popularity of Glocks was insurmountable and Ruger finally pulled the plug in 2009.
 
My truck gun is a P89 DAO 9mm that was part of a special run built for Chicago's PD. Apparently Chicago canceled the order and the guns eventually hit the distributors. It's like a 15 shot revolver, kinda.
 
TTv2 said:
Since we're talking about these pistols, I want to ask those who were around in the late 80s when these came out, what was the draw to choosing these over other semi auto pistols at the time? Was it solely the price (I read on wikipedia these were $100 less than other semi autos) or was there not much to choose from back then for higher capacity/doublestack semi auto pistols?
Click to expand...
It was large and clunky.

It had the PC smell and corporate petulance of Bill Ruger all over it which mattered to a lot of buyers. The *P* series wasn't PC but Bill was VERY PC and it showed in so much of his corporate decision making. His sand-box, his rules so I get it.

People didn't often trust it for over interpretation of failing the Joint Service Pistol tests. An unfair assessment in my opinion.

Many folk did not yet trust Ruger's epic inroads into casting and also alloy frames on full-sized, service grade autos.

Magazines, as was Ruger's wont, were stupidly expensive at the time.

Aftermarket for it was slim to non-existent in mags, holsters, sights and upgrades.

There were a LOT of things in the tide running against the *P* series but cost, reliability, customer service and basic architectural soundness were nowhere to be found on the negative side of the ledger.

As is already hinted at in this thread, these WILL be a significant era-collection gun one day and in fact, we are already at the cusp of that.

Todd.
 
Otto writes:

...Ruger finally pulled the plug in 2009.
Click to expand...

The P90 was a model discontinued that year. The P95 lasted until October of 2013 (about four months after I got mine, though mine was used.)

That ended the run of the entire P-series.
 
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