The P345 is by far the best feeling Ruger to hold. I couldnt get used to all the older block style grips. The triggers are better also, my SA pull, is around 5#, which aint bad. As far as accuracey, it must be hit or miss, because mine is a tack driver, as well as a friend of mines gun. The majority of the problems with the P345, are caused by dry firing without the magazine, which in a gun store, happens all day long. Dont care for all the lawyer friendly safety stuff, but saddly, more guns are being built that way. Did I mention, I love my P345!?
Ruger P345 - Good range gun?
- Thread starter Dollar An Hour
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ugaarguy
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Do a search on Rock Island Armory (RIA) 1911s here and look at www.m1911.org. Owners seem to really like their RIAs. So I would say that at around$300 (seems to be the going price online) + another $50 or so for shipping & FFL fees you could indeed get a great value 45 ACP pistol that is at least as good as the P345. Of course the Ruger P97 is a single stack and I rarely hear complaints on it, at least as far as funtion/reliabilty go. There are quite a few Bersa fans here on THR and they also make a single stack 45. Hopefully this helps expand your options.
MCgunner
Member
Try one. The P97 has a different grip, too, might fit better. I can't think of another single stack DA 9 at the moment except for the glock 36, which is a "safe action" and not DA or DAO. Have you tried the G36? Price is up there on it, though, compared to Ruger. I don't care for "safe action" for carry, ain't too safe, but for a range gun or perhaps competition, it'd be fine.
CarbineKid
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I am in the same boat you are. Im looking for a new 45 for the range and home defense. The P90 is at the top of my list. I crossed off the CZ97 becasue it is not designed to shoot hollow point(found out on a CZ forum). I considered the S&W 457s, but ruled it out. Its a sweet gun, but I already have a 3913, and I want something diffrent. Another gun I have to take a good look at is Taurus 945. I dont have much info on it yet.
Dollar An Hour
Member
1911
Decided that I think I'll go the 1911 route, every collection needs one! Slim grip, feels good in the hand. Ninety-bazillion fans can't be wrong.
Looking at Springfield Mil-Spec, S&W 1911 and Colt M1991, maybe something else I don't know, gotta do my homework now, since I've avoided 1911's up to now.
Decided that I think I'll go the 1911 route, every collection needs one! Slim grip, feels good in the hand. Ninety-bazillion fans can't be wrong.
Looking at Springfield Mil-Spec, S&W 1911 and Colt M1991, maybe something else I don't know, gotta do my homework now, since I've avoided 1911's up to now.
ugaarguy
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Please folks, Glocks ARE SAFE. If you obey the four rules, namely keeping your finger off the trigger until ready to fire, Glocks will not AD/ND without operator error. They are perfectly safe mechanically - comes back to that safety between your ears thing.
Please note, this is in no way personal. If you don't like Glock's safety sysytems I understand, many people don't. I simply ask that that folks would not blame a mechanical design as being unsafe when that simply isn't the case.
wheelgunslinger
Member
I had a P345. I've expressed my problems with it ad nausea on the Ruger forum to the point that people accused me of being anti-Ruger. Just for the record, I bought a Ruger over anything else because of the volume of their wheelguns I've owned and because of a propaganda/Article by a famous big bore sixgun writer who endorsed it.
First and foremost:
Pros-
Accuracy: My P345 was super accurate. Like a flippin' laser. Gosh!!! At combat ranges of 1-15 meters I did the old "one ragged hole" thing with it.
Comfortability: Very comfy for my big mitts. I got no hammer bite. I got no problems at all in that department.
Looks: I got the blued slide model with the Picca-whosits rail. I intended to keep it as a house gun and then wound up using as a carry weapon. It was just a great looking weapon. Shame, really.
(and now, the sour grapes)
Cons-
Slam shuts: that's right. If you vigorously drove a mag home, it would just go ahead and charge itself. This was caused by the slide lock lever being out of tolerance from the factory. It bothered me to no end. I don't want a weapon doing things I don't tell it to do.
FTF, FTE, stovepiping, etc.: yep. the gremlins of the brasspuker set.
I was nearly willing to put up with it and do the whole back and forth through the mail fandango with Ruger, until I needed it to function when my life was at stake. Then, I pretty much crossed it off of my list of firearms and relegated it to the same status as a 1911 Auto Ordnance (pre-Kahr), which means Paperweight ( I have one sitting beside my Apple ibook right now as I type that is holding down papers- something I never do with a wheelgun). A friend got interested in the Ruger, and I now have a Dan Wesson 357, and it's the only gun I ever lost money on. And, I will never ever buy another Ruger product again. That gun was just an example of sloppy workmanship and a poor work ethic. Ruger knew they had a problem, but they shipped them anyway. And, it nearly cost me my life for them to make a couple hundred bucks off of me.
My brasspuker chores are now handled by CZ. And, I'm a happy customer.
So, there ya have it. The meat of my experience with my Ruger P345. I will, for the rest of my life, warn people away from them.
First and foremost:
Pros-
Accuracy: My P345 was super accurate. Like a flippin' laser. Gosh!!! At combat ranges of 1-15 meters I did the old "one ragged hole" thing with it.
Comfortability: Very comfy for my big mitts. I got no hammer bite. I got no problems at all in that department.
Looks: I got the blued slide model with the Picca-whosits rail. I intended to keep it as a house gun and then wound up using as a carry weapon. It was just a great looking weapon. Shame, really.
(and now, the sour grapes)
Cons-
Slam shuts: that's right. If you vigorously drove a mag home, it would just go ahead and charge itself. This was caused by the slide lock lever being out of tolerance from the factory. It bothered me to no end. I don't want a weapon doing things I don't tell it to do.
FTF, FTE, stovepiping, etc.: yep. the gremlins of the brasspuker set.
I was nearly willing to put up with it and do the whole back and forth through the mail fandango with Ruger, until I needed it to function when my life was at stake. Then, I pretty much crossed it off of my list of firearms and relegated it to the same status as a 1911 Auto Ordnance (pre-Kahr), which means Paperweight ( I have one sitting beside my Apple ibook right now as I type that is holding down papers- something I never do with a wheelgun). A friend got interested in the Ruger, and I now have a Dan Wesson 357, and it's the only gun I ever lost money on. And, I will never ever buy another Ruger product again. That gun was just an example of sloppy workmanship and a poor work ethic. Ruger knew they had a problem, but they shipped them anyway. And, it nearly cost me my life for them to make a couple hundred bucks off of me.
My brasspuker chores are now handled by CZ. And, I'm a happy customer.
So, there ya have it. The meat of my experience with my Ruger P345. I will, for the rest of my life, warn people away from them.
I really liked the way the 345 felt in my hand but the magazine safety flat turned me off so went with the P97. It's my everyday carry gun. It's reliable, accurate, fairly ligtweight and conceals much easier than many would have you believe. A Hogue Handall does improve handling.
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