SR9c Range Report

[Olympus]

I posted the thead a little while back about the Sig P6 vs SR9c. I took the gun to the range today with about 500 rounds to get started breaking it in and to make sure reliability was on point before I started carrying it. Only one way to sum up my experience, NOT IMPRESSED!

Failures out the a$$! I only made it through 150 rounds before I decided to give up and quit wasting ammo. Out of 150 rounds, I had 5 light primer strikes, 5 to 8 failure to feeds, and probably 25 to 30 failure to ejects. It seemed like there was a malfunction of some sort every other round. I alternated between the 10 round and 17 round magazines thinking that one of the mags would be the culprit. Malfunctions equal between the two. Ammo was just cheap plinking ammo, Winchester White Box. I ran a couple mags of S&B through thinking it might be the WWB, same result. I will be calling Ruger first thing Monday morning and sending this thing back. I'm not sure what the problem is. The failure to ejects were a combination of stovepipes and horizontal jams, with neither one being the majority. The failure to feeds were primarily the slide not wanting to go fully into battery. Sometimes a stiff heel of the hand to the back of the slide would do the trick and other times I'd have to drop the mag and open the slide to get the round out.

So needless to say, I'm disappointed in the performance. I guess I'll get some firsthand knowledge of Ruger customer service pretty soon. When I get it back, I think I'll probably put at least 1000 rounds through it before I decide to make it my carry gun.

One good thing to say about it, accuracy is dead on! For a compact gun, it groups just as tight as a full size. It grouped slightly high and to the right for me at 7 yards, so I may do some adjusting when I get it back from Ruger.

Just wanted to let people know how the first trip to the range went.

 

[Wishoot]

Sorry about your bad experience. I've seen a lot of positive reports, but it sounds like there may be a bug or two to work out of this gun still.

I'm sure Ruger will make it right however.

 

[Mike J]

Did you clean if before your range trip? If you did not that may be the root of your problems. There is a lot of information about this pistol in the semi-auto subforum at www.rugerforum.com

 

[Hanzo581]

I have about 500 rounds through my SR9c without a single hiccup. I am sorry you are having trouble with yours, I hope Ruger fixes your lemon, and quickly.

 

[Lateck]

Sorry to hear of your problems....
There has been a number of owners with issues like what you have stated and I'm very sorry to hear that, too.

I have a SR9c and I have had NO PROBLEMS at all.
Even with UMC ammo (many have posted they have had problems with UMC).
The first time out I ran 100+ rounds through it right out of the box new.

I have read that many need a good cleaning before the first firings....

Good Luck, because like you did state it's and accurate gun.

Lateck,

 

[Olympus]

Yeah, I'm pretty down about the whole thing too. I've read pretty much all the posts about this gun and the overwhelming majority were positive. It seems like my luck is still holding true. I can pick a lemon almost every time...

And yes, I did give it a thorough cleaning before my range trip. I took it all apart and cleaned all the heavy oil that came on it from the factory. I have it a couple shots of Hornady One-Shot just to provide a little lubrication on the most important places, but other than that it was clean as a whistle.

 

[redbeardsong]

Hmm... I have a new SR9c as well with 300 rounds through it, no problem. The first 110 were with the gun straight out of the case with no cleaning. Not a single issue.

 

[Runningman]

Ouch!, Sorry to hear that. Hopefully Ruger will take care of your SR9c issues.

 

[Mike J]

Sorry Olympus. I was actually hoping all it needed was a cleaning. Ruger should take care of it.

 

[Carter]

Sorry to hear that Olympus. Every gun is subject to problems though. I've seen police officers trying qualify with their new glocks and there were jams after james after jams.

Ruger should fix it up. I read one report of a guy saying he took out his magazine disconnect safety, dry fired it before doing that and after doing it countless times (big no no), ran pretty much nothing but reloads, and Ruger still fixed everything free of charge. I don't remember what the problem was, but according to his story he abused it and did everything that would void most warranties.


Hope everything gets fixed though. If not, you know that first shot will go right where you need it to

 

[buy guns]

Olympus, I had almost the exact same problems with my gun the first time I shot it, though I only put about 75 rounds through it. I didn't have any light primer strikes but the slide did fail to lock back a couple of times.

I was using UMC ammo and I didn't clean the factory grease out of it so I'm hoping that contributed to the problems. I've since cleaned it and gotten different ammo but I haven't gotten a chance to shoot it again.

 

[Tilos]

Olympus:
Sorry to here of the problems you have/had.
I think you may be giving up too soon though.

First take the gun apart and look for anything obviously wrong, a shiny spot, a big burr, etc.
Then make sure you have the gun assembled correctly, mag springs in the correct way, etc.

I don't think One-Shot is a good choice for lube, especially on the slide rails.
For me, grease goes on the slide rails and a 1/2 drop of oil into the firing pin channel.

Little guns have stiff springs that take a while to "set".
Something else I do to a new gun is remove the mag, put on some work gloves, rack the slide a couple of hundred times, and dry fire too.(check the manual about dry firing).

Hope this helps with your problems.

 

[Texas Gun Person]

Once again I am here to say only good things about my experiences with the SR9C. I have almost 1000 rounds through mine and have had not 1 problem with it.

Hope you get your problems worked out!

 

[Nushif]

Here's just an observation from my end.

In my shooting career I *grew up* on subcompact and compact pistols. (From Snubbies, to semi-autos) My current main gun, as a matter of fact is a subcompact Glock. It has never jammed and never stovepiped and never done anything that wasn't my faulty ammo. For me.
I hand it to my wife, who *grew up* on long rifles and Beretta Compacts. (read: fullsize guns) And she can't shoot the thing worth a damn. It fails to eject, fails to fire, she misses more than usual ... you name it.

That being said I'm not trying to say that shooting sub compacts means you have faulty technique, but you do have to use a *different* technique. There's a different kind of hold involved, and sometimes I daresay a different kind of trigger pull, a different kind of reaction to recoil, you name it.
I still do believe, again based on my observations that smaller guns, to run reliably either need habits trained out of people, or well ... you get your initial habits from smaller guns.

That being said, try it again and hold it very, very high on the backstrap. When shooting since you won't be able to *completely* absorb the recoil, don't let the little sucker move an inch backwards. It may pop a little. But not an INCH back. It works for me.

And if anyone says "My gun shouldn't need me to train myself for its ergonomics." then they're deluding themselves, too. If guns didn't require some training there wouldn't be any NDs in the world and we'd all be prefect shots.

 

[Olympus]

I'm confident in my technique shooting handguns, I've shot them for many years, subcompacts all the way up to Desert Eagles and Encore pistols.

I've had the gun all apart when I was cleaning it before I went to shoot. Nothing out of the norm that I saw. Mags are assembled correctly and the lips look just fine. I've been using One-Shot for a long time on all of my weapons. It's never been the cause of a problem and all of my guns are running as smooth as new. If it ain't broke, I ain't gonna fix it.

I'll go buy 50 rounds of something different this week and see if I can get it to do anything different. I don't have a lot of confidence though. I've already tried two different types of ammo.

 

[Hanzo581]

I doubt ammo will change anything, lots of us I'm sure use WWB with our SR9c's.

 

[Tilos]

Well, never mind then.
Sounds like you believe you have enough experience to sort it out, but cannot.
Send it back and keep us posted.

 

[HoosierQ]

"Numerous threads regarding the SR9c. Search function will provide you with all you want to read..."

 

[HoosierQ]

So the SR9c is working out so good for you then? That is really a shame. Seems like a nice platform. There have been so many positive reviews. I guess there are always lemons or problems with individual styles of shooting...limp wristing and whatnot. I shot a full-size SR9 right out of the box and we put 250 rounds through it at least without a single issue of any sort whatsoever. Very unfortunate.

 

[ohwell]

May I suggest cleaning it again. This time using clp or trilube or something similar spray the striker and work it back and forth do the same with the trigger group spray them work them while they are wet than spray again tip it over and let it dry. I really like to use a little synthectic grease on the rubbing parts of the barrel the lugs and the rails but oil should work well to . This was how i loosened the working parts of mine up they seemed a bit sticky until I did this.

 

[Olympus]

"Numerous threads regarding the SR9c. Search function will provide you with all you want to read..."

I'm familiar with the search feature. This isn't my first post here at THR. Not looking or searching for information either, just posting a range report.

 

[HoosierQ]

Oh my gosh that's funny Olympus. I figured you'd get it. It just keeps getting funnier.

 

[Olympus]

Oh my gosh that's funny Olympus. I figured you'd get it. It just keeps getting funnier.

I forgot to mention that I did work the slide back and forth a hundred or so times before I went to shoot. I had read a lot of posts about the slide release being pretty much impossible to press when the gun is first new. Mine was exactly the same. By the time I got done cycling the slide, I was able to get the slide to release just using my thumb. Thought that might go a long way into getting some of the pieces to break in a little, but it doesnt' seem like it.

I called Ruger this morning. They said those were all common problems with the gun. They emailed me a shipping label and the gun will be going back to them in the morning. Ruger customer service was very good. I will continue posting as I know more.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Sounds like a bad apple. These things happen to the best of 'em. I am betting that Ruger will take good care of you though. I have only used their service once, but it was good and fast. Try to be patient... it can be hard when you are excited about a new toy.

 

[Copernicus]

My SR9c is at Ruger as we speak for some barrel peening problems. So far Ruger's customer service has been wonderful. We will see when it gets back