Ruger

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I Didn’t See This Coming

January 3, 2011 by 6 Comments

After building suspense for it throughout the New Year’s Weekend, Ruger annouced they are introducing the LC9 effective February 1, 2011. It is a slightly larger 9mm version of their popular LCP .380 pistol. MSRP on the LC9 is $443.

From their press release:

The LC9 has a 3.12″ barrel, is 6.0″ long and 4.5″ tall, making for a very compact 9mm pistol. The LC9 is impressively narrow at a mere .90″ wide, and weighs only 17.1 ounces with an empty magazine. Featuring a black polymer (glass-filled nylon) frame and blued alloy steel slide and barrel, the lightweight, full-featured Ruger LC9 offers the versatility and capability of the popular 9mm cartridge in a highly compact, reliable, and user-friendly pistol…

The LC9 is a double-action-only, hammer-fired, locked-breech pistol with a smooth trigger pull. Control and confident handling of the Ruger LC9 are accomplished through reduced recoil and aggressive frame checkering for a positive grip in all conditions. The Ruger LC9 features smooth “melted” edges for ease of holstering, carrying and drawing.

Specifications:

Caliber: 9mm Luger
Capacity: 7+1
Sights: Adjustable 3-Dot
Barrel Material: Alloy Steel
Barrel Finish Blued
Slide Material Through-Hardened Alloy Steel
Slide Finish Blued
Grip Frame Black, High Performance, Glass-Filled Nylon

There has been a lot of talk on the blogs, podcasts, and forums that pocket or micro-9’s were going to be the next wave after the slew of .380s introduced in the last couple of years. It looks like Ruger took that seriously and wants to be one of the first out with a pocket 9. SigSauer introduced their Sig P290 which is another of the polymer pocket 9’s not that long ago. I’m sure we will see a number of these pocket 9’s introduced at SHOT.

As to whether I want to buy one, I’d have to shoot it first. I could see the recoil on something this small being rather snappy. Still, this new LC9 did catch me by surprise as I was expecting a full-size SR45. Maybe that is being left for introduction at the SHOT Show.

UPDATE: Michael Bane reviews the LC9 and compares it head to head with the LCP in the video below. He also has a full post on the micro or pocket 9’s here. In the comments there has been some criticism of the external manual safety. Bane comments that he likes it for carrying outside of a holster such as a fanny pack or a Wilderness Tactical Safepacker.

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What The Heck Is Up With Ruger

January 2, 2011 by 3 Comments

Ruger’s marketing department has been working overtime with teaser emails this weekend. On Saturday, I got this one.

So I just check my email a few minutes ago and found another email from Ruger. I expected them to unveil some new product like a SR45 or even the mythical 1911 that they deny they will be making. But no! I get this instead.

Enough already! Just let us know what I must absolutely have and be done with it. However, as a stockholder I must say the ad campaign is doing well at building some suspense which I hope will result in higher sales.

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Ruger Should Have Introduced This Years Ago!

December 30, 2010 by 1 Comment

I received an email from Ruger a couple of hours ago announcing their new Gunsite Scout Rifle. This is the rifle that Ruger should have introduced when they first came out with their M77 Frontier a few years ago.

The Gunsite Scout Rifle is based upon Col. Jeff Cooper’s scout rifle concept. It is a bolt-action .308 rifle with a 10-round detachable box magazine. The rifle features the integral forward scope mount typical of all scout rifles along with a ghost ring rear sight and a Mini-14 style protected front sight. It also have a flash suppressor with standard 5/8-24 muzzle threads allowing the use of other .30 caliber accessories such as different flash suppressors, muzzle brakes, or a sound suppressor.

The only thing I see missing is the third sling stud for the requisite Ching sling from Andy Langlois. Ed Head at Gunsite had this to say about it according to the Ruger press release:

“Ruger has taken an in depth look at the intended purpose of a Scout Rifle and developed a full-featured rifle designed to meet the Scout Rifle criteria of hunt, fight, defend,” says Head. “This firearm offers outstanding features in an affordable, versatile and reliable rifle designed to deliver .308 Winchester performance in a variety of situations. It is compact, lightweight, offers 10-round box magazines, can be fit to the individual shooter, and accommodates a host of optics. It is a serious rifle for those serious about rifles.”

I may not buy this rifle as I have the Ruger M77 Frontier which I have been slowly building up over of the years. If I had to do it over again, I’d go with this. Heck, I still might do it!

UPDATE: Michael Bane has a long blog post about the rifle and his impressions on shooting it out at Gunsite. He is buying one.

UPDATE II: DownRange TV has put up two videos on the new Gunsite Scout Rifle. The first includes an interview with the Colonel himself and the second continues the discussion with Dave Spaulding on how this rifle came to be.

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A Tour of the Ruger Factory in Prescott, AZ

November 9, 2010 by

Mr. Completely and KeeWee were fortunate enough to be able take a tour of the Ruger factory in Prescott, Arizona. Normally, they don’t allow factory tours. However they met Lori Petoske from Ruger at the Gun Bloggers Rendezvous and she arranged it for them.

Assembly Room

If you are a Ruger fan, and I am, both their posts are well worth a read to get an idea of the high technology that goes into every Ruger semi-auto.

The only downside to these type of plant tours is that they don’t give samples!

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Ruger SR40 – Update

October 12, 2010 by 2 Comments

Steve at The Firearm Blog announces that Ruger is making a .40 S &W version of their SR9. It is called, appropriately enough, the SR40. He does not have specs on it yet but notes that one is being offered for sale on Gunbroker.com.

Ruger SR40 as found on gunbroker.com

It appears to have virtually the same lines as the SR9. I know the SR9 got a lot of grief early on for being recalled but I like mine. It fits my hand well and shoots better than I can. The only modification that I’ve done to mine is to change the front site to a green fiber optic. I don’t know if I’m in the market for the SR40 as I have a couple of .40’s already.

Caleb at Gun Nuts Media is very excited about this new pistol. He is currently using a SR9c in his Quest for Master Class series which he likes. Caleb says he plans to do an episode on the SR40 in his Quest for Master Class series after he can get his hands on one. He notes:

I’ve been hoping for an SR40 for a while now; eventually I wanted to make a run at my USPSA GM tag in Limited-10, and with the amount of trigger time I’ve had on the SR9, this is a natural transition.

 UPDATE:  Ruger sent out an announcement e-mail on the SR40 along with its specs. It is also listed on the Ruger website. They have kept the slimness of the SR9 with only a .060″ increase in overall width for the SR40. Capacity has dropped by two rounds to 15+1 from 17+1 which is comparable to the difference between a Glock 22 and a Glock 17. Specs are as follows:

  • Caliber: .40 S&W
  • Capacity: 15+1
  • Barrel Length: 4.14″
  • Overall Length: 7.55″
  • Height: 5.52″
  • Width: 1.27″
  • Weight: 27.25 oz.

MRSP is $525.00 which is the same as for the SR9. I’m sure the street price will be much less.