We’re all on a quest for that elusive high-quality low-cost handgun. Sadly, whereas there are a whole lot of low-cost handguns chambered for 9mm, they’re typically sub-par in relation to high quality.
Nevertheless, Sturm Ruger’s new Ruger Safety 9 presents shooters a chance for an actual discount. For below $400, you may get a full-featured 9mm pistol with options often reserved for far more costly weapons.
Ruger has an extended status for designing and constructing excellent and dependable handguns that stay fairly priced. The Safety 9 is the most recent instance and comes from the LCP line of semi-automatic pistols produced by Sturm Ruger. This pistol is a hammer-fired gun in contrast to the numerous different striker-fired pistols of this dimension. This provides the Ruger Safety 9 some distinct benefits.
We’ll look at the Ruger Safety 9 intimately on this evaluation in addition to give out opinion on among the execs and cons that we discovered throughout our evaluation. Hopefully, this will provide you with a greater image of the advantages of wanting on the Ruger Safety 9 as a attainable funds possibility for a hid carry handgun.
Lineage and Heritage
Ruger has a well-established status for designing and advertising and marketing handguns. Within the class of semi-automatic pistols, Ruger has a convention that dates again a few years. The Ruger LCP got here to the market as an ultra-light self-defense gun. The design proved very talked-about with clients.
In 2016, Ruger launched an improve and barely bigger model of the LCP below the mannequin identify LCP ii. One of many main enhancements of the LCP ii over the unique LCP was the slide lock when the journal was empty.
The Ruger Safety 9 got here to market in 2017. Ruger introduced that the Safety 9 would ultimately change each the Ruger SR-Collection and LCP ii pistols. Nevertheless, regardless of the intentions, each the SR-Collection and the LCP ii are nonetheless being manufactured by Ruger.
Variations and Variants
In case you are acquainted in any respect with Ruger pistols of any variety, you already know that Ruger presents a big selection of variations of their pistol fashions in addition to variants obtainable solely from chosen sellers. The Safety 9 isn’t any exception and I’ll try to the touch on as many of those variants as attainable on this Ruger Safety 9 evaluation.
The Fundamentals
The fundamental, from the manufacturing unit, model of the Ruger Safety 9 is obtainable in both a 15-round or 10-round model (to adjust to California restrictions). In its authentic kind, the specs of the Ruger Safety 9 included the next:
Specs
- Journal capability – 15+1
- Handbook security – sure
- Barrel Materials – Alloy metal
- Barrel End – blued
- Barrel Size – 4 inches
- General Size – 7.24 inches
- Sights – Drift Adjustable Rear Sight
- Weight – 23.8 ounces
- Grip Body – Excessive-Efficiency Glass-Crammed Nylon
- Slide Materials – Via-hardened alloy metal
- Slide End – Black Oxide
- Slide Width – 1.02 inches
- Top general – 5 inches
- Lands and grooves – 6
- Twist price – 1:10 proper hand
- Consists of 2 15-round magazines
This model of the Ruger Safety 9 shouldn’t be obtainable in Massachusetts or in California. A ten-round capability model is offered in these states.
The Variations on the Theme
Each the compact and customary fundamental fashions can be found with a number of variations from the manufacturing unit. The variations on the essential mannequin embody a number of of those choices.
Laser Sights
For those who favor a laser sight mounted in your private protection pistol, Ruger presents the Safety 9 fundamental mannequin with a Veridian E-Collection Crimson Laser manufacturing unit mounted. This feature is offered on both the compact or customary dimension fashions.
Upgraded Grips
Many individuals discover the grips dimension of the Ruger Safety 9 to be a bit small for bigger palms.
Ruger has partnered with Hogue grips to supply an upgraded grip that includes a Hogue Grip Sleeve to make the pistol simpler to grip and maintain. You may get a compact mannequin or a normal mannequin with this upgraded grip possibility.
Supplier Solely Fashions
Ruger companions with quite a lot of wholesale and retail distributors to supply the Ruger Safety 9 in particular editions. Among the many sellers and retailers that provide particular choices are the next:
Davidson’s Distributor Exclusives
Davidson selected to supply a distinct tackle the Ruger Safety 9 by providing the essential pistol with a Cerakote end in Darkish Earth. The darkish earth Cerakote completed pistols can be found in both customary or compact sizes.
One other Davidson unique is titled the Battleworn Flag Cerakote end. That is an especially hanging pistol and as a presentation gun, this is a superb selection.
Talo Distributor Exclusives
Talo presents two fashions of the compact model of the Safety 9 pistol with a decidedly completely different tackle trend. These two Talo fashions have frames and grips completed in turquoise. You’ll be able to specify a black slide or a silver Cerakote slide end. The total-sized Safety 9 can also be obtainable with the turquoise body and grip, however solely the black end is offered on the slide.
Lipsey’s Distribution Exclusives
Lipsey Wholesale has its personal variation on the Safety 9 themes. You may get a Safety 9 with a flat darkish earth grip and body and black-oxide completed slide. This variation is offered in each compact and full-size fashions.
Sports activities South Distribution Exclusives
Sports activities South presents the essential full-sized Ruger Safety 9 with the black grip and body and a silver Cerakote slide end. Presently, this variation is barely obtainable within the full-sized mannequin.
RSR Group Distribution Exclusives
The RSR Teams’ tackle the Ruger Safety 9 provides this pistol a hanging look. The grip and body are completed in what RSR calls Cobalt Kinetic Cerakote. The bluish-gray end with a black slide is visually beautiful.
Huge Rock Sports activities Distribution Exclusives
In case you are into coyote brown on your gear and different equipment, Huge Rock Sports activities presents a Ruger Safety 9 with a coyote brown Cerakote end to enhance the remainder of your equipment.
Invoice Hicks Distribution Exclusives
To spherical out the distributor variations is Invoice Hicks who presents a Safety 9 finishes in Jungle Inexperienced Cerakote. Not a real OD inexperienced and a good distance from a Kelly inexperienced, the subdued inexperienced end makes an announcement about this pistol.
The Professional Collection Safety 9 by Ruger
Along with the usual manufacturing unit variations of the Safety 9, Ruger has made obtainable a Professional collection variations of those pistols. There are some vital variations between the Professional model and the usual fashions of those semi-automatic pistols. The Professional collection pistols can be found in each compact and customary sizes
No Handbook Security
The largest distinction between the Professional model of the Safety 9 and the Normal model is the dearth of a handbook security on the Professional model. Many individuals don’t like the necessity to manipulate a handbook security, particularly on self-defense hid carry pistols. The Professional model continues to make use of the Ruger Safe Motion set off system.
Upgraded Sights
One different enchancment to the Professional collection variants of the Safety 9 is the factory-installed all-steel tritium evening sights. Metal sights with tritium inserts are a welcome addition to a pistol that could be carried as a hid obligation pistol or a backup pistol.
Wanting At The Safety 9 In Element
Let’s take the Ruger Safety 9 aside and take a look at the person elements and see how they stack up. Since that is what I think about a funds gun, an in depth take a look at the working elements is so as, particularly for those who intend to hid carry this semi-automatic pistol.
Frames and Grips
One place that many funds gun producers skimp is on the design and implementation of the grip texture and body of their pistols. All too typically the grip angle is incorrect, which results in extra felt recoil and elevated muzzle flip for some shooters. I’m an enormous fan of the way in which Ruger units up its pistols for comfy taking pictures.
The controls on the Safety 9 are nicely thought out and positioned so that nearly any hand dimension places them in a handy place. The ergonomics of this pistol are wonderful. Ruger even gives a brief piece of Picatinny rail on the ahead body for mounting a lightweight or laser. The set off guard is greater than enough for those who shoot sporting gloves.
Regardless of the robust spring stress, the Ruger Safety 9 is a simple gun to function even for smaller shooters.
The dovetail on the rear of the body is enough to guard your hand from slide or hammer chew throughout taking pictures. One Ruger accent I like to recommend for the compact model of the Safety 9 is the journal extension that matches on the 15-round journal. This gives a greater grip on the compact pistol body and permits you extra journal capability.
The Slide
There isn’t any drawback with slide racking on the Safety 9. The rear serrations are beneficiant and the serrations on the entrance give good buy on the slide. The stiff recoil springs should not an issue to beat when loading this pistol or clearing a jam.
The slide rides on full-length information rails to make sure easy and environment friendly operations. Some could favor metal rails however the hardened aluminum rails are greater than enough for this gun. Except you plan to make use of this as a spread gun that might be shot a number of hundreds of instances, the information rails ought to outlast the gun.
The Controls
As I’ve already talked about, these pistols’ controls are positioned so that nearly anybody can manipulate them with ease. There are a whole lot of controls on this gun however they’re positioned for intuitive and ergonomic use. Many shooters are unfamiliar with a semi-automatic pistol that has a handbook thumb security. My solely criticism concerning the thumb security is its dimension.
The exterior handbook security is smaller than I would like and could be exhausting to find. The small dimension makes the protection exhausting to function, particularly on a brand new gun. Some shooters with smaller palms could discover this problematic.
The opposite controls such because the slide launch, the journal launch, and the slide lock all carried out as anticipated. The areas of those controls have been nicely positioned for straightforward operation with out having to have a look at the pistol to seek out the proper location.
The Set off
It is very important do not forget that this isn’t a striker-fired gun. The Safety 9 has a shrouded hammer that impacts the way in which the set off capabilities and performs. The set off on the Safety 9 shouldn’t be a real double-action neither is it a standard single-action. It’s, in impact, a hybrid. The hammer is moved to a half-cock place by the slide after which the set off finishes the job when pulled.
I midway anticipated the set off to have an odd really feel. Nevertheless, to my shock, the set off pull and break are wonderful. Out of the field, the set off pull measures about 5.5 kilos with my improvised baggage scale set off pull analyzer. The takeup was somewhat brief with a crisp and clear break. I skilled no set off creep and, for a semi-double motion hammer-fired set off, the reset was very brief.
The set off security didn’t hinder the operation of the set off and didn’t have an effect on my really feel on the set off in any respect. The set off security system additionally features a hammer catch that stops the hammer from contacting the firing pin in case of an inadvertent shock akin to dropping the pistol.
The Barrel
Ruger makes use of a Via-Hardened barrel warmth remedy on the alloy metal barrel. This course of surface-hardens the barrel metal creating a tough and sturdy floor. The barrel has 1:10 right-hand rifling and an built-in feed ramp all of that are blue completed. The mechanism of the Ruger Safety 9 makes use of the confirmed Browning barrel tilt course of to facilitate loading, locking and unlocking throughout the firing course of.
A window on the barrel hood makes checking the loaded or unloaded situation of the chamber straightforward. All in all, the barrel size is what you’ll count on in a semi-automatic pistol designed for hid carry and private protection. The metal information rod additionally serves to reinforce the reliability of the Ruger Safety 9.
The Sights
The inventory sights that include the usual and compact model of the Ruger Safety 9 are actually fairly nicely executed. The entrance sight publish has a white dot and the u-notch rear sight is printed in white for straightforward sight acquisition. Some shooters could must do some observe to understand u-notch rear sights, however I discovered it fairly straightforward to align the entrance sight within the U.
The rear manufacturing unit sight is drift adjustable permitting you to fine-tune the way in which the pistol shoots in your hand. For those who shoot competitively and don’t need to put money into costly after-market sights, this can be a nice characteristic on a very good gun for this goal.
On the Vary – The True Take a look at
The true check of a funds pistol typically comes on the vary. I carried out my regular assessments on the vary taking pictures 300 rounds of assorted sorts of ammunition to check performance, reliability, and accuracy. The taking pictures was executed at 25, 15 and seven yards. I consider that these are the very best ranges at which to check a self-defense pistol.
I shot roughly 200 rounds of 115-grain ball 9mm ammunition throughout this check. The stability of the check used quite a lot of self-defense cartridges which might be standard amongst those that carry a pistol frequently. I at all times attempt to check these high-expansion hole level rounds. Some funds pistols refuse to feed or cycle a few of any such ammunition.
Reliability
The Ruger Safety 9 proved to be remarkably dependable. I didn’t endure a single stoppage or failure to feed throughout my testing. I did handle to get one range pipe casing once I limp wristed the pistol to the diploma that it nearly slipped from my hand when it was shot.
Utilizing the high-performance self-defense rounds proved equally as dependable. The final journal I shot throughout this a part of the check was loaded with quite a lot of these rounds. The Ruger Safety 9 chewed by the blended load with out a drawback.
Performance
I discovered the Ruger Safety 9 to be straightforward and cozy to shoot. The low bore axis makes this pistol straightforward to manage even when taking pictures managed pairs of photographs for the file. The optimistic reset on the set off and the neutrally balanced sear all work to permit fast and correct follow-up photographs.
I’m not an enormous fan of exterior security mechanisms on self-defense weapons. Nevertheless, I discovered that the exterior handbook security on the Ruger Safety 9 was straightforward to function and was straightforward to control with my proper thumb. All in all, I discovered the Ruger Safety 9 a nice gun to shoot.
Accuracy
My mantra it appears is that almost all weapons shoot significantly better than I’m able to taking pictures them. Fashionable manufacturing and machining practices all however get rid of lots of the variables that may have an effect on the accuracy of a gun from the manufacturing unit.
Nevertheless, all through my testing, I used to be pleased with the outcomes of my taking pictures. At 25 yards, any pistol with a 4-inch barrel is a problem. I managed to maintain the complete 100 rounds of ball ammunition that I shot at 25-yards within the black on a normal silhouette goal. The stability of the ball ammo and the entire self-defense ammunition was shot on the shorter ranges.
I’m blissful to say that at 15 and seven yards, the gun and I saved the entire rounds fired throughout the 8 ring of the goal. I believe this can be a testomony to the design of the pistol that retains recoil and muzzle motion to a minimal.
My Likes and Dislikes concerning the Ruger Safety 9
There’s a lot to love and never very a lot to dislike about this gun. All in all, for what this gun prices you can be hard-pressed to discover a higher worth for a hid carry gun. These are the issues that stand out for me concerning the Ruger Safety 9.
The Gun Feels Good within the Hand
It might seem to be an odd factor to say in a evaluation of a pistol, however I stand by my opinion. It is a gun that simply feels proper once I choose it up.
How a gun feels in your hand goes a good distance towards how nicely you’ll be able to shoot and the outcomes you will notice downrange on the goal. The grip angle, the low barrel profile on the body, and the way in which the sights work make this a gun that matches.
A Gun that Gives Confidence
After testing the Ruger Safety 9 on the vary, I’m satisfied that this can be a gun that may function a private protection pistol. The position of the thumb security is wise. Although I’m not a fan of exterior security mechanisms, I discovered the Safety 9 straightforward to get on and off protected.
The journal launch was a bit small for my liking however it’s useful and launched cleanly with the manufacturing unit magazines. A hid carry firearm ought to encourage confidence in its operation and its reliability. I really feel like Ruger has completed these priorities within the Safety 9.
Sights and Accuracy
I just like the U-notch sight image. I sometimes carry a Glock and have turn into accustomed to the three-dot sight image.
It took just a few observe photographs to seek out the very best sight image utilizing the dot and U Notch sights. In observe, if I have been to hold the Safety 9 frequently, I might most likely go for a tritium evening sights.
The Handbook Thumb Security
That is the place I might make a distinct selection. If I have been going to make the Ruger Safety 9 my on a regular basis carry selection, I might spend the additional {dollars} and buy the Professional mannequin with out the exterior handbook security.
In my thoughts, a security is only one thing more to do when a major engagement is going through me.
Grip Texture
I would love the grip texture to be a bit extra aggressive. On a sizzling sunny day on the vary, the grips turned only a bit exhausting to maintain from slipping in my hand.
The scale of the grip body on this gun contributes to this drawback. The mannequin of Ruger Safety 9 with Hogue grip sleeves is perhaps the reply to this minor shortcoming.
My Closing Ideas concerning the Ruger Safety 9
Contemplating the value level of this pistol and the apparent high quality that goes into the manufacture, I’ve to provide the Ruger Safety 9 a thumbs up.
If you’d like a rugged and dependable pistol on your on a regular basis carry, I can suggest the Ruger Safety 9 with out hesitation.
