Ruger American 45acp test drive

Here is a link to a video showing the issue people are talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxqL9L-0sN8

Ok,,, the first joint,,, NOT the knuckle, in the traditional sense of normal hand description. I understand more now,,, but I will await until I test fire one to see what I think.
At least now,,, I understand more of what is being said about knuckle rapping.
Thanks!

DA_TriggR4Ruger said:

vito said:

Nothing I've read about this new gun makes me think it will be a better choice than my old P97.

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The fact that there is manufacturer support for the American 45? Parts availability? Much better grip? Much better trigger? Uses metal rails instead of plastic rails? Holds 10 rounds instead of 8.

I owned a P97 years ago, KP97DC to be exact. Was a great gun for its it's time. It never had a huge following but was very reliable and much more accurate than the P89 it replaced. But the American pistol is night and day better.

Try it. You might like it. ;-)

Click to expand...

I check ,the rails are made of METAL.

Contender, the joint being hit by the beavertail is the metacarpal phalangeal joint.
This video http://youtu.be/DxqL9L-0sN8 shows what everyone is talking about.
I rented a 9mm Ruger All Amerincan last week and did not have this problem.
Although I did have the slide close while seating a loaded magazine.
Over all, I liked the pistol.

I was getting kinda excited about this pistol too, but I guess that I am now unsure of whether I'd want to get rid of the thumb/grip safety from the more traditional model and rely on just the trigger and firing pin block. I do have DAO revolvers too, so I'm not sure what my hangup is... just tradition, I guess?

Because the dao revolver has a long heavy trigger pull as its safety. This is a 1911 with only one of the two safety mechanisms. It is a fully cocked Glock...

That doesn't sound sexy to me

Uh ... It's not really a 1911 .... . But I know what you mean.


REV

On the plus side, it doesn't require a trigger pull to disassemble like a Glock - at least the older ones anyway. I guess I just need to get around more striker fired autoloaders, though I do kinda like the various options you can get on the M&P. I'm hoping Ruger will come out with a slightly more compact 45 than the current SR45. I am assuming if they do make a more compact model anytime soon, it will be based on this American Pistol platform?

greenmtnguy said:

On the plus side, it doesn't require a trigger pull to disassemble like a Glock - at least the older ones anyway. I guess I just need to get around more striker fired autoloaders, though I do kinda like the various options you can get on the M&P. I'm hoping Ruger will come out with a slightly more compact 45 than the current SR45. I am assuming if they do make a more compact model anytime soon, it will be based on this American Pistol platform?

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Agreed... I would be very shocked to see an sr45c at this point.

lostdog said:

DA_TriggR4Ruger said:

vito said:

Nothing I've read about this new gun makes me think it will be a better choice than my old P97.

Click to expand...

The fact that there is manufacturer support for the American 45? Parts availability? Much better grip? Much better trigger? Uses metal rails instead of plastic rails? Holds 10 rounds instead of 8.

I owned a P97 years ago, KP97DC to be exact. Was a great gun for its it's time. It never had a huge following but was very reliable and much more accurate than the P89 it replaced. But the American pistol is night and day better.

Try it. You might like it. ;-)

Click to expand...

I check ,the rails are made of METAL.

Click to expand...

Couldn't verbalize my rhetoric.

big question for the group:

My Ruger American in .45 is self loading when inserting a fresh magazine - what are your opinions on what could be done to fix this?

First, only happens with loaded magazine; empty mag functions as it should, slide locked back after last round, eject mag and insert new mag (paying close attention to keep all fingers away from slide lock on opposite side of frame)

Love the gun, just don't care for self loading

Please advise,
Thanks

smackdown44 said:

big question for the group:

My Ruger American in .45 is self loading when inserting a fresh magazine - what are your opinions on what could be done to fix this?

First, only happens with loaded magazine; empty mag functions as it should, slide locked back after last round, eject mag and insert new mag (paying close attention to keep all fingers away from slide lock on opposite side of frame)

Love the gun, just don't care for self loading

Please advise,
Thanks

Click to expand...

There are a lot of folks out there who will tell you that it's a malfunction and needs to be addressed, but I'm not one of them. I've seen this occur with Glocks, M&Ps, and any other polymer-framed semi-auto pistol that uses a relatively small slide stop/slide lock. It's just the nature of the beast with guns like this, so you either learn to seat your mags a wee bit softer or you do what I did; stop worrying about it and appreciate the time it saves you.

My sr45 does the same thing. I contacted ruger when I first bought the gun and they said that it is perfectly normal for my gun to do that . But out of all my 45acp pistols from other manufacturers, the ruger is the only one that does it . Hasn't been a problem with me was just a surprise at first.

RaisinRiverRon said:

Contender, the joint being hit by the beavertail is the metacarpal phalangeal joint.
This video http://youtu.be/DxqL9L-0sN8 shows what everyone is talking about.
I rented a 9mm Ruger All Amerincan last week and did not have this problem.
Although I did have the slide close while seating a loaded magazine.
Over all, I liked the pistol.

Click to expand...

I have had no thumb knuckle abuse with the RAP 9mm. However, I did have slide closing (after first firing full mag and slide held open) when inserting full mag, while shooting some low load reloaded ammo. After realizing the RAP is made for +P ammo, I upped my charge, and no problem. No problem with standard factory ammo.

A bit surprised that loading a full magazine would normally release the slide seeing as how a gun should always be pointed down range or in another safe direction anytime the slide slams shut on a live round. Lawyers not doing function checks?

I'm a bit surprised that this is still surprising for some folks. Glocks have been on the market since the early 80s, and this "issue" has existed at least since then. It's really not a problem, it just saves time. I've never had the need to insert a loaded magazine into my slide-locked pistol and then not immediately chamber a round, but if your training practice somehow requires such a maneuver, simply teach yourself how to seat a magazine with slightly less force and watch the problem magically disappear. Some folks act like they're trying to crush a walnut while seating their mag, and if you slap it in hard enough...yeah, the slide's gonna drop. Nature of the beast.

THE RUGER AMERICAN PISTOL .45 AUTO
There is some good, bad, and ugly.
I will start with THE UGLY: The trigger with its mini trigger safety is ugly. Also, with my initial firing the trigger safety pin was walking out.
THE BAD: I called Ruger and they said send it in. I did, and received it back in less than a week. Man, I thought that was cool! When I opened the box I found the pin was in the same position (as when I sent it). I test fired anyway, and the pin started walking out more. I went back home and staked the pin myself, put 90 rounds through it. Looks like my stake job worked.
THE GOOD: With 143 rounds through the Ruger American Pistol .45 Auto, I find it to be more accurate than the Ruger American Pistol 9mm. There is an internal striker blocker. My hands are medium sized and all shooting was a pleasure! Some have said they experienced some thumb knuckle beating of a sort. I did not. My friend who shot it did not. He loves the gun and has a large hand.
CONCLUSION: Thus far I really like the pistol, both the 9mm and the .45 Auto. Try one, you might like it.

Where is the striker blocker? I don't see it in the parts diagram.

FergusonTO35 said:

Where is the striker blocker? I don't see it in the parts diagram.

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On page 11 of the instruction manual Ruger states there is a striker blocker. I do not find it in the exploded views. In a couple of days as I get time I will disassemble my gun to look for it, and get back here.

What Ruger is calling a "striker blocker" isn't what you and I would usually think of. The RAP has no interrupted striker with vertical block ala Glock, Sig, etc. They're talking about the redundant sear in the fire control group within the frame. If you watch the youtube video of the guy who completely strips his RAP, he refers to it as a "secondary sear."