Current SR45 owner experiences?

I thinking about buying a SR45. I've searched the forum, and read some previous topics...but was wondering how those who currently have the SR45 are doing with theirs?

Thanks.

Not a current owner (sold it), but I have opinions on this gun. Bought mine last February. Had nothing but mechanical problems. Failure to go into battery first. Back from Prescott with vague repairs (still can't figure out what was repaired), then the magazine release collapses a few weeks after it returns...That is, it broke. The SR45 mags took a lot of effort to seat to begin with and then the mag release flat out broke. Comes back and the mag release functioned, but the magazines continued to be difficult to seat. Then a new problem manifest itself in the magazine dropping out when shooting it. 3rd time back to Ruger, both magazines are returned with "mag assem" replaced on the work order. I sold it and bought an SR9c, a smaller version of my awesome SR9. Both excellent pistols. I consider the SR45 to be an awesome pistol. I've never shot a 45acp with less felt recoil and double taps are incredibly accurate for a 45acp because of the manageable recoil of the design. Very accurate out of the box and fun to shoot. My SR45 was an early version and there are certainly bugs to work out with any new pistol. Even the SR9 had the whole trigger/mag release recall/retool issue early on and the LCP had the drop-bang issue that forced a recall. The SR45 was a pleasure to shoot for a 45acp. I'm sure the early production issues have been corrected. I would certainly be in the market when the issues (magazine seating seems like an epidemic early on) are corrected. The pistol has incredible potential and its problems may have already been corrected. I don't see many complaints on the Ruger forums lately. Then again, I might have purchased a lemon. Anyway, a great design.

My SR45 was also really tight, mags were harder to load and install than SR9 or SR40 and with a full mag it was imposable to rack and with a round in chamber and full mag it would not cycle when fired. At about 450 rounds the slide lock broke and Ruger promptly repaired it and with 700 rounds it has broke in to where it has no problems with fully loaded mags. It is almost like it should have been a 9+1 instead of 10+1 pistol, but other than that it is vary pleasant to shoot with modest recoil and it is as accurate as the other SR pistols. Overall i am pleased with it and will probably pick up a SR45c to go along with it when and if they are offered.

Well, I've always heard you shouldn't buy a new model gun for the first year or so. I bought one when they first came out, but sold it before I ever fired it. At the time, I thought it was too big, but I'm set for carry now, and would like a bigger "house" gun.

I might wait on this one a while longer.

Bought mine last year. First few shots with WWB had failures galore, light strikes, and revealed one of the mags to be inop. I pulled the mag disconnect, soaked the gun in Breakfree overnight, blew it dry and shot another box of BB HP 230's through it. Perfect ever since. (Except for the bad mag.)

Took me a month to get used to carrying it. White Hat, IMO, is the best IWB rig for the gun.

I load the mag with 9 and 1.

I've been a 1911 man since the '70's, but this gun turned me around.

clr said:

Bought mine last year. First few shots with WWB had failures galore, light strikes, and revealed one of the mags to be inop. I pulled the mag disconnect, soaked the gun in Breakfree overnight, blew it dry and shot another box of BB HP 230's through it. Perfect ever since. (Except for the bad mag.)

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What was the problem with the mag? Did Ruger replace it?

GKC said:

clr said:

Bought mine last year. First few shots with WWB had failures galore, light strikes, and revealed one of the mags to be inop. I pulled the mag disconnect, soaked the gun in Breakfree overnight, blew it dry and shot another box of BB HP 230's through it. Perfect ever since. (Except for the bad mag.)

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What was the problem with the mag? Did Ruger replace it?

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I don't know. I haven't sent it in; I just don't use it.

mine has been flawless. very reliable and perhaps the most accurate weapon I own. bought the first one I found, because I liked the SR40 and SR9 so much. I would recommend it to anyone interested.

Ugh. Purchased my SR45 on November 2013. So far, Ive had to send it back twice for failures to eject. They replaced the barrel / slide assembly the first time and then the exractor the second time. This hassle got me through about the first 600 rounds. Now 200 rounds later the ejection problem appears fixed but now Im getting a failure to hold open on the last shot. Im going to give Ruger a call AGAIN to see what they will do now.

Customer service has been great. Repairs have come back within a week. They have responded admirably, but the SR45 product is questionable. Being my only home defense weapon, my confidence isn't too high at this point.

So the jury is still out. Maybe I can negotiate a replacement. Maybe ask for an SR9 that has at least a longer track record.

I had problems with my first one. I purchased it in August. It went back to Ruger three times. The third time I told them I thought a replacement was in order. I had a new one in about a week. It went back once. I put about 700 rounds through it without a hitch. Then about a week ago things went down hill fast. I had many FTF's/light strikes. I figured it was the ammo. After cleaning it thoroughly I put 50 rounds through it with the same ammo, no problem. The only thing I did different was I left the striker and striker channel pretty much dry this time. Previously I had put a very tiny drop of lubricant in the channel and on the striker itself. This time I coated the striker and striker channel with CLP let it set for a couple of hours and then wiped them dry. It seems to have done the trick. I like the firearm. It shoots great and I am glad I stuck with the platform. I will say, waiting a while when a new firearm is introduced is not a bad idea. I knew I was taking somewhat of a risk when I purchased it but I knew from experience that whatever transpired Ruger would make it right. I am looking forward to the introduction of the SR45 C and will more than likely purchase one when it becomes available. I hope this helps with your decision whatever it may be.

1down2across said:

I will say, waiting a while when a new firearm is introduced is not a bad idea. I knew I was taking somewhat of a risk when I purchased it but I knew from experience that whatever transpired Ruger would make it right. I am looking forward to the introduction of the SR45 C and will more than likely purchase one when it becomes available. I hope this helps with your decision whatever it may be.

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I am still waffling...on the one hand, I agree that waiting for a while for a new gun to establish itself is a good idea. On the other hand, I'm reading about a lot of problems on the various forums will just about all gun brands...seems like the mad rush to crank out product is making for some problems. The one thing that makes me less nervous about buying the SR45 is Ruger's amazing CS.

Maybe I'll do something really wild and buy a SR40. :lol:

Nothing wrong with the SR40.

I had one of the first ones and it was very accurate with zero problems of any kind. Just a great gun. I sold it to a co-worker and he loves it.

I'm having the same problems with my SR45 with the light strikes, no lockback, jamming...etc etc. I've cleaned the weapon including the striker channel as per advise from people in this forum, still no relief. magazines are good. I've tried to call/contact Ruger with no success. Any numbers/ contact info to Ruger ya'll can send me would be appreciated. I am afraid that this platform is a flawed one, why, I can't even trade it for a shotgun !!!

torogi69 said:

Any numbers/ contact info to Ruger ya'll can send me would be appreciated.

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I called their Prescott, AZ Customer Service number 928-541-8892.

The reason I had to contact them was that I was getting failures to feed with hollow points. Winchester Ranger T and Federal HST would sometimes jam on the feed ramp but Speer Gold Dot has been working fine.

I sent it back twice. The first time they replaced some parts and declared it good without trying hollow points. I sent it back again after getting the same jams and I had to stress to them that only hollow points gave me problems (it had been very reliable with factory FMJ). They ended up replacing the barrel and confirmed Federal HST to work. What I had left in Ranger or HST ammo seemed to work fine afterwards. But I've been sticking with Speer since.

I also thought I had light strikes with my reloads but it's been fine since I started using a hand-held priming tool to make sure the primers were properly seated. I guess it may be a little more sensitive to that than my SR1911.

At this point, I'm happy with the gun. The trigger feels nice to me, like on my SR40 and SR9c. I like that they kept the grip slim, which is what sold me on the SR line. I was disappointed with the early pickiness with ammo but I'm comfortable with what I can reliably feed through it. I did experience the slide shutting on its own with a forceful insertion on the magazine (never happened with the same amount of force with the 40 and 9c). Otherwise, it's been reliable. No break down. I can't really comment on accuracy as I will most likely never be a bullseye shooter but I'm happy with the results I'm getting if I consider it a defense tool.

torogi69: I'm having the same problems with my SR45 with the light strikes, no lockback, jamming...etc etc. I've cleaned the weapon including the striker channel as per advise from people in this forum, still no relief. magazines are good. I've tried to call/contact Ruger with no success. Any numbers/ contact info to Ruger ya'll can send me would be appreciated. I am afraid that this platform is a flawed one, why, I can't even trade it for a shotgun !!!

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Stick with it. As I stated above I am glad I did. Ruger will get it right. Then if you want to sell it sell it. It is a good platform some just seem to have a few bugs that need to be worked out. All brands seem to be having issues. I think the days of buying anything and not having problems is a thing of the past. It seems that many manufacturers want to squeeze the last dollar out of whatever they sell and are not nearly as interested in the quality of what they produce. A lot of items I have purchased in the last couple of years needed some type of attention to operate correctly. I am to the point where I expect things not to work correctly and that is very sad. I remember the days when someone produced something they took pride in their craftsmanship as if their name was printed on it. I guess mass production took care of that. At least Ruger backs up their product. Strange that you have had a problem contacting them. I have never had that issue. I hope it all works out for you.

More and more it seems as though there is a break in period with the new designs. Kinda a widespread phenomenon, of up to 500 rounds or so. I have not personally witnessed SR's & M&P's reaching that level of break in, but I hear it mentioned so much more. I am guessing then need to be shot loose a little.

I bought mine last August [fairly early SN#380-0066xx] and have only put around 300 rounds through the pistol. Before shooting the pistol I did the regular field strip for a good cleaning. I also removed the striker assembly. I cleaned both it and the striker channel and then reassembled the pistol without the MD in place as I have done with every SR striker gun that I own. First time out the gun ran 100% and has since. No FTE or FTF.

I switched mags after about 50 rds and the pistol quit locking back after the last round was fired. Comparing the 2 mags supplied with the pistol I could see that the followers rested at a different height from one another with the follower lower on the malfunctioning mag. I checked for burrs on the follower or any obstructions/dents on the mag body. Nothing. Appeared that the follower was made to a different spec.

Called Ruger and they sent me a new mag and a prepaid label for the faulty mag---which was a first BTW. The lady I spoke with seemed to accept that there was a batch of mags which were defective. The new mag was identical to the original one that functioned properly and it has stopped the slide on empty 100%.

Since the minor mag issue the gun has ran 100%. Great ergos and it is as accurate as my skills can appreciate. Took it out with a few other 45's and was surprised at how well the SR45 handles recoil. I shot it just as well as my Glock 21 Gen4. And while it gives up 3 rounds of mag capacity to the 21 it feels much better in the hand. Overall, it seems to be a great gun especially for the $400 one has to lay down in order to own one. Personally owning Ruger's other 45's.... I must say that I am very impressed by the SR45. However, its still early as I have only fired 300 rds through the pistol. It has a long way to go before I deem it "go to".

If you are considering the SR45....I say go for it! I am anticipating the SR45c :shock:

Yeah, I bought 2 extra Ruger mags for my SR45 and the followers appeared a different height in all 4. That could be much of the feeding problem early on. The SR45 mags never locked into place for me with the snap of my SR9 or 9c. Maybe the early magazines are out of spec, but none of my 4 mags seated easily and were very tight. Until they started dropping out while shooting. The whole locking mechanism seemed rather cheesy to me-in fact mine broke outright. Even after being repaired seating the mags wasn't so simple and 10 rounds was out of the question. Even if I seated a fully loaded 10 rounder the top round got scratched up entering battery. Nice pistol, lousy magazines.

Conn AK said:

Nice pistol, lousy magazines.

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Since its hard enough to find Ruger magazines, and I'm guessing there aren't any aftermarket magazines available yet (if ever), this is a pretty big drawback.