Ruger American Pistol 9mm Compact

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djw54

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
377
Location
West Michigan
Well, here's the new "unannounced" product:

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Jeff's got it over on Gunblast.com as of 20 minutes ago...
 

ditto1958

Blackhawk
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
567
Location
Wisconsin
Gosh darn it, Ruger. Y'all must think people are made of money. First it was the new Mark IV pistols the other day. Now it's the American Compact. Hrmph.
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
Messages
6,243
Location
Oregon City, Oregon
Here's my take on this latest offering...

First, I don't have much interest in plastic, disposable guns, regardless of brand. That said, I do carry one, often. Nice to have a gun that I expect will always work, but not a gun that I will ever have to worry about. If it accidentally touches the ground or slides around on the the floor of a vehicle, no big deal. I have owned quite an assortment of said plastic guns.

My most recent was the Ruger American Pistol, the full size version. It fits me better than any other of the plastic guns. But it's a big gun. So other than shooting it at the range, twice, it's not a gun that I will ever carry. The same gun in a diminished size does interest me, so I'll likely buy one of the new Compact American Pistols. I also suspect others are not enamored with the full size American. I've had mine for sale on a local board since May, for $340, and I've not received a sniff.

WAYNO.
 

Mike J

Hunter
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
4,204
Location
GA
I got my wife the full size & I haven't shot it much but I like it. These should be good. Hope these do well for Ruger the polymer pistol market is really crowded.
 

19ontheslide

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
97
Well done, Ruger! Now, I'll just need one of those compact grip shells for my full size RAP9, and could you make it without the manual safety please? Well, and I should probably pick up a new compact upper as well. Hoping those will be for sale (by themselves) soon....After all, if you're going to compete with the Sig P320, you'd better be offering what they are.
 

19ontheslide

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
97
Cheesewhiz said:
19ontheslide said:
....and could you make it without the manual safety please?
Pretty sure they make it with or W/O a safety.

You might be right (and I hope you are), but so far all the photos I've seen of the new compact RAP 9 have been with manual safety. I've only seen the original full sized RAPs (like mine) without, but again I'm hoping you're correct and that the compact can also be had either way.

EDIT: Whoops, I'm wrong again! Just went over to gunblast and see that Jeff's sample is indeed a compact without manual safety. All previous comments vis-a-vis retracted; now they just need to make the smaller grip shells (and uppers) available for purchase by themselves, as that was sort of one of the big selling points of the RAP in the first place. Hopefully soon.
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
Messages
6,243
Location
Oregon City, Oregon
zippo9 said:
I carry the SR9c. Not going to run out and buy this heavier weapon.

You would not be expected to. If the SR9c works for you, then what else could you ask for? But for the folks that the SR9 is not the perfect choice, then they now have one more to choose from.

WAYNO.
 

cmonti77

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
144
Location
Michigan
I may buy one, simply because I don't own a 9mm and really ought to. I'd still rather see this gun in 40 S&W though.
 

5of7

Hunter
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Messages
2,296
Location
SW. LOWER MICHIGAN
They list several that they designate as "pro" and the spec sheet says "safety option." Whatever that means.

I would take to mean that it is available without safety. 8)
 

djw54

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
377
Location
West Michigan
5of7 said:
They list several that they designate as "pro" and the spec sheet says "safety option." Whatever that means.

I would take to mean that it is available without safety. 8)

That's right. The pro version is without manual thumb safety. And, I believe without a magazine disconnect.
 

djw54

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
377
Location
West Michigan
19ontheslide said:
Well done, Ruger! Now, I'll just need one of those compact grip shells for my full size RAP9, and could you make it without the manual safety please? Well, and I should probably pick up a new compact upper as well. Hoping those will be for sale (by themselves) soon....After all, if you're going to compete with the Sig P320, you'd better be offering what they are.

According to the official Ruger youtube video introducing the compact, the insert for the compact model is shorter than for the full-size, and they are not interchangeable.
 

19ontheslide

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
97
djw54 said:
19ontheslide said:
Well done, Ruger! Now, I'll just need one of those compact grip shells for my full size RAP9, and could you make it without the manual safety please? Well, and I should probably pick up a new compact upper as well. Hoping those will be for sale (by themselves) soon....After all, if you're going to compete with the Sig P320, you'd better be offering what they are.

According to the official Ruger youtube video introducing the compact, the insert for the compact model is shorter than for the full-size, and they are not interchangeable.

Wow....IF that's true (and that's a big if), the entire concept of the RAP is dead to me, and I will be selling my full size shortly. I cannot fathom that Ruger could be that stupid, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by anything they do these days. The entire idea behind this gun was to compete with Sig's P320, and if they're not even going to go far enough to make interchangeable inserts/grip shells/uppers, they've failed before they even got out of the gate. And before the rabid fanboys start in on me, yes I'm sure they'll still sell millions of them. But some of us weren't just buying another pistol when we bought our RAP; some of us were also buying the promise of interchangeability down the road.
 

djw54

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
377
Location
West Michigan
19ontheslide said:
djw54 said:
19ontheslide said:
Well done, Ruger! Now, I'll just need one of those compact grip shells for my full size RAP9, and could you make it without the manual safety please? Well, and I should probably pick up a new compact upper as well. Hoping those will be for sale (by themselves) soon....After all, if you're going to compete with the Sig P320, you'd better be offering what they are.

According to the official Ruger youtube video introducing the compact, the insert for the compact model is shorter than for the full-size, and they are not interchangeable.

Wow....IF that's true (and that's a big if), the entire concept of the RAP is dead to me, and I will be selling my full size shortly. I cannot fathom that Ruger could be that stupid, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by anything they do these days. The entire idea behind this gun was to compete with Sig's P320, and if they're not even going to go far enough to make interchangeable inserts/grip shells/uppers, they've failed before they even got out of the gate. And before the rabid fanboys start in on me, yes I'm sure they'll still sell millions of them. But some of us weren't just buying another pistol when we bought our RAP; some of us were also buying the promise of interchangeability down the road.

I certainly understand your frustration, and I'm with you on that, but did Ruger ever make such a promise, or were we all just assuming that was the case, given that ability in the P320? As best as I can remember, the actual grip frame for the P320 can be had for, what, $50? That's a good deal for being able to go compact grip length. The slide is another story, however, at what, $300 or more? I'd rather buy another pistol, as my local shop has both the P320 ($480) and the American ($440) for close to that as a complete gun. And yes, I completely understand the position of keeping the exact same trigger, and the position of gun restrictive jurisdictions, and I don't know why Ruger would choose to use a different chassis, unless there were other dimensional factors involved. Or, they simply didn't want to go that way.
 

salover

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 13, 2011
Messages
109
Location
San Antonio, Tx
I recently bought a RAP Pro .45 at a gun show. Got it out of the safe last night to to get acquainted with it. Inserted the magazine and noticed that it didn't seat like it should. When I racked the slide the magazine dropped out, repeated this several times with the same results. Couldn't find anything wrong with the pistol so then I got to looking at the magazine. Would you believe that it was stamped 9mm? Got the second magazine out of the case and it too was stamped 9mm. At 10:57 pm last night I sent a email to Michael Fifer and explained my problem. I received a reply this morning stating that he was having 3 magazines sent out TODAY. His reply had a time stamp of 5:59 am. This shouldn't happen but he was sure quick to take care of it.
 

demented

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 19, 2005
Messages
114
Location
From LA (lower arkansas)
Ahh, finally something of interest. I don't buy full size pistols anymore, as I have no duties requiring these. I CCW so anything compact or sub does get me interested. I will say this, if it has the same mag release design and materials of the SR, you couldn't give me on if I had to carry it. I have seen those lock in the open position, preventing magazines locking in. Upon inspection, I think this was caused by the plastic release flexing at the v notch enough for the latch to bind trying to pass thru both sides of the frame. Sent back to Ruger, new parts added, same problem came back. Sold that SR and have never desired another. If Ruger had made the latch from something with no flex in the middle, maybe it'd been another story.
 
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