Just bought a Ruger American, Any Advice?

As I do with all of my guns at first purchase, I ask for anything I might wanna know about the gun. I just bought a Ruger American 45ACP pistol and shot 200 Winchester 230gr. FMJ 45ACP's without a single issue. It is a great gun. At 15 yards I was pretty accurate what with being a newbie and the kick was moderately higher than my old PPX. I will practice more til I'm reliable at 20 yards at least but I don't see any realistic sudden self defense scenarios that far away.

I would like to know anything about this gun that may be useful. Such as my old PPX could not shoot steel case ammo, period, as it would jam every time meanwhile my S&W Shield 9mm has no issues at all with it. Yeah, yeah, steel case is the worst. It would have been nice to know that prior to buying 1000 TulAmmo haha anyway so asking right now is a new good habit with any new gun I get, so if the Ruger has its quirks or anything at all just reply your advice or experiences!! So far so good though!

Also, quick question! Anyone know any good upgrades for this gun? Such as trigger, slide, grip, barrel (threaded), mag extensions, etc? I hear the gun is more or less fully upgradable however as a modest gun enthusiast I really have no idea what's what or why. Was thinking of getting better three-dot sights. I use the gun for self-defense in home and on the street Conceal Carry. Arizona is the best for place gun lovers

Anyone bleed at the thumb's knuckle after a few magazines? When I loosened my grip that mule kick hurt my hand less however consecutive shots became harder. I can hold the gun perfectly still since my hands are big and strong but I quickly break the skin. The range master said I was holding it very well however could not offer advice to ease that force right on the thumb knuckle.

Any recommendations for the cheapest possible range ammo? A sale was on at the local gun store for $32 per 100 Winchester 230gr. FMJ bullets. Not bad for a store but it is still like shooting dollar bills. Thanks guys!!!!!!!

My 9mm Ruger American compact will not function well with alum cases.

Tommy Neil said:

My 9mm Ruger American compact will not function well with alum cases.

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haha already glad I made this post. Anything else just let me know! I hope I get tons of responses for advice and experiences

I have fired Federal aluminum cases almost exclusively from my RAP 9 with zero issues...

cyborgt800 said:

I have fired Federal aluminum cases almost exclusively from my RAP 9 with zero issues...

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I remember people saying they could and could not fire steel case ammo, however I was not lucky. Before I found out even about ammo differences in cases (like a newb, assuming steel was better because it's stronger metal lol) I bought 1000 bulk TulAmmo and could not even fire one clip without 2-3 jams in the barrel on my old PPX lol.

That's why I have this habit of posting, it saves time and money and possibly weapon damage

From what I've heard you got lucky with that Winchester ammo if it is the stuff int he white box... it is renowned for being problematic..... not the gun - the ammo. 20 yards is stretching it out there but that is a good distance to practice and improve.... keep in mind that the accepted rule is that in a self defense situation were adrenaline is rushing through you your accuracy degrades at the very least by 50%.

What is even better in regards to this is to find the time and money to invest in serious training.... serious training will condition you to no longer have to 'think' about drawing aiming and firing once you have made the decision to do so... it becomes a instinctive muscle memory reaction.

Welcome to the forum!

From the FWIW Dept:

I can't help with the recoil problems you are experiencing except to say that all else being equal, the lighter the gun, the more it kicks...simple high school physics at work.

I haven't had nearly the issues with Winchester's white box .45ACP's as I've had with their WB 9MM-Luger ammo. In fact, I've been rather pleased with it over the years.
As for aluminum cased .45ACP ammo, the only brand of that I ever tried was CCI's Blazer Aluminum. It didn't have enough power to reliably operate my 1911-A1, so that was that, and I haven't tried any of it since.

.32 per round is not a bad price for brass cased .45ACP ammo. That said though, decent .45-FMJ can presently be had for .26-.30 if bought in bulk from the online distributors I checked with this morning. Sometimes you have to pay shipping, sometimes not, but either way it still works out better for me than trying to catch a local sale and having to pay local taxes.
If something like that interest you, try Target Sports or SGAmmo. There are other places also...you can find those on the Ammoseek website...but the two I mentioned are the two which I've had the most experience with.

Myself, I find "3-dot sights" very distracting. You might try coloring your rear sight with a marking pen to see if it helps you shoot better. If it don't you can always clean it back off later and/or repaint the dots.
You ain't supposed to be looking at your rear sight anyway, you're supposed to be looking through it while focusing on the front...just sayin'.

Hope this helped.

DGW

Any recommendations for the cheapest possible range ammo?

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Get a 9 ;-)

I just bought one as well. What are good replacement sights that will fit the Ruger American?

s4s4u said:

Any recommendations for the cheapest possible range ammo?

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Get a 9 ;-)

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lol had one, a Walther PPX M1 9mm
it was great but truly, truly lacked the power I was seeking

Will never get less than a 45 ever again!

jhawk19 said:

I just bought one as well. What are good replacement sights that will fit the Ruger American?

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Any sights on the Ruger site but be prepared for the cash burning

I went with HiViz front and rear sights. They'll be here later this week. Will report feedback once installed.

Advice? Get a whole lotta ammo and shoot it a bunch.

Congrats on your new Ruger.

We shoot a lot and mostly use WOLF. Our experience is that it is very good ammo.
I have a Glock 21 that will only produce good groups and 100% reliability with ball Wolf.
I'm looking at the same pistol in 9mm now, there under $400.
Run the Wolf through it hard, won't hurt it.

hahah I think my favorite advice is by ditto, shoot a lot lol
I can always like straightforward advice!

Good news is shooting my PPX and Ruger American 45 is no different. I can fire both well at 25 yards. I've been practicing hip firing for self defense and I can safely say it's about a googleplex^303 times more difficult to hit a huge target *at all whatsoever, just hit the darn paper* at 10 feet than it is to fire in 3" groups in the head or heart area at 75 feet LOL who'd have thought that the westerns had it all wrong, hip firing is IMMENSELY more difficult even at point blank than shooting at 10x the distance for headshots lol

Hip firing is ONLY close-up stuff.
As in very close-up.
No realistic use otherwise.
If your threat is 10 feet away you have room to use your sights.
Denis

DPris said:

Hip firing is ONLY close-up stuff.
As in very close-up.
No realistic use otherwise.
If your threat is 10 feet away you have room to use your sights.
Denis

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haha yeah I gathered that. I wanted to try anyway because a lot of westerns show hip firing at like 50 feet lol .... yeah ok! In the Unforgiven I was glad to hear the evil sheriff make a comment about hip firing, where "past 10 feet" he could only hit the broad side of a barn.

Just concerned you might be wasting time & money in trying to master a poor defensive technique.
Some people do.
Denis

Hello guys. I've been considering the purchase of an American or an FN45. To the OP I might add to practice some with your CC ammo too. While it may be more expensive, it would be very costly to discover your self-defense ammo jams. I had a Colt Combat Commander that loved ball ammo, however it jammed on every shot with 230 gr jhp.
I sent it to two different gun shops and nothing cured it totally. Be sure your Self-Defense rounds feed properly.
nobody is going to mug ,rob or car jack you from more than 5 feet. It happens in the flash of and eye. If you take time to aim you could get hit, or killed.

perchjerker said:

Hello guys. I've been considering the purchase of an American or an FN45. To the OP I might add to practice some with your CC ammo too. While it may be more expensive, it would be very costly to discover your self-defense ammo jams. I had a Colt Combat Commander that loved ball ammo, however it jammed on every shot with 230 gr jhp.
I sent it to two different gun shops and nothing cured it totally. Be sure your Self-Defense rounds feed properly.
nobody is going to mug ,rob or car jack you from more than 5 feet. It happens in the flash of and eye. If you take time to aim you could get hit, or killed.

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OP here, I can say the Ruger American has been amazing. And yes, I fire at least 50 bullets of whatever defensive ammo I choose. If I have even a single issue I either get it fixed or switch bullets. No do-overs in life or death situations!

Regarding what you said for the mugging, LEO's actually have a stat showing they are almost always jumped/attacked/whatever at 3ft. and that the entire attack lasts only 3 seconds. It takes a trained shooter about 1-1.5sec to draw, another 1-1.5 to aim. Lol. This is why I understanding I will never aim if jumped. In that instance I'd have to rely on my martial arts skills to create space for a takedown or to draw properly.

My gun is more for home defense! Someone attempted to break in thinking I was not home and I thought, hmmm, a crazy guy wanting my stuff in my tiny house is trying to break in...I wonder how useful gun vs martial arts is? Not very lol.