Ruger P345 Pistol

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loaded round

Hunter
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Aug 3, 2003
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Is the P345 pistol as bad as I've heard people say even after removing the magazine safety? Rumors I hear is that you never know when you'll get a FTF. I want to use mine as a loaded night stand pistol.
 

Three50seven

Buckeye
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I had one probably close to 10 years ago and foolishly let it go. It was an excellent pistol, and I've often thought about buying another one.
 

exavid

Hunter
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Jan 2, 2011
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Medford, OR
Me too, I had a P345 for a few years and then sold it. Likewise I have regrets. I replaced it with a S&W M&P .45 but that had a lousy trigger. I've since decided my SR40c is more than sufficient for my needs and it's actually pleasant to shoot, well balanced, feels great in the hand, has a good trigger, plenty of oomph and easier to carry. Also the spare mag is an extended one that gives the gun a 'service' sized grip and 15+1 which is plenty of bangs.

Actually I found the P345 to be much more comfortable to shoot than the M&P. I'm not too sure why but the underside of the beaver tail on the M&P used to make my hand sore after a magazine or two. Not so with the Ruger.
 

Koyote

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Mar 16, 2013
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I used to carry a 1911 .45 when I was in the service and had to qualify expert with it every year. Many decades later when I decided to buy one for HD, I found I had gotten a little olde for it as it was unwieldy for me, so I checked around and I found out the Ruger P345 was lighter, slimmer and overall smaller. The slight thumb rest was also an improvement, making it a good fit for me. I took it out and it was accurate enough to spoil someone's day if they happened to get shot by it. One day, I even took my wife out as she was curious about my shooting. After giving her the basic safety tips, she fired a magazine full at a target I had set up. Since it was the first time in her life she had ever fired a gun, she said it was enough. As we were driving home, she started commenting on, while her wrist was a little sore due to it being the first time, she still felt that the gun felt comfortable in her hand. She said she thought shooting the gun was interesting and she was willing to try it out again. In fact she giggled a little about it and said she felt good, then she felt downright giddy and definitely wanted to go out again! Sadly, she passed away from breast cancer soon after. I still have that P345 and don't ever plan on selling it. It is a family heirloom and one of my G'daughter's will inherit it someday.
I have only made one enhancement to it. I changed the rear sights and had Mepro sights installed. The white dots are larger which makes the gun better.
The gun is actually a model KP345PR which makes it a stainless and has a picatinny rail.
 

hittman

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If I remember the internet stories about these, some claimed that if the gun was ever dry fired you never knew when you'd get a "click-no-bang" situation. So you sure as heck 1. didn't want to buy one used and 2. couldn't trust it for concealed carry or home defense.

No idea if that was true even though many were parroting it. Being a revolver guy, I never gave them a second look and bought a P90DC. Of course, Illinois didn't allow concealed carry then either.
 

buckshotshorty

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Mar 10, 2008
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I can only say this: I own one and it is one of the most accurate 45s I have ever fired. Of course you must be aware they are no longer manufactured.
 

cjs1945

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Durand, Michigan
I have a P345 for 7 years that was made in 2005 and to me it is the best of the P series pistols, it has fired many rounds and has never had a fail to feed or fail to fire issue. It is comfortable and pleasant to shoot and for me is more accurate than my P90 or P97.
 

remshooter

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lexington kentuky
hittman said:
If I remember the internet stories about these, some claimed that if the gun was ever dry fired you never knew when you'd get a "click-no-bang" situation. So you sure as heck 1. didn't want to buy one used and 2. couldn't trust it for concealed carry or home defense.

No idea if that was true even though many were parroting it. Being a revolver guy, I never gave them a second look and bought a P90DC. Of course, Illinois didn't allow concealed carry then either.
they way i heard it was ,if you dry fired it WITHOUT a magazine ,would cause the "click-no-bang" situation.
 

exavid

Hunter
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The P345 has a magazine safety and wouldn't fire without the magazine so there was no bang or click. Many pistols and rifles don't like be dry fired without a snap cap in the chamber. Especially if they have a pretty strong hammer spring it can damage or break off the firing pin to slam it to the end of it's strike with no resistance to slow it down to a stop as a primer or snap cap is in place. This is not a fault of the gun. In fact I find it a good guarantee that you won't have misfires due to light primer strikes.

I'm still irked at myself for trading my P345. I still feel it was the best of the Ruger P pistols. I still like my SR40C very much and it is a better carry pistol than the .45 due to it's smaller size.
 

loaded round

Hunter
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Valley Forge, Pa
Most of us who appreciates the Ruger P345 remove the magazine safety for an actually safer pistol that does go bang when you pull the trigger. Hate those click no bang firearms!


the
exavid said:
The P345 has a magazine safety and wouldn't fire without the magazine so there was no bang or click. Many pistols and rifles don't like be dry fired without a snap cap in the chamber. Especially if they have a pretty strong hammer spring it can damage or break off the firing pin to slam it to the end of it's strike with no resistance to slow it down to a stop as a primer or snap cap is in place. This is not a fault of the gun. In fact I find it a good guarantee that you won't have misfires due to light primer strikes.

I'm still irked at myself for trading my P345. I still feel it was the best of the Ruger P pistols. I still like my SR40C very much and it is a better carry pistol than the .45 due to it's smaller size.
 

gb6491

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remshooter said:
hittman said:
If I remember the internet stories about these, some claimed that if the gun was ever dry fired you never knew when you'd get a "click-no-bang" situation. So you sure as heck 1. didn't want to buy one used and 2. couldn't trust it for concealed carry or home defense.

No idea if that was true even though many were parroting it. Being a revolver guy, I never gave them a second look and bought a P90DC. Of course, Illinois didn't allow concealed carry then either.
they way i heard it was ,if you dry fired it WITHOUT a magazine ,would cause the "click-no-bang" situation.
That's it. Without a magazine in place, dry firing would result in the firing pin hitting the "flag" of the magazine disconnect. Either or both parts could deform because of this. This could result in there not being enough clearance when a magazine was in place (lifting the disconnect above the firing pin) that either the firing pin could not reach the primer or would do so once, but not return rearward enough to be struck by the hammer again.


This can no longer occur in my P345 and I trust it completely in that regards.
dhd20i.jpg

I also think it shoots pretty well for me, at least at 10 yds. I'm sure it could do better in more skilled hands :)

I'll be hanging on to it.

Regards,
Greg
 

Cornhusker

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Feb 23, 2009
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I had one and wish I still did.
I shot it better than any .45 I have, and I think they are a good looking pistol
 

loaded round

Hunter
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Cornhusker, I couldn't agree with you more. Especially after you clean the rear sight; meaning remove the rear sight,, take take out the magazine safety and spring, and reinstall the rear sight. I had two, gave one to my son and neither of us have a speck of trouble with the P345. Mine is actually my nightstand gun for when the SHTF in the middle of the night.

kIrhquote="Cornhusker"]I had one and wish I still did.
I shot it better than any .45 I have, and I think they are a good looking pistol[/quote]
 

MountainWalker

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Jan 28, 2006
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Arkansas
Check out page 17 of your manual. Dry firing with magazine out will damage you pistol. Best way to check if the gun is reliable is to fire four boxes of ammunition without malfunction. If you can do this, you should be good to go.
 

loaded round

Hunter
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Valley Forge, Pa
That's the reason you the magazine safety. You can not do any damage to your pistol after removal of these parts. You can damage your pistol if force it to fire w/o the magazine inserted. That's why we P345 fans remove the magazine safety ''AKA cleaning the rear sight'' from our pistols, not because we just don't like mag safeties. Mag safety was a design flaw in this pistol.


, sligdaop
MountainWalker said:
Check out page 17 of your manual. Dry firing with magazine out will damage you pistol. Best way to check if the gun is reliable is to fire four boxes of ammunition without malfunction. If you can do this, you should be good to go.
 

MountainWalker

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loaded round said:
That's the reason you the magazine safety. You can not do any damage to your pistol after removal of these parts. You can damage your pistol if force it to fire w/o the magazine inserted. That's why we P345 fans remove the magazine safety ''AKA cleaning the rear sight'' from our pistols, not because we just don't like mag safeties. Mag safety was a design flaw in this pistol.
Good point, same is true with my SR9c & SR40c pistols. I agree with your assessment of a design flaw. Somehow Ruger must believe that this safety feature will give them an advantage in liability claims.
 

mohavesam

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Rugerville, AZ
I don't believe the "design flaw" comments at all. The extra safety is an effort to idiot-proof a deadly weapon in the hands of 99% of owners.
Presuming one had a billion-dollar factory with thousands of employees depending on your paycheck, and many thousands of stockholders financing your business, you'd probably demand your engineering dept put the extra safety in the product. And you'd probably insist the manual states that any functional modification of the product release the company from all liability (in big red lawyer letters).

YMMV.
 

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