American Compact - New Gun, First Shooting

[Black_Dog]

Today I fired my new Ruger American Compact Pistol (#8635) for the first time. Merry Christmas to me! My son and I put 355 rounds through the gun including seven varieties of ammo and from four magazines (one 12-round and three 17-round, all Ruger). Not everything went as well as hoped -- we had about a dozen jams -- so I thought I would share my results. Ammo used:
- Browning BPT, 147-grain, 50 rounds
- Federal Champion, 115-grain, aluminum case, 100 rounds
- Winchester White Box, 115-grain, 100 rounds
- Perfecta, 115-grain, 50 rounds
- Winchester Train, 147-grain, 5 rounds
- Federal Premium HST Micro, 150-grain hollow point, 5 rounds
- Remington UMC, 115-grain, 45 rounds

We mixed up the ammo, pulling from a different box with every magazine loaded, so none of these were shot exclusively at the beginning or at the end of our session. In fact, we held out four rounds of each type to fire from mixed ammo magazines at the conclusion.

The first magazine loaded with Browning BPT rounds fired flawlessly. Trouble started with the second magazine loaded with seventeen rounds of Federal Champion. My son, on leave from the Navy who has qualified as a sharpshooter with the M9, started experiencing failure to return to battery. A love tap on the back of the slide corrected the problem a couple times. On the third or forth occurrence, we saw that the guide rod was jammed at an angle in the end of the slide. After safely removing the ammo, I was able to field strip the gun (with a great deal of effort!) and reset the guide rod and spring assembly. We had no more trouble with the guide rod, but we continued to have type 3 (double feed) stoppages with the aluminum-case Federal Champion ammo. In total, the gun jammed 8 or 10 times with the aluminum-case ammo, including once in the last magazine we fired today.

The Federal Champion ammo was not the only that gave us trouble. We also experienced 2 or 3 double feeds with the brass-case Perfecta ammo toward the beginning of our shooting session.

On the positive side, the gun performed flawlessly with the other five types of ammo we used, the recoil is well mitigated, the trigger is the best stock striker-fired trigger on the market other than the Walther PPQ, the ambidextrous controls are great for me (left-handed) and everyone else in my family (right-handed), the weight and size are perfect despite complaints from fussy pundits, we experienced none of the dreaded M.A.C. thumb knuckle rub, and the grip angle is perfect for intuitive and fast target acquisition. Oh, and at $422 the price was right.

From today's experience it looks like the Ruger American Compact Pistol does not like aluminum-case ammo. I don't intend on buying any more. Has anyone else experienced this?

As for the Perfecta, I may give it another chance after I've run another 500-1000 rounds through the gun. I have not had any malfunctions with Perfecta .223 in my AR-556.

Lastly, has anyone else had a problem with the Compact's guide rod getting cockeyed and jammed in the end of the slide? This actually happened to me the very first time I charged the pistol (no ammo) after taking it out of the box. This is more concerning to me than the fact that the gun doesn't seem to like some types of cheap-o ammo.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I bet all of those problems will work themselves out with more shooting.

 

[mohavesam]

Good post, nice detail.

It should not require hundreds of rounds (hundreds of dollars) to get broken in like the handguns of the 80's. If another box of ammo (50 rds) gives even one malfunction at this point, I'd send it back to Ruger promptly. Call them at 1 (603) 865-2442.

It is not the owner's job to make a new handgun work as-designed. Sooner or later Ruger will stop shipping the malfunctioning guns...

I know some employees hate the RAP because they come back every day for crappy functioning.

Let them know what ammo you used as you didn't use cheapo foreign ammo. Let them know you disappointment and concern for safety in their product.

 

[tacticalreload]

I know some employees hate the RAP because they come back every day for crappy functioning.

They do? Why am I'm not seeing a rash of complaints online or hearing grumblings about problems with the RAP variants like you'd think you would if there were so many problems with the gun like you describe.

 

[Captain America]

Welcome to the forum, just curious, did you clean the preservative out of the gun and lube it first. That stuff Ruger uses is really sticky.

 

[Black_Dog]

Welcome to the forum, just curious, did you clean the preservative out of the gun and lube it first. That stuff Ruger uses is really sticky.

Thanks, glad to be here.

I have prior experience with Ruger's factory goo. I had a handful of light primer strikes the first time I used my AR-556 last year. The problem persisted until I cleaned the goop out of the firing pin channel inside the bolt with a Q-tip.

The American Pistol shipped practically dry. The owner's manual indicates only 4 places to lube: a drop each on the front of the front rails on either side, a drop inside the slide over the barrel, and a drop around the hole in the front of the slide for the guide rod. Even at those points it did not look like it had been lubed by the factory. Following my initial issue with the guide rod, I inspected it to ensure that it was perfectly straight and I lightly lubed it with Hoppe's No. 9 oil.

 

[mohavesam]

I know some employees hate the RAP because they come back every day for crappy functioning.

They do? Why am I'm not seeing a rash of complaints online or hearing grumblings about problems with the RAP variants like you'd think you would if there were so many problems with the gun like you describe.

I suspect you're expecting to see everything on the interweb?

 

[tacticalreload]

I know some employees hate the RAP because they come back every day for crappy functioning.

They do? Why am I'm not seeing a rash of complaints online or hearing grumblings about problems with the RAP variants like you'd think you would if there were so many problems with the gun like you describe.

I suspect you're expecting to see everything on the interweb?

When stuff breaks, there are always people willing to tell the world how much the product sucks. I take what I read with a grain of salt, of course (including what you posted)... but my point is that if there are so many problems with a particular model of gun, it's highly likely that it will be mentioned enough to see a pattern. If the RAP is such a consistent problem that employees hate on the gun since they have to work overtime to deal with it, I would expect to see a significant presence online complaining about it.

 

[mohavesam]

Over.

 

[Oh Meese!]

My first shots were average in terms of reliability. The issues I had were using Tula ammo. Multiple double feeds and stove pipe jams. I switched ammo (Federal HST hollow points and brass Sellier & Bellot) and I had zero problems. I'm still not convinced that it's ammo related, it may be my own user error, like limp wristing the pistol. Again these were my first 90 shots or so. I'm going to shoot many more rounds before I started complaining to Ruger. Other than Tula issue, the other rounds were fun to shoot and the pistol is very accurate out of the box.

 

[FergusonTO35]

How many rounds total do you have through it? The Tula ammo may be a little mild for it.

 

[GunnyGene]

How many rounds total do you have through it? The Tula ammo may be a little mild for it.

For the life of me, I'll never understand why people shell out $400 to $1000+ for a decent firearm, and then turn right around and buy the cheapest ammo they can find for it. What is the point of that? :roll:

 

[FergusonTO35]

I never understand why people spend thousands on guns, accessories, and fly out out of state for training but have zero interest in reloading!

 

[tacticalreload]

How many rounds total do you have through it? The Tula ammo may be a little mild for it.

For the life of me, I'll never understand why people shell out $400 to $1000+ for a decent firearm, and then turn right around and buy the cheapest ammo they can find for it. What is the point of that? :roll:

Ask the people who I see at the gas station putting 87 octane into their BMW.

 

[Oh Meese!]

How many rounds total do you have through it? The Tula ammo may be a little mild for it.

Well I added another 50 yesterday using Aguila ammo and I had zero issues so my total is about 140 rounds. Tula always worked for me shooting my AKM in 7.62x39 but I'll avoid it in 9.

 

[gramps]

Each gun has its own favorite ammo. Find what she likes, and keep stoking her with it. IMO
gramps

 

[FergusonTO35]

Well I added another 50 yesterday using Aguila ammo and I had zero issues so my total is about 140 rounds. Tula always worked for me shooting my AKM in 7.62x39 but I'll avoid it in 9.

I think you've figured out the problem. Only use commie ammo in commie guns!

 

[tacticalreload]

I think you've figured out the problem. Only use commie ammo in commie guns!

And only use Mexican ammo in American pistols! Wait... what?

 

[neilin]

Received my new Ruger American Compact Pistol 9mm, today! I bought a box of Federal 115 gr 9mm round nose ammo to shoot. It was 28 degrees out, but I still drove out to the local range.
I usually clean a new gun before shooting it, however, I was short on time, so did not clean it. I loaded both magazines, 12 and 17 rounds. 'All 29 rounds functioned perfectly.'
At 25 yards, from a standing position, right hand two handed and right hand one handed, and left hand just one handed (if I have to shoot left handed, my right hand is not useable). All rounds were in vital areas on a human silhouette target.
My main impression was the recoil. The recoil is surprisingly mild. I cannot tell any difference between the Compact and the full size RAP 9mm!
I hope to return to the range in another week.
I am very pleased, and am eager for the .45 compact to become available in my area.

 

[Oh Meese!]

I think you've figured out the problem. Only use commie ammo in commie guns!

And only use Mexican ammo in American pistols! Wait... what?

I was just as surprised as you are when my brother handed me 50 Agulia rounds. I don't look a gift horse in the mouth so I gladly shot them. Not bad, probably won't be buying pallets of them. I'm waiting on some Freedom Munitions rounds. I hear so many of the You Tubers talking about them so I figured why not try some with a few discount offers.

Hey those commie rounds just fly out of my AKM. No sub-MOA or anything but they hit the target.

 

[tacticalreload]

Back in the good ol' days of only about 10-15 years ago, ammo availability and price was hardly a consistent worry. Now, it's a different story. It used to be that when talking about garbage pistol ammo that wouldn't ever touch our pistols, we were talking about aluminum-case stuff. There wasn't a lot of reason for it unless you were feeling very cheap. Mass produced reloads were basically non-existent, as were steel-cased commie-bloc ammo. Even reloading was unnecessary in certain calibers because 100 round Winchester white box 9mm was less than $10 at Walmart.

Now it's a different story. Blazer aluminum is not much cheaper than brass and generally considered decent. Steel-cased stuff is all over and there are a lot of places selling reloads of dubious quality. Perhaps the Aguila isn't a bad option in 2017, but there is no way people would have accepted it two decades ago. Imagine where we will be in another 20 years... probably shooting airsoft only at the rate prices are going up.

 

[Black_Dog]

* * * FOLLOWUP * * *

I finally decided to send my pistol to Ruger. I shipped it off on December 29th and got it back today -- 11 days, not bad. The pistol came back with a lot more oil on it than how it came from the factory. The trigger and slide operate as smoothly as when I sent it to them.

Ruger replaced the guide rod assembly. The original guide rod was blued and this one looks to be stainless steel. If anything else is different about this guide rod assembly it is that the rear retainer might be slightly larger in diameter, which would keep the assembly better aligned within the pistol.

Ruger's gunsmith says that he fired 40 rounds of 124-grain Black Hills ammo with no failures. I have not shot it since it was serviced but I will update this thread if I have any further problems.