LC9 Stainless Steel Guide Rod Testing & Review!

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Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
I received the SS guide rods yesterday but didnt get a chance to hit the range until today. I went through 150 rounds here (all Federal 115gr. FMJ), with another 50 by my friend which isnt the best shot so i left him out of the testing/review ;)
So the gun ran GREAT with the SS guide rod in place! I had one FTL, but it was my fault as my finger slipped on the recoil and hit the slide stop and i literally caught the slide after the first round, i'll count that as my bad since i felt it and the other 149 rounds went flawlessly! I did multiple types of shooting from different distances, took some pictures of the targets and have the distances written down for each target and how i was firing. So, onto the first target!
@ ~10yds, i fired at target #s 5/6, slow, single fire shots trying to get a tight grouping. I then moved it back to ~15yds, and did the same thing for target #s 2/4, used 2 mags for each target this time. I then stepped it back again to ~25-30yds, almost al the way back of a 35yd. range and did the same thing for the triangle head target, again using 2 mags and shooting for accuracy. Damn this little thing is impressive! For the two center square targets, i started doing double taps @ ~20-25yds, just moved in a tiny bit and started shooting more like i would in a self-defense situation. At this particular in-door range they dont let you practice draw-firing, even if you have your CCW permit, etc. One of the few that wont allow it around me even if you have CCW, so i pulled the gun to my chest and went from there for the two square center targets doing double taps, and also the same type of shooting at the same distance for target #s 1/3. The top square was BY FAR my best shooting that day! 14 shots from ~20-25yds, all double taps, and 5 rounds went through basically the same hole, and keyholed another 4 shots basically. only pulled one shot to the left just a bit out of the square, the other 13 were all center mass, i was VERY happy with that, im not that good of a shooter ;). Can't do much better than that for defense double taps IMO at that distance with this gun '8)'. Here is a picture of that target:
DSC02006.jpg

Now for this second target, it was 50 rounds of strictly double taps from as close of a draw as i could get to without getting in trouble, basically having the gun at my stomach and coming up and out from there. I was shooting @ ~20-25yds with this target and was strictly doing double taps only, no slow shooting whatsoever! Here is a picture of that target. After going through 100 rounds my arms were a bit shaky when doing this so i may have been able to do a bit better since i didnt take a rest really, but this is how i shot, only missed with 4 rounds, all the rest were kill shots basically. Here is a picture of that target;
DSC02005.jpg

After going through the first ~21 rounds and making sure everything was functioning correctly, disassembling the gun multiple times to check for rubbing on the hole of the slide, damage to the guide rod itself, damage to the barrel, and any damage to anything that i could see or any unnecessary wear, i then proceeded to shoot the other 130rds. without a single problem! After all the shooting i definitely noticed that my double taps were tighter groups, and usually after ~100 rounds my hands are a bit tired and half of the time i dont even want to shoot anymore. I believe this reduced the recoil a bit because i shot 150rds and i could have shot 50 more before i would have started to get really shaky. Again, part of this could be because i have been practicing dry-firing just about everyday so that definitely contributes, but IMO with the recoil since dry-firing doesnt really help that, IMO the guide rod helped out noticeably adding that weight to the very front. Not only that, since it doesn't flex like the stock one does, the recoil spring has to compress more in order for it to eject the shell and have the slide move to the rear, i forgot to mention this but i did notice i wasnt throwing brass as far as i normally do, so there's proof right there that it tightens it up a bit! Not only that, but with the stock guide rod bending the inner spring, being so tight against the rod, gets caught up and doesnt have to compress as much, etc. Since the SS guide rod stays completely straight, you dont have the flexing problem and the inner spring wont start to eat up the stock rod like it did to mine after ~600 rounds, although still totally functional it did have noticeable indentations from the spring and barrel, since the stock one bends so much it definitely makes contact with the barrel/inner spring.
I also wanted to mention that i have a total of ~1k rounds through the gun now total. I have dry-fired the gun (i use A-Zoom snap caps just to be safe) ~2500 times to get the trigger pull down so im very steady with the trigger break. IMO being accurate with this gun has almost eerything to do with learning the trigger. If you can shoot other guns but can't shoot the LC9 for the life of you, practice dry-firing a couple hundred times and make SURE you dont jerk and stay on target even after the trigger break and is fully cycled, you should be on target steady until you start to release the trigger. If you jerk at anytime durning the trigger break, your shot placement is going to be off so if you're shooting all over the place, dry-fire it a bit at the target and see how you're jerking it. I notcied that i meeded to ue a bit more finger, almost to my joint and grab low on the trigger so that by the time the trigger breaks im pulling as straight back as possible so i dont jerk at all. With other guns that are bigger/full-size they break perfectly in the middle so you use the pad of your finger because that's where you're pulling straight back as the trigger breaks and it's the least likely that you'll jerk the gun doing that. Just something that worked for me, might not work for you but try different things and DRY-FIRE the gun!
Anyways here are the rest of the pictures i took of everything to show that there is no unnecessary wear and that my groupings are IMO VERY IMPRESSIVE for such a small, short barreled gun. Here are the rest of the pics;
DSC02007.jpg

DSC02008.jpg

DSC02014.jpg

DSC02016.jpg

DSC02019.jpg

DSC02022-1.jpg

DSC02026.jpg

DSC02027.jpg


So to wrap it up, the guide rods functioned GREAT! Still going to put a couple hundred more rounds through it to make sure they're GTG, but so far they're AWESOME! Not to mention it matches my polished barrel very nicely! (BTW in the last pic, i know that looks like a scratch mark along the whole of the guide rod, it tripped me out when i first saw it, but trust me it's just the reflection from my barrel ;) )
As you can see from the pics, no unnecessary wear, no ovaling of the guide rod hole on the slide, or even noticeable wear on it from rubbing. No marks on the barrel (although i do have mine polished, if you'rs is blued you might notice a couple of tiny marks, insignificant though and wont effect the gun.) Only thing that was even a LITTLE BIT noticeable was the SS guide rod had the tiniest little indentations that could only bee seen and not felt if held up EXACTLY right to the reflection, otherwise you cannot see anything. (the stock guide rod in the same section is WAY worse since i have ~800rds though my stock guide rod, and trust me this is a big improvement, not to mention the barrel is harder than the guide rod so if anything the guide rod would get a mark on it, not the barrel (unless yours is blued , but even then the bluing around the very edge where it makes contact occasionally is already making contact with the slide because it took the bluing of mine of all the way around, so i doubt you'd notice any mark on the barrel unless it was a BRAND NEW GUN, never fired and you threw that guide rod in and used that only, for the first ~50 rounds yeah, you might see the bluing wear off faster right under the rod but thats it, it's BARELY possible for them to even make contact so im not the least worried about it, i was worried about it wearing on the slide but that seems to be a non-issue unlike kel-tecs!
So again, only thing NOTICEABLE, besides the reduced recoil ;), was a couple spring marks on the guide rod and those 2-3 TINY little indentations that are so tiny i didnt see them until i cleaned it all off and held it up perfectly to the reflection, and not only less recoil (i believe it feels like it has less recoil because the guide rod isnt bending, and it's DEFINITELY noticeable!) I tried for the life of me to capture the tiny indentations with my camera but couldnt. I talked to the maker and he said that's definitely not an issue, but to be 100% safe before he starts selling them to the general public he wants another couple 100 rounds through it so hopefully i can get that done here within the next week or two, then i can post up ALL ordering info, etc. for you guys to buy!
If you have any questions or something i was unclear on, please feel free to comment or ask! Thanks for checking this thread out and hopefully this product will be available very soon! If anyone wants to donate 2-300 rounds i'll get it done tomorrow ;) But got to wait until at least thursday until i get another paycheck lol.. Anyways happy shooting to everyone and be safe! :D

EDIT: Here are your two choices of what type of tip you can choose for your guide rod.

Here's the rounded flat tip:

DSC02031.jpg

DSC02034.jpg

DSC02036.jpg


And here's the checkered tip that they offer for an extra ~$10:

DSC02030.jpg

DSC02032.jpg

DSC02033.jpg


This is the only option you get for your Stainless Steel Guide Rod, which tip you want. Like i said before, the checkered one is ~$10 more. BTW in the picture with the flat guide rod, with it sideways in the gun it looks like it has something on it if you look closely, but if you look even closer you can see it's my reflection! tripped me out at first ;)

Please post in this thread and let me know if you're interested as production for them is going to start very soon and if your name is on the list you won't be waiting in line for one when the time comes, i'll have the list so i can give it to him and the orders can be placed, just be almost positive you are going to order one if you put your name down on the list. He does have a major website and you can order from there, however if there's not enough made the people on the list are guaranteed there's shipped out as soon as they pay! So you'll have your Stainless Steel Guide Rod in ~3-4 business days! Post now and let me know so you're not one of the ones waiting! ;)

Happy shooting and be safe!
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
More like the 55-65$ question depending on what tip you want on it (he also offers a "checkered pattern" tipped one that is usually 10-15$ more, but don't quote me on the prices as each rod is different, i'm just giving you a ballpark price that's definitely inside the ballpark, but good guess, just take off a couple 0's at the end ;).
I apologize but they won't be available for another week or so, depending on when i can get back to the range and put some more rounds through it, and also he has a local guy to him that he has testing one too, so should be ~ 1 more week. He's asked me not to give out the website to order from yet as the part isnt listed, and he doesnt want to get emails and phone calls for them until the testing is done (he's very thorough and is a very reputable guide rod maker). But i'll update the thread as soon as they're for sale!
In the mean time, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
I do have an update; i was just informed that the maker of the guide rods has two local people testing the rods out now as well, and they both went shooting today to test them, i dunno about one but the other put 200 rounds through it, but BOTH functioned flawlessly and worked like a charm! So it's looking like they'll be ready to start shipping not by next week but the beginning of the week after from what i've been told.
In the meantime if anyone has questions/comments please feel free to ask!
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
Put another 100 rounds through the LC9 with the SS guide rod without problems, so far it has ~350-400 rounds through it with the SS guide rod in and everything still looks just as good as it did when i first put it in. No wearing on the hole of the slide where the guide rod passes through, nothing.
One thing that is noticeable is the accuracy in my double taps, i was very impressed compared to other targets i have done at ~20yds and this noticeably my best one. Maybe it's just a coincidence, maybe not, maybe i was just having a good day but to me the gun has felt better with reducing the recoil. I have also noticed i dont throw brass ~10ft. like a did before, it's not throwing brass as far and when dry-firing with snapcaps i've noticed that it doesnt get caught up before chambering fully like it would sometimes with the stock guide rod in.
With the stock rod and dry firing with snap caps, occasionally if i didnt let the slide go fast enough or bring it back far enoygh it would go all the way forward and get caught like 1cm before actually being fully forward. After i changed out the guide rod this has not happened, and even if i try to set it where it would get stuck before it wont, so it's DEFINITELY using the spring more effectively and reducing the recoil more, those are two definite signs (especially the distance of the brass being ejected) that the SS guide rod reduces recoil. Not only that, it adds a bit of weight to the front too, which is why i think my double taps were much tighter groupings. When i aimed for the chest, i was damn near it or right on it every time. When i went for the head, i hit it just abut every time. For me anyways, doing double taps with that small of a gun from ~20yds and keeping them all but 4 center mass and kill shots, thats impressive for a 3in. barrel pistol, and me especially. I'm a good shot with a handgun but i dont claim to be great, im great with rifles. Handguns i still need some fine tuning ;)
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
Update: I was informed that 3 guns are being tested now not including mine, they put several hundred rounds through them today without any problems or noticeable wear, the guide rod maker himself is inspecting them since they are local.
Anyways with my gun having ~400 rounds or so give or take ~50 and mine has functioned flawlessly, and 3 other guns have several hundred rounds through them too, all showing no wear and functioning great, with everyone having good things t say about them, he feels it's safe to start producing them and as soon as some are made and ready to ship out he's going to notify me to post up the information on where to order :D .

In the meantime, anyone that is interested and is pretty sure they will be purchasing one, (they will be ~$55-65) please say so and im going to start making a list here to give to him so he has an idea of how many to produce, so if you're pretty sure you want one
(BTW they will have an option of 2 different tips that show under the barrel, one is a bit rounded with a flat head, and the other has a checkered pattern cut into it kinda like 1911's, those cost ~10 more)
Please say so here so i can get a list going to give to him. He's going to start producing them very soon and you don't want to wait because you forgot to say you wanted one, so just post letting me know you're in and there will be no wait, as soon as they're ready to ship you'll have it in ~3 days from when you place your order!
I'll post a picture right now of both tips so you can see the difference and let me know which one you'd want, that way you can list that too in your post, one sec.
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
Here's the pictures of the 2 styles of tips you can choose from, the checkered one i believe is ~$10 more. Here's the rounded/flat nose first;

DSC02031.jpg

DSC02034.jpg

DSC02036.jpg


And here is the pictures of the checkered tip, which is ~$10 more;

DSC02030.jpg

DSC02032.jpg

DSC02033.jpg


I'll also add these to the top, but these are your 2 choices that you have for the tip of the stainless steel guide rod.
 

rogerthedodger

Bearcat
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
33
Hi Stimo3, I am in for one SS rounded/flat nose guide rod. And thanks for all your work on the SS guide rod project.
Roger
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
Sounds good Rogerthedodger and you're welcome! When i first felt the stock guide rod in hand it didnt feel like it could bend very easily, but as soon as i had the slide off and acted like it was ejecting a cartridge and push down a bit and forward, you could immediately see the flex in the slide and i didnt like that at all, not to mention i had only ~600 rounds through it and i could see a bit of indenting bout an inch fron the tip so i started on this project of finding a reputable, well known guide rod maker that WAS WILLING to try it since it didnt work on kel-tecs and that's what he was worried about since they're close in design, very close so it was a search but i found the right guy to do it and he made a GREAT guide rod!

If you can though Roger, please try and specify which tip so he has an idea of how many to make for each because i have this going on a couple different places so i'm getting all the numbers together for him.
Or, if you're like me and can't decide which one looks better and did specify that you wanted one of each, i apologize and i'll put you down for one of each, but just want to be clear!

Thanks Roger!
 

Phila PD

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
29
I personally would not trust any aftermarket part were the "Reviewer" is a middle man for the sale of the item with the manufacturer. Stimo3 posts that three others are testing the S/S guide rods firing a few hundred rounds with claimed perfect results and this makes the S/S guide rod a reliable after market part for the LC-9. There is a reason why Ruger made the recoil rod out of polymer and one for those reasons maybe that the flex in the rod helps buffer the dual recoil spring not to over compress the spring and damage it during cycle. If your going to place your life in the function of your LC-9 during a dangerous encounter any after market part needs thousands of rounds fired in multiple LC-9 pistols from a independent reviewer with nothing to gain if the product fails.

Be very careful of a member who joined the forum on July 3 2011 and has 40 posts selling a after market product were the testing is questionable and you have so much to lose if that part fails or causes a malfunction when you need it the most.
 

claimbuster

Single-Sixer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
121
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I won't be quite as tough as Phil PD; however, I think I'll just sit back and watch to see what the reviews are after some time has passed. In the meantime if I start to worry about the stock guide rod I'll just order another one from Ruger.
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
Phila PD said:
I personally would not trust any aftermarket part were the "Reviewer" is a middle man for the sale of the item with the manufacturer. Stimo3 posts that three others are testing the S/S guide rods firing a few hundred rounds with claimed perfect results and this makes the S/S guide rod a reliable after market part for the LC-9. There is a reason why Ruger made the recoil rod out of polymer and one for those reasons maybe that the flex in the rod helps buffer the dual recoil spring not to over compress the spring and damage it during cycle. If your going to place your life in the function of your LC-9 during a dangerous encounter any after market part needs thousands of rounds fired in multiple LC-9 pistols from a independent reviewer with nothing to gain if the product fails.

Be very careful of a member who joined the forum on July 3 2011 and has 40 posts selling a after market product were the testing is questionable and you have so much to lose if that part fails or causes a malfunction when you need it the most.

I dunno exactly what you think i have to gain, i'm not a middle man for selling them, im helping him test them out and i'm getting him a list of how many people want them so he has an idea of how many to make. In no way do i profit from this or have "anything to gain" if the rod is successful or is a failure, except for a free guide rod.. Sorry but a free guide rod isnt enough to make me lie about a product on a test & review. Toss me a couple hundred thousand and that's a different story ;)..
Please show me where Ruger states that they SPECIFICALLY put in a plastic guide rod for "flexing" reasons to "ease tension" on the inner spring LOL. Did you come up with that all by yourself?? That's some pretty good BS i'll give you that. Good luck, it doesn't exist because it simply isn't true. If you're going to state an argument at least back it up with factual information, not with "what YOU think."
Obviously you like the stock plastic guide rod, so stick with it, i could care less. However some people like to test things out and improve their gun, i'm one of those people that likes to modify things. If it didnt work as good as the stock on i'd take it out, but so far i like it better than the plastic rod, i don't throw brass ~10', i get better groupings shooting, it adds weight to the front to help with recoil, it doesnt flex, and as you can see from the pictures there are no wear marks on anything, and it hasnt mis-fired or had any mechanical problems. It works better for me in my gun, and same with 3 others that have been testng them, so i'm going to use it. You have only experienced using the stock plastic one so you have nothing but "what your opinion is" to go on, i have hard data, which is why i also took pictures, they speak for themselves.
BTW I'd like to know which part of my review you think is "questionable," i took pictures of everything and every part that the guide rod makes contact with, how are pictures "questionable?" Sorry Mr. Conspiracy theorist, but you're making an argument with no factual base. Why don't you throw out some FACTS that PROVE me wrong? I'd love to see it. So far you've just made BS guesses and accusations, and until you come up with a reasonable, legitimate argument that's based on actual FACTS, i'm not going to waste my breath on you,
As to me joining to forum not long ago, maybe that's because i just bought an LC9 and it's my first Ruger? That obviously never crossed your mind, and im not surprised given the argument you put out and the "facts" you use to back it up. Once people find out who the guide rod maker is, im sure that will put A LOT of people's minds at ease but until he's ready i can't list that information.

Roger: sounds good, got you down!
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
claimbuster said:
I won't be quite as tough as Phil PD; however, I think I'll just sit back and watch to see what the reviews are after some time has passed. In the meantime if I start to worry about the stock guide rod I'll just order another one from Ruger.
Not a bad idea as stock ones are only ~2$, just you have to order a minimum of 10$ from ruger for them to ship so you'll have 4 back-ups ;). With stock rods the only thing you have to worry about is them breaking! So far i have only seen it on 1 gun, the head of the rod that is on the barrel side broke off. Obviously it's not common, but it CAN happen, and after ~600 rounds i was seeing a bit of pitting in mine. The SS rod i have ~400 through it and it's still in perfect shape.
So far from my experience the SS guide rod blows the stock one out of the water, but to each his own. Maybe a good idea would be to wait for some other people to test them out and see what they think, if it's working the same for them then go for it. If they say the opposite of what i'm saying then obviously i was lying to sell someone elses product that i have no benefit wether it does good or not.
 

2ndamd

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 1, 2005
Messages
73
Location
Kansas City
Interesting report. Put my name in the hat for a flat nose SS guide rod when they become available.

Good range report too!
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
2ndamd said:
Interesting report. Put my name in the hat for a flat nose SS guide rod when they become available.

Good range report too!
2ndamd, got you down. Thanks on the range report, i was going to record it but i figured it would have been a boring video with me continuously having to take the gun apart to check the internals, so i figured pictures would do more justice after use so you can see for yourself that it has caused no extra wear or damage, and trust me the maker behind these rods wouldn't let a bad design out of his shop, and since these guns are very close in design to kel-tecs, he was worried they would have the same problem they did (barrel making very hard contact with the rod and pitting it, etc.) so he wanted some people to test them out first.
So anyways that's where we are, there are 4 guns total testing them now, and all have worked flawlessly with no signs of unnecessary wear on any of that parts. I myself have ~400 rounds through it with the SS rod, and im going shooting again tomorrow to put some more rounds through it, so it shouldn't be MUCH longer, maybe another week or so as he wants to be sure all 4 guns show no unnecessary wear, etc.
 

rogerthedodger

Bearcat
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
33
For those interested, here is extensive info on SS guiderod for the LCP
http://elsiepeaforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=10453.0
Roger
BTW: the price there appears to be $20 so $55 for a LC9 may be a little high?? Just my $0.02
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
I don't set the prices and have nothing to do with that side so i couldn't tell you if it's high or not. What i do know is that he uses basically the highest quality 304 stainless steel whereas these other rods are made out of 17-4 H1150 Stainless Steel, i don't know the strength/price difference of these metals or their hardness so please dont ask, but the guide rod i'm testing is made from 304 stainless steel, and most of the other guide rods are in that range. Again, i'm not 100% sure it's 55$, just a ballpark price that is close to what it will be, but not exactly sure what he's charging for them. I thought i posted that earlier that price was ballpark, but to be more clear, that price is a BALLPARK price ;), not 100% sure on it, just going off what he charges for his other rods and going by that.
 

Stimo3

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
142
boomer1 said:
These look a lot like Steve Bedair's guide rods..... :?: Or did I miss something :?:

http://guiderod.com/

YMMV,
boomer 8)

Yes, these are being made by Steve Bedair of guiderod.com, and i'm doing some of the testing for him. Hopefully this will prove that in NO WAY am i a "middle man" for the sales, and in NO WAY do i profit if the guide rods are a success, except for a free guide rod which was given to me for testing :shock:
He's obviously a MAJOR guide rod maker and WILL NOT release a product until he knows it has been tested thoroughly.
Now that you guys know who is making the guide rods, he won't be back in town until the beginning of next month so trying to place an order or sending him an email isn't going to work. They'll be available on his website as soon as the testing is done, and im actually OMW to put another 1-200 rounds through my LC9 with the guide rod for more testing. So please be patient and i will notify you as soon as they're ready to be shipped out. Contacting him before then is just going to slow things down, so i ask that you please be patient and wait until i give you the "okay," or you can just keep checking his website until they're listed and place an order and hop in line. Or you can give me your name/what rod you would like so he has them already pre-made and ready to ship, and you wont have to wait as long.
 
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