Hey TNR,
The big issue is the Barrel/Slide Peening. It's not 100% known why it does it, but we all have our hunches....I think it's a tolerance/timing problem personally. The longterm effects could be very superficial to a real problem. Superficially you'd be looking at a serious deformation of the leading edge of the Barrel, that over time could wear itself in, otherwise, you could carefully file it down a few thousandths and keep an eye on it every now and then. At the worse, you don't ever notice it and it locks up one day at the range or a SHTF situation.
Another problem a few have seen is the Trigger Reset problem, some SR9s experienced a fail to reset after firing. Multiple trips to Ruger were required in some instances. Some I recall having only have happened once or twice as a intermittent but extremely rare occurrence. 2-3 FTR out of 1000 rounds is worse though than 2-3 FTF/FTE in 1000 rounds.
I am showing signs of peening on the two alignment ears on the back of the Barrel. I plan to shoot some high speed (300fps) video of the SR9 once I recover from surgery next week. I think this problem is due to too much play in the barrel/slide when cycling. One member saw his SR9 lose a chunk off one of the ears, Ruger asked for it to be sent in as a precaution. Unknown how it would affect performance, probably accuracy if anything I'd guess.
Some people show a weak brass ejection, I'm trying to link this issue with a D shaped divot in the slide, opposite the extractor. Won't know until someone can claim to have poor progressing to better ejections with the divot present....then have multiple results from other SR9 owners. Never really affected performance, but hot brass hitting the arms or landing on a foot or something would be annoying.
Some complain about a stiff mag release, I can't say mine's stiff but the difference in dropping a full and empty mag is night and day, though both are easily managed. I think that the full mags are tougher to some because the Mag Spring is fully compressed putting pressure against the rounds, against the slide, and against the Mag, against the Magazine Latch. Empty mag, less force against the ends. Not really a problem with function, just an issue for the user sometimes.
Some pistols that aren't cleaned prior to first range trip CAN FT-Feed or Eject. Not all though, may have been limp wristed, or just a dirty gun. Ruger packs those SR9s full of grease and it can lead to an issue or two. Most see the issue with the FTF/FTE go away after a good cleaning. I recommend you clean before the range, but it's not a necessary thing.
There may be one or two issues that one person or so has said to have, but I can't think of anyway that they'd be a problem in the large spectrum of pistols produced.
The list only a handful of 'problems', some are only inconveniences at best. Some are only superficial and won't affect function in the least.
Josh
