Ruger SR9c Compact 9mm

When I first saw the ad for the Ruger SR9c (for compact) my first thought was “It’s about time; what took you so long”.  Ruger’s new leadership touts that they are listening to their customers and trying to give them what they want.  Well back when I reviewed the full sized SR 9 I wrote “The SR9 is a great pistol and I hope that the Ruger team can produce a compact model…oh say one with a 3.5 barrel and a shorter grip with a 13 round magazine.  I would think it would be a hot seller for those with a concealed carry permit—I know I would line up for one” and I followed it up with an email to their president but I never heard back from Ruger on that email.  But obviously the Ruger engineers went back to the drawing board and made the concealed carry SR9 a reality.

My Second thought was “Why hasn’t the little brown UPS truck pulled up to my front door to deliver, oh…say…serial #2 in appreciation for giving them the idea?”.  Maybe because they couldn’t make it work with a 13 round magazine they didn’t feel the idea was worth reward or, more than likely, several thousand customers asked for a compact model as well and Ruger could not afford to give one to everybody.  So, let’s look at the specifications:

Ruger SR9c Specifications

Caliber	Height	Length	Barrel Length	Width	Capacity	Sights
9mm	4.61”	6.88”	3.5”	1.27” across the frame to include the ambidextrous safeties 0.90” across the grip frame	10+1	Adjustible 3 Dot

Ruger SR9c At-A-Glance

Handling	Terrible	Poor	Acceptable	Good	Excellent
Fit & Finish	Terrible	Rough	Acceptable	Good	Excellent
Sights	None	Too Small	Useable	Good	Excellent
Trigger	Terrible	Poor	Acceptable	Good	Excellent
Power Scale	.22LR	.380 ACP	9mm	.40 S&W	.45 ACCP
Carry/Concealment	Too Large	Compact	Ultra Compact	Micro Compact	Pocket Pistol
Reliability	Unreliable	Somewhat Reliable	Fair	OK	Completely Reliable
Accuracy	Poor	Fair	Acceptable	Combat	Bullseye

Let’s examine the individual characteristics of the Ruger SR9c:

Handling	Terrible	Poor	Acceptable	Good	Excellent

Because of the abbreviated frame I found the perceived feel of the grip to be a little too vertically straight, like it is at a right angle to the slide.  The full sized grip on the SR9 gives me a different feeling because the grip extends into the slight diagonal of its full design.  I am probably not providing a very exact explanation but hopefully you get the gist of what I am trying to get across.  Nonetheless, just like its big brother the compact model is very comfortable to hold.  Ruger measures the width of the pistol from one ambidextrous safety to the other and lists that the pistol is 1.27” wide.  To me that is an impractical measure because the safeties are not going to affect the feel of the grip nor hamper the ability to conceal the pistol.  Measuring the width of the grip frame you find yourself holding a handgun that is less than an inch thick and that is quite a feat for a double stack pistol.  Both the safeties and the slide release are very practical and by that I mean that they are small enough not to be in the way and large enough to be able to find and utilize quickly.

Fit & Finish	Terrible	Rough	Acceptable	Good	Excellent

Fit and finish are good and about what you would expect.  The slide is stainless steel that is nicely polished on the sides.  There seems to be a trend with some manufacturers of stamping their name or model name on the sides in letters as large as can fit on the slide.  Being a traditionalist I could do without the large “SR9c” inscribed on the left side of the slide.  The frame is glass filled nylon and contains a removable checkered rubber backstrap allowing you to modify from a straight to curved back strap.  My preference is to the curved.  The grip frame is nicely checkered around the sides & front strap and sculpted where your thumb and trigger finger would make contact.

Sights	None	Too Small	Useable	Good	Excellent

The sights are low profile but highly visible and have the usual 3 dots for easier sight alignment.  The rear sight is fully adjustable and if it contained tritium vials I would consider the sights to be “excellent” but since night sights are absent I will rate them as good.

Trigger	Terrible	Poor	Acceptable	Good	Excellent

When the SR9 debuted the trigger was fairly heavy, spongy, and gritty.  It was acceptable but not the trigger that anyone would really want on their pistol.  When the pistol was recalled for possible discharge problems Ruger tweaked the trigger system and returned the pistol with a better pull.  It was still not very good.  I am happy to report that the SR9c now comes with a much better trigger pull than its bigger brother.  Ruger got this one right.

Power Scale	.22LR	.380 ACP	9mm	.40 S&W	.45 ACP/GAP

It’s a 9mm; not the most powerful, but the current military standard in most countries of the world and has certainly shown itself to be a good cartridge especially with modern hollowpoint ammunition of the +P variety.  My favorite is Speer 124 grain Gold Dot Hollowpoint +P (when I can find them in stock).

Carry/Concealment	Too Large	Compact	Ultra Compact	Micro Compact	Pocket Pistol

I think we’ve already established that is a fairly small, very concealable pistol.  Not too tall, not too long, not too wide, and low profile sights and well rounded to make concealed carry as easy as possible.  What I don’t understand is the magazine offering with the pistol.  It is supplied with two magazines.  The first on is a 10 rounder which fits flush with the bottom of the grip.  A finger grip extension base plate is included so you can swap it with the flat one supplied.  This is the configuration I used and it worked quite well without inhibiting the ability of concealing the pistol.  The second magazine is the full-sized 17 rounder supplied with the larger SR9 pistol.  A grip adapter is included to make the grip longer and accommodate the full-sized magazine.  Putting the 17 round magazine on the pistol does make the grip frame more difficult to conceal.  Some of the advertising material I have seen indicated that Ruger assumes your will carry the 10 rounder in the pistol and use the 17 round magazine as your reload.  While I understand the desire to carry more ammunition, the full-sized magazine is going to require a lot of thought be put into how you will be concealing it.  In a trend that began with the Ruger P345, the SR9c has a loaded chamber indicator in the shape of a triangular pennant that protrudes from the top of the slide whenever there is a bullet in the chamber.  When shopping for holsters it may be a good idea to take a 9mm snap cap along to make sure that your SR9c and still fit in your chosen holster when the loaded chamber indicator pops up.  

Reliability	Unreliable	Somewhat Reliable	Fair	OK	Completely Reliable

Not a whole lot to comment on here.  The SR9c ate up both hardball and the few hollowpoint defensive rounds that I could spare.

Accuracy	Poor	Fair	Acceptable	Combat	Bullseye

I am giving the SR9c as a solid “Combat” rating for accuracy.  For shooting out to 35 feet the accuracy is all you would need.  However at 50 and 75 feet the accuracy began to spread.   For reasons that I cannot remember I did not save the 50 foot target but did make note of the spread.  As you will see in the 75 foot targets it looks like it was hit with a shotgun. 

Two targets at 21 feet:

 30 Feet:

35 Feet:

75 Feet:

Now I know that you may be saying, "hey you still hit the silhouette at 75 feet" but that was standing rock still under no stress.  Add movement and the stress of a shooting situation and I would be concerned about how many shots are going to go off target. 

If Al-Queda comes bursting into your neighborhood strafing everything in sight with their fully automatic AK-47s you might have a hard time keeping up with your SR9c, but if this scenario comes to pass you’d better have a more capable long gun at hand.   The good news is that most defensive shooting situations in this country pit handgun against handgun and occur on the close side of 50 feet making the SR9c a good choice for self-defense carry.