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Practically Shooting

Ruger .45 semi's - thoughts?


Pablo

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At $600.00 US it's not a steal but it's not bad either. For the money, I'd much rather have an all steel Baby Eagle in 45ACP and spend the rest on components. I've yet to see one that wasn't a tack driver. Downside to one is that there are few after market goodies available for them. Or a nice CZ would be a good choice. Both of the above are a lot cheaper than the Ruger. But as we all know, picking the right gun for you is a personal thang.

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I have a P90 that I have fired 1225 times (I keep exquisite records of everything) 1175 of those are my handloads.

The P90 has a reputation of being able to feed anything and it certainly has for me. It also has a reputation of being extremely reliable, which is also has been for me. Every time I've ever pulled the trigger it goes bang... Both semi-wadcutter and ball feed flawlessly. I have a Kimber 45ACP and in a gunfight, I'd take the P90 EVERY time... It is accurate, but it isn't a bullseye 45 by any means. The P90 also has a very comfortable grip, much more so than the 1911.

The model I have has the decocker, so if you move the decocker to 'safe' it releases the hammer (without firing). With the decocker in the safe position you can pull the trigger all you want and it does nothing as the trigger and hammer are disconnected. I really like the decocker model because in the safe position anyone could pick up the gun and couldn't accidentally shoot someone while being stupid when it's in the 'safe' position.

Now the bad part - the first pull can be either double or single action (that's not the bad part). If you want single, then you have to move the decocker to 'fire' then rack the slide - the hammer will stay back and you're ready to go. The single action trigger is fine for plinking, but it's no 1911 as the travel is pretty long (very normal for plastic guns, although the P90 isn't plastic). After the first shot it's single action every time like a 1911. If you leave the decocker in the safe postion while you rack the slide, then move the decocker to the 'fire' position when ready, it will be double action. The double action trigger pull is long and stiff (that's the bad part), you'll get used to it, but I don't want you have have any misgivings that it's like the double action pull of a S&W revolver - it's not.

I can take the pistol down in about 10 seconds - it's very similar to the 1911 except you don't have to take the bushing off the end of the slide, because there is none to take off - it's just simple.

Thanks,

Wayne

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Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Have you looked at the P345?

Not sure why, but it's nearly $200 more and the barrel is shorter (4.2"). 4.5" is my min, when previously I drew the line at 5".

I didn't realize that.

You should look at the used P90 prices on Gunbroker. Lots for under $400.

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Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Have you looked at the P345?

Not sure why, but it's nearly $200 more and the barrel is shorter (4.2"). 4.5" is my min, when previously I drew the line at 5".

Paul,

Just checked and prices for the P90TH is $384 and P345 2 tone is $409.

The P345 does come with 2 mags where as the P90Th comes with one. It does come with the wrap around grips though.. (The P345 does not need anything as far as a grip)

Mags are cheap for them. Get the factory ones!

Both are great shooters! The P345 is a great house gun with the rail and safety/decocker.

Take care, bill

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I had a P90 for a brief time. It is high on my Worst Guns Ever Owned list.

From listening to reports from owners for the past 20 years, it seems to have been the only bad one to come from Ruger too, so there you go.

Please tell me more. What kind of problems?

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Originally Posted By: BarryinIN
I had a P90 for a brief time. It is high on my Worst Guns Ever Owned list.

From listening to reports from owners for the past 20 years, it seems to have been the only bad one to come from Ruger too, so there you go.

Please tell me more. What kind of problems?

Wouldn't feed ball ammo. Regular 230 grain FMJ round nose ball ammo. Winchester (USA) and Federal in both regular red box and American Eagle.

I took it to the range one time. It was shoot, clear it, shoot, clear it, shoot and maybe feed one, shoot, clear it.

Both mags, same deal.

Re-lubing, more lube, wiping down to less lube, no help.

To add to my annoyance, most empties came back into my face.

I might have investigated further, but when one of the empties got behind my glasses and gave me a little burn I had enough, cleared it, shoved it back in it's case and took it back to the gunshop and kissed it goodbye the first chance I got.

But as I said, I must have got the one bad one they ever made because everyone else thinks they are wonderful and I've seen evidence to that fact.

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Interesting. You are correct, that flies in the face of most reports saying the Ruger .45 will accept any .45ACP ammo on the planet. The usual gripe with 1911's is they will only accept ball ammo, so doubly weird. I wonder if something was not within specification on the gun??

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It was not the finest example of Ruger's work. Proof that everyone, and I mean everyone, turns out a piece of junk sometime.

Truthfully, aside from compact ones (that are doomed from the start in my opinion), the only 1911s I've had that didn't work fine right out of the box were ones I bought used. It always turned out to be something I suspect was "helped" by a previous owner. Every new, or used but un-screwed-with used one, was fine.

Browning HiPowers are another, btw. They seem to gobble up everything just fine. I always read how the old style HiPower feedramps were designed for ball ammo only and some won't feed JHP but I haven't seen that.

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