Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger Security 9 - A suprise

Got to take a Ruger Security 9 for a test drive today, and I was a little impressed. The woman who owned it picked it up for $299 at the LGS, and she really got her money worth. Now I'll have to admit, before today, I didn't even know Ruger made this pistol. Size wise, it's clear Ruger is going right after the G19, as most dimensions are about identical to the G19 with the exception of width. My observation is most other makers are a touch wider than Glock in width, but the Ruger is significantly so; I would estimate by a full 1/4".

Typical of the latest Ruger Tupperware auto's, it's not real great in the looks department.

Ergonomics wise, the grip is a little blocky/squarish, but it feels very good in the hand. Even my 5'4" daughter thought it was comfortable in the hand, and you're holding on to a full 15 rounds of 9mm.

Accuracy wise. Well, I didn't shoot for groups at 25 yards. I shot from 7-100 yards and I had no problems hitting what I was aiming at as long as I did my part. Hitting a 1/2 gallon milk carton at 100 yards with nearly every pull of the trigger makes me confident had I put it on paper at 25 yards, it would be far from embarrassing itself.
Trigger - Accuracy was aided by a really great trigger. Now admittedly Ruger is cheating a bit here (more on that later). It has a "roll" feel to it, much like many of the trigger cocking/striker fired pistols, but it's much better than any of those. The pull is shorter than the best trigger cockers and sear break comes in under 4lbs. The cheat is...There's a hammer under the slide. So this is basically a single action pistol with a look and trigger that makes you think you have a striker fired auto. Regardless, it has an excellent trigger, and that makes shooting well a snap.

While shooting this new Ruger, I also got to shoot the new Glock 19x, and the Ruger's trigger was significantly better than the Glock's. And that's very impressive, because the new trigger on G5 Glock's is very good. In the past I have always thought Glock triggers just rather sucked out of the box. But now, I can't use that as any sort of excuse. The 19x right out of the box has an excellent trigger by any measure. Yet, the new Ruger had it beat hand's down...again, 'cause they're clearly cheating.

Negatives
Well, the whole single action thing. It has a thumb safety that just isn't well thought out. Now when you draw, present, and thumb the safety down, everything is exactly as it ought to be. The lever is right under the thumb, and it disengages with a positive click, and it's easy to get into action. The problem comes in engaging the safety. The pivot point for the safety is a bit backwards...I don't know how to describe it, but if you pick one up and try to engage the safety, you'll immediately see what I mean.

That's the only real negative I can give. For some, that's a full on deal killer. For others, it's no big deal at all. Now I'm and old Colt/Browning guy, and I would have zero problems with it, and engaging would just be a minor annoyance.
I don't know if Ruger recommends carrying without the safety engaged. It has a dingus in the middle of the trigger like a Glock, so one would think you could just ignore the safety (and it's tucked away enough, and tough to engage; so it shouldn't be a problem), and treat it like any trigger cocking/striker fired pistol.

Of course reliability was absolute with no hint of a bobble in the 250 rounds she brought with here, and the other 50 I contributed.

The woman who bought it, was very happy and shot it quite well. I had a lot of fun shooting it and was favorably impressed.


So today we were at the range so my youngest daughter could test drive a friend's Kahr CW9, but we ended up testing the CW9, Security 9, and G19x. She had very good comments for all of them, but she was test driving these to determine a potential CCW pistol for when she turns 21. And of those 3, she liked the Kahr CW9 by a good margin. I have some future outings scheduled with here to try some other single stack 9's, but that's another story.

Engaging the safety (putting it ON safe) is something I've never been in a hurry to do. Yes, I do it, but it's something you don't have to do in a hurry. Taking the safety "OFF" in a hurry might be a "thing", though, and it sounds like Ruger has that covered, so that wouldn't scare me away, if I were in the market.

I'm sure the Ruger fans will love it. The Ruger fanbase is pretty strong. I don't think they'll have any trouble selling them at that price point.

Thanks for the review GunGeek. Good stuff.

The Ruger Security 9 is the best value Glock 19 you can buy today IMHO.

Except for the fact that it’s not even a striker fired gun. I did hold a security 9 and it’s size and rear sight is about all that’s in common with a Glock 19. And i will say that if it was more lefty friendly i would have one already. Just way to many choices in that size and price range to not me either ambi or at least switchable.

Have you held a Glock 19? The security 9 is nearly identical. Who cares about striker fired? The Security 9 is a much better value than a Glock 19

The only thing I don't care for is the safety.

For your average schmuck buying their first pistol, the security 9 is the way to go.

I think Ruger is going to sell a bunch of them. It's not perfect, but it's a fairly decent pistol at a great price point.

If looks make it a better value than a Glock that’s great. There is only a dozen or more new guns on the market that are clearly going after that market share the 19 has held for so long. I’m not or didn’t knock the ruger. I actually sought one out and passed because it’s not lefty friendly. Certainly they will sell plenty of them. Over all I think it’s great for the market. Probably drive other companies to lower prices to keep up

In a recent trade with my adopted son, I aquired a couple 9mm pistols one of them was a new Ruger security 9. I have 850 rounds through this pistol so far without a single bobble. I like the trigger better than a Glock and the pistol is accurate enough for its intended use. Even my left handed grandson likes it! My son has many 9mm pistols including a Glock 19 and he thinks this is a dandy pistol. He will have one in his safe next week.