Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Your Opinion Ruger "P" Series Autos

The Ruger P Series ( P89, 90,93,94, 95, Etc.) is obviously out of production but still available

Your favorite?

Which model, in your opinion, is the best for concealed carry?

Any negatives as compared to current production auto pistols

I have one, they are heavy and shoot ok, not my favorite by any means.

Generally good serviceable pistols with a really oddball grip. I recall tht the plastic framed 9mm (P95?) had some reliability issues but can't recall exactly what those were.

There are police trade in Sigs around if you want a conventional DA auto. I personally think they're a much better pistol.

^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^

My findings as well! Built much like a military tank and almost as agile! 😉 memtb

I have a P345 that has proven to be 100% reliable and easy to shoot well. Great ergonomics.

Heavy, ugly, crude. Avoid unless you can not afford anything better. The only Ruger pistols I would consider are SR series or Ruger 1911.

I have a P94 that shoots and feeds very well, but it seems top heavy (and heavy all around) to me.
It’s the “nightstand” gun. Had the same Golden Saber in the chamber for about a decade.
I need to drag it to the range and pop a few through it.

A friend had a P89 that shot well.

I’ve read really good things about the P345 (being a .45 guy), but never fired one.

If I found one in a caliber I wanted and it felt good in the hand, I’d not be afraid to buy it based on my own limited experience.

Yep. Tough as nails. Very reliable. Accurate enough to get the job done, too. They would also make a damn good club when you run out of ammo.
Which is more than I’d say for my Glock 19 I’ve owned since they first came out and was my favorite Hi-Cap 9mm. Until I bought a Glock 19 X model.

I bought the first Ruger 9mm auto edition, when they first came out. The P-85. Ruger had some problems with the gun’s finish coming off, so they upgraded to the P-89 version.
I liked the P-90, the 45acp version better.

Many years later, I bought my Dad the P-95 polymer version, because he wanted a Hi-cap 9mm before the first Hi/Cap Magazine Ban went into effect.
It’s every bit as reliable, much lighter, and more accurate than my old P-85.
If it was the only 9mm I had left, it would damn sure be good enough to “ride the river with” as the old time Cowboys used to say.
Same goes for the P-90 45acp version. Though I much prefer a 1911. 🤠

Pay no attention to SlavekDumbass. Just another Full of Schitt Maser Sock Puppet like NoElkSlayer or Happy Cramper. He doesn’t own any real guns. Never has and never will. He just plays cut & paste after a Google search.
Mostly spends his time in Diapers posing with his Airsoft gun collection. 🤪🤪🤪😂😂😂😂

I have only owned the p90. Agree with others that it is blocky, ugly, and fairly crude. It was a $299 purchase brand new. It is plenty accurate, and "mostly reliable". I've had some problems getting it to run right in cold weather, but I think that is mostly resolved. Given the capacity, I don't consider it a great option as a defensive pistol anymore. That said, it rides in the truck, in case I don't have a gun on me.

Generally prefer other options to the 9mm P-series pistols, but I've only shot buddies guns. I found the grip weird on the polymer framed one.

Had a P97DC 45 that didn't like a lot of lube in winter. ESPECIALLY grease. I have a tendency to over lube everything and the pistol would begin to misfeed after about 50 rounds when my too much lube mixed with firing residue, kinda gelled up in the cold. Ammo that ran dirty didn't help. But this was temperatures in the 20s

User error, other than that it ran 100%. I found it ran perfectly with just a drop of oil on the rails. Never tried to run it completely dry. Fairly accurate too. But a clunky pistol. I called it the Beast.

Gifted it to my son and he holds it in high regard. BTW, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the spartan look of the P series. Certainly "prettier" than any Glock

I had a P95 years ago. Absolutely reliable. Just based on the weight, and barrel length, I would say that one would be the best bet for carry. Quick check on several web pages says 27-29 oz. empty. That doesn't seem too onerous.

Of course, compared to current offerings the operating system and the styling are out of favor. If you can get past that there's nothing wrong with them.

The one I had was not a great trigger at first but really smoothed out nicely after a couple thousand rounds. When people say that they are "crude", I don't think they even understand what they mean by that.

Out of the 30+ centerfire semiautos I've owned over the years, a certain subset never had a failure of any kind. Out of those, if I had to bet on which one would go the longest before that eventual failure, I would probably be forced to bet on the Ruger. It's hard to explain, but it just had a certain feel to the way it cycled, like there was a perfect balance between the slide weight and the recoil spring and the locking/unlocking dynamics. Nothing crude about that at all.

My brother had three of them, 9mm, .40, and .45. When he passed away, they came to me. I am not a fan, so I rid myself of them without ever shooting them. There was nothing about them that I cared for, they were clunky, and awkward compared to a 1911.

When I worked at an indoor range, the customers would bring them in, and I never, ever, saw any issues with them, they were reliable and fairly accurate (depending on the shooter), but the triggers didn't do anything for me, and I thought the gun was "fat".
Maybe I was wrong, but I could never develop any warmth towards them.

Had a P89, very reliable, never jammed or failed to feed or eject. Would feed most anything. Having said that it was a challenge to hit the broad side of a barn. Most inaccurate pistol I have owned.

🤣🤣🤣🤣.... The obvious alternative are used 3rd generation S&W pistols from famous value line. The 9x19 908, 915, .40 ??, .45 457, 457s. Better guns in every way which can be had for similar price or slightly more. The plastic sights do not shift, and function as intended.

I have had a P90 for, probably, 25 years or so. It is clunky and crude looking but more accurate than a fairly high-dollar Colt I recently got rid of. With a Hogue grip sleeve it fits my big hand pretty well. It has always been very reliable and trouble free. I'll probably never get rid of it.

Ed mentioned the P345, which one of my sons owned for awhile. I don't care for two tone pistols but that one felt good in the hand and ran and shot just fine.

How reliable is the old Smith 59 9mm series compared to the Ruger P89/P95 9mms....since they are both double stack 9s. Not looks but dependability?

I don't know if Smith made a de-cock only M59 or for that matter DAO. Can anyone shed some light?

Pretty sure all the first and second gen Smiths were regular DA/SA. Now that I think of it I also used to have a Smith 459 that looked like someone had run over it with a truck that would cycle reloads that choked all my plastic guns.

That sums it up. I had a P89DC when I was 17. The first semi auto pistol I purchased. It was very reliable and cheaply priced. It was very inaccurate though and back then I knew how to shoot a pistol better than average. Someone mentioned 3rd gen smiths. Those are much better. Never fail and are much more accurate pistols.

Smith doctored up the 5906 in several ways, I "think" the DAO was the 5946, though that might be the wrong number (that was during the "model of the week" period, when Smith came up with any and all variants possible for this model or that. Yeah, they DID make a DAO....................

I had a P89 but traded it off long ago. I never warmed up to it, feeling blocky and crude, but it always went bang. We jokingly called it the AK47 of pistols.

I had a P90 that never malfunctioned and was easy to shoot accurately. I still think about it, but wanted a Hi Power so had to let it go.

I have a P90 and a P95. I have a pair of Johnny Bench-style hands. In fact, I met Johnny years ago and asked to compare hands. Mine were a tad bigger, but I could never hold that many baseballs. My P90 and P95 fit my big paws much better than a standard 1911. My Ruger maven friend, Bob, suggested the P90 when I asked him years ago. He had little hands and had a hard time with this series.

I was never a big pistol guy. I bought a P90 just so I'd have a 45 ACP around. Somewhere along the way, I got to liking it, and ended up being a favorite. I carried it concealed the first year or so I had my permit. Then I ordered a P95 so I'd have more in the mag, and I still have both.

I've never had feed trouble with either, except when I was fine-tuning handloads. After adding a Lee Factory Crimp die to the process, I've never had a failure to feed. I've never abused either weapon, so I can't tell you they are built like a tank, but the P90 has been shot extensively and still looks new.

have a P90 .45, very reliable and accurate pistol, I have carried it at times, but it is a bit heavy for all day wear, but it really lives to go on jeep rides in the desert.

Dont have one, dont like them, no desire to buy one.

Would buy one too cheap. They aren't junk, one would be fine
in the armrest, under the endtable.....


Lotta guns like that.
Not a slight, considering I don't own a gun that doesn't have something
I don't like.

Had a 2 tone.

I believe John Taffin was a huge fan.

These were not nearly as blocky as the other P series.

If i stumbled into a deal on one I would buy it. My friend has one that he purchased 25 years ago and it is a rock solid semi auto. It runs well and I have shot it a good bit. No complaints for what it is! A Ruger semi auto that is well built and reliable!

Yep. I’d like to stumble on a couple more of them for $200 bucks each. They’d make a fine truck or 4 wheeler gun. You could run over one and it wouldn’t hurt it. 😢

Built like tanks , fairly accurate, reliable. Just a little heavy for a daily carry gun for my taste

I've had a P90DC since new. It's a brick. High bore axis, single stack magazine capacity. Adaquate accuracy. It's never failed to cycle or fire. It's obsolete for good reason, but it's "Ruger," durable. Over built. I keep it loaded for HD and sometimes use it for a camp gun. I got no complaints.

I have one. I use 15 round clips with mine.

A P85 “crunchenticker” was my first “wondernine” (remember those terms? 🙂), my first semiauto pistol.

Yep, big and clunky and overbuilt, IIRC they were trying for a military contract but were a bit late. Nothing wrong with it, reliable. As a lefty I did appreciate the ambidextrous safety.

IIRC on takedown there was a spring or something that could fly clear across the room or if you weren’t careful 🙂

Traded it off on a Gen2 Glock 19, I still have that 19, but I’m sure the P85 woulda still been working just fine also.

When I was an Operations Manager at Gander Mountain we always took them in on trade because they were usually reliable for the price. Nothing great about them but they never came back in with issues.