9
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(9) The SR40 is a bushingless, tilt-barrel design with a polymer guide rod and captive recoil spring. (10) The Ruger SR40 is a clean running handgun. This is what the bottom of the slide looked like after 200 rounds of various ammunitions were fired through the handgun. (11) The SR40 fieldstrips into six components: magazine, frame, slide, barrel, recoil spring and takedown pin. (12) The SR40 has a large, external extractor. With the exception of a hiccup with the first magazine fired through the handgun, reliability was flawless. (13) The Ruger SR40 uses a ramped, stainless steel barrel. The notch at the top is where the loaded chamber indicator engages the rim of the cartridge. (14) To fieldstrip the SR40, the takedown pin is pushed from right to left and removed from the pistol. (15) Looking into the ejection port you can see where the ejector has been pushed down into the magazine well. This must be done before the pistol can be fieldstripped.
similar sized 9mm. For grip and feel, I’ll give the pistol a nine. Like most polymer-framed hand-
guns, including the SR40’s stable mates, it has an accessory rail on the frame under the barrel. No score for this feature, which is almost as com- mon to modern handguns, as lying is to politicians. I will give the SR40 a score on the ease with which it can be fieldstripped, but not a perfect one. To disassemble the SR40, you un-
load and remove the magazine. Like with the old P-Series semi-auto Ru- ger handguns you must depress the ejector down into the magazine well. This did not bother me at all and if nothing else, it ensures you do not try to disassemble the SR40 while it is loaded. Once the ejector is depressed, you push the takedown pin assembly — which is actually a single piece — from the right side of the frame and pull it free on the left side. My complaint with disassembly
was I couldn’t depress the pin without a tool of some sort. While the corner of the magazine worked just fine, I don’t like handguns that require a tool of any sort for disassembly. I must say, however, that even though some sort of punch was needed, once the take- down pin was depressed, the handgun came apart easily. With the pin re- moved, just release the slide from slide lock and remove it, then pop out the recoil spring and remove the barrel. Assembly is in reverse order. I give the gun a score of seven on fieldstripping.
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM I fired seven different .40 S&W
loads through the SR40 and accu- racy was very good — better than I can shoot in most cases — most of the 25 yard, 5-shot groups from the sand- bag rest were in the 2" range. In all I fired a bit over 200 rounds through the gun and, with the exception of the first magazine, reliability was flawless. About halfway through that first magazine, the cartridges became jammed inside the magazine body. I removed the magazine, slapped it on my leg, reinserted it and continued firing. Discounting the first magazine as a result of the new-gun blues, I’ll give the SR40 an eight for accuracy and the same for reliability. In all, if you average all 10 of the
individual numerical ratings I applied to the Ruger SR40 it comes in with a score of about eight. Ironically, if I were to score this handgun overall on a scale of one to 10, an eight is what I would give it and that’s pretty darn good for a pistol, which can be pur- chased for under $500! My friend Caleb Giddings,
the
proprietor of the highly successful In- ternet gun blog and radio show "Gun Nuts" (
gunnuts.net) seems to agree. He has shot the SR40 a great deal more than I have. This is partly be- cause Caleb is younger and has more energy, but also because he regularly shoots competitively as a Cheaper Than Dirt! sponsored shooter. Caleb told me, “The SR40 would make an excellent gun for concealed carry or
IDPA competition. After firing over 1,500 rounds through one gun with- out a single malfunction, the SR40 delivers the reliability of an $800 gun at half the price.” I liked the Ruger SR40 better than
any Glock I’ve ever pulled a trig- ger on, and I carried a Glock Model 22 for 13 years on duty. I’m not sug- gesting the SR is a better gun than a Glock — or that it’s any worse for that matter. But, I do like the ambidex- trous magazine release and especially the ambidextrous safety and sights. I’d happily carry SR40 with its eight out of 10 rating. Why? For one thing, I’ve never
seen a gun that rated a 10. As a matter of fact, the only “10” anything I have ever seen, I married. (Honey, that is for you just in case you are reading.) Honestly though, this is a good hand- gun, and if you like the Ruger SR plat- form you now have three handguns to choose from: two 9s and one 40. If you can’t make up your mind, just buy all three Ruger SR pistols. You’ll still spend less than what you would for any custom 1911, and depending on your own likes and dislikes that might be a better deal. *
FOR MORE INFO:
STURM, RUGER & CO.
www.ruger.com
(603) 865-2442 71
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