ON THE JOB OFFICER SAFETY EYE ON EDUCATION JUST HANDED DOWN RANGEMASTER PUBLIC SAFETY IT SOLUTIONS
The American is Ruger’s newest duty pistol, keeping with the company’s hard-earned legacy of rugged reliability and accuracy.
Coming Together at the Range While the Browning tilt-action system has been around for over 100 years, Ruger tweaked it a bit for this new fi rearm. The barrel’s cam system is scientifi cally engineered to reduce recoil by working in conjunction with a lighter and more balanced slide with a lower center of gravity and a low bore axis. Quick and fast follow-up shots are the result of the American’s reduced recoil. Ruger further claims their pre-tensioned striker sys- tem gives the trigger a short feel, more like a traditional single ac- tion trigger. The reset is loud and tactile, but not considered short. At the range, the Ruger American’s engineering shined. Everything
about the way the gun loaded and fi red was intuitive and natural. For its fi rst fi ring run, the American was fi eld stripped, cleaned, and then loaded at the range with three different, popular police-duty hollow- point brands of 9mm cartridges. A round was chambered and then the 17-shot magazine was topped off and re-inserted easily. Those fi rst 18 rounds hit dead center at 21 feet without any stop-
pages. Over 500 more rounds were fi red from 15 factory types of ammunition and one reloaded type. The American just kept chug- ging along without need of cleaning or further oiling.
The trigger is not light, such as on a target gun, and it shouldn’t be on a duty pistol. However, the fact that the striker is pre-cocked allows for a properly crisp let-off. All the trigger needs to do is release the striker to fi re. This ex- cellent trigger ‘feel’ works in concert with the American’s superbly engineered action to provide fast follow-up shots. The felt recoil was very mild with the hot factory 9mm rounds
tested. Ruger’s engineers claim that rearward movement of the slide is controlled and elongated in milliseconds. This spread- out time may seem inconsequential, but at the range it certainly seemed to work. The perception is that the gun is a ‘soft shooter.’ Some have complained that the rear of the polymer grip
tang beats up their strong hand’s thumb knuckle. During test fi ring, this malady did not rear its painful head with any of the shooters who helped fi re rounds down range.
Another Great Option from Ruger Ruger products have always been well engineered to perform, no matter if it is a 22 Long Rifl e for plinking, a .30-06 Spfl d for hunting, or a 9mm/45 ACP for duty carry. In the crowded fi eld of polymer frame, striker fi re pistols, the new Ruger American is another great option for police offi cers. It is a rug- ged, accurate, reliable, ergonomic, and affordable handgun with a real-world selling price around $450 or less.
The Ruger American digested 15 different factory 9mm loads without stoppages from any of them during its 500-round test.
Steve Tracy is a 27-year police veteran with 25 years experience as a fi rearms instructor. He is also an instructor for tactical rifl es, use of force, less-than-lethal force and scenario-based training. He can be reached at
steventracy@hendonpub.com.
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www.lawandordermag.com 18 LAW and ORDER I June 2016
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