At the range session we were joined by Bob Stutler and a slew of Ruger engineers and salesmen. Once I found how the sights tracked, I was able to hammer the steel with ease. Lest you think the SR9 is simply a close-range bullet hose, I found myself drawn into an impromptu but ongoing staff contest. At the range Ruger uses, there is a rock partway up the "mountain" that serves as a backstop. The Ruger employees plink at it for fun (and for all I know, "loser buys the soft drinks" back at the office).

The factory trigger on the author's test gun broke at 6.5 pounds. And it's a remarkably smooth pull if you remember to leave in an empty magazine. (right) The underside of the SR9's polymer frame includes the now-obligatory light/laser rail.

I figured it at just over 200 yards, and the rock was maybe two feet across. Someone said, "Hey, have a go at it." Big mistake, as I had spent several range sessions in the summertime working on extra-long handgun shooting. It took me three shots to get the range, and then I hit the rock with most of the shots left in the magazine, without slowing down much to refine the sight picture. I stopped when the mag was done to avoid looking like a show-off. If the SR9 you get is anything like the early-production one I used, it will be accurate.

When the first of the production guns were released, I had one the next day. I did some chronographing and accuracy testing and found this production gun to be as accurate as the preproduction sample I'd shot in Arizona--not a Bullseye gun but certainly plenty accurate for anything else. Also, the barrel was as fast as any other I've tested so no need to worry about the "short" 4 1/8-inch barrel causing you problems. The Ruger is so new and the deadlines of getting you the latest info are so unforgiving that I haven't had time to do much shooting.

To test the newest Ruger, Erik Leslie of Magtech sent me 10,000 rounds of 9mm ball ammo with which to thrash the SR9. My testfire crew and I have "only" managed to put all 10,000 rounds of Magtech 115-grain FMJ ammunition through the SR9--plus another 2,000 rounds of other brands and weights--for a grand total of zero failures. Oh, there was one shooter who mentioned a failure to fully close, but since the SR9 was smoking-hot (literally) at the time, and he had a huge leather lineman's glove on his left hand, we suspect the glove caused the glitch and didn't blame the pistol. We did all that shooting in two afternoons! Halfway through we slipped a Streamlight tactical light and laser on it. Despite being very smoky, the gun still worked fine. And we didn't clean it once.

Accuracy testing and chrono comparisons of the same ammunition after all that shooting have uncovered no change in the accuracy or velocity of this pistol. If anything the SR9 is better. The trigger certainly is. It started at what Ruger calls 6 1?2 pounds and is now a bit lighter and smoother. At first my testers were complaining about the trigger pull: "Ruger calls this 6 1/2 pounds?" Uh, guys, do the dry-firing with the magazine in place. With the mag out, the magazine safety drags on the striker and makes the trigger pull feel gritty and heavy. Put the empty magazine in place and it feels just fine, even lighter than the 6 1/2 pounds Ruger promises. I plan to make up a dummy dry-fire magazine so I can get the actual trigger pull and not beat up live mags in dry-fire practice.

CHRONOGRAPH RESULTS
Load	Bullet Weight (gr.)	Avg. Velocity (fps)
Black Hills JHP	115	1,136
Magtech FMJ	115	980
Magtech SCHP	92.6	1,205
Hornady XTP	124	999
Michigan Ammo TMJ	115	1,072

Does Ruger have a home run on its hands? I sure hope so or my faith in the gun-buying public will have been in vain. The MSRP of the SR9 is $144 less than that of the big black dog in the striker-fired market section, and if you add in the "Made in USA" quotient, the SR9 will attract a large number of buyers. The magazine safety is whatever you want it to be, the thumb safety is new for striker guns, and the gun runs flawlessly. The only problem I can see Ruger having with the SR9 is that it's so durable, you might not ever have to buy another. At least not until the compact one comes out, and then…well, you get the idea.