I once dated a girl who was perfect: triple-take gorgeous, Ivy League smart, stand-up comic funny and easier on the eyes than chilled cucumber slices. Did I mention that she was beautiful? When she wore a bare midriff shirt I had to check her belly for staples (Playboy joke). Truth be told, she wasn’t perfect. She had one flaw. Politics. My fellow college student was so far to the left she made Barack Obama seem like Glenn Beck in a dress. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Anyway, as Mort from
The Penguins of Madagascar might say, I could shut up a little. But she couldn’t. It was less like constant needling and more like semi-regular javelin thrusts. We lasted two days. The Ruger SR9c is like that. Only you just might go the distance . . .
Make no mistake: the Ruger SR9c is a deeply sexy handgun. Our two-tone tester’s perfect proportions, sleek striations and over-sized alphanumerics say Bond, James Bond, in a way that even the Walther PPK can’t match. In fact, the rugged yet suave Ruger shares many of the Bond gun’s best bits. It fires the most popular cartridge of its day (9mm), the thin frame and diminutive dimensions conceal easily and the gun oozes elegance. Did I mention that the SR9c is a good-looking gat? If it had any more sex appeal I’d have to buy a separate gun safe to keep the Austrians at bay. If you know what I mean.
The Ruger SR9c fits. The web of your gun hand sits perfectly under the SR9c’s slide, eliminating the need to “choke up” on the love handle. The righteous Ruger also lines up with the axis of your arm with unconscious ease; assuring proper positioning for another oft-neglected firearm fundamental. If you rest your trigger finger as high up on the barrel as poss, the Ruger’s ridge (between the frame and the slide) is home sweet home. If you prefer a curved back strap, simply remove, reverse and reattach the SR9c’s previously straight backstrap.
Et voila!The only ergonomic issue: the SR9c’s drum-tight slide and short height (4.51″ all in) makes racking the slide a decidedly dicey proposition. Using the hand-over-slide combat method, there’s no way you can avoid running your hand across the slide stop and safety. Combine a really firm grip and less than ideal positioning and this bitch bites. [Sam claims slide bite accounts for her too-loose grip in our opening snap.] This is the only pistol I’d consider pinching and grabbing the slide from the rear—which I don’t do for various strategic reasons.
Ruger ships the SR9c from Prescott, Arizona with two magazines: a California-compliant ten-round mag and a 17-bullet refill. While you can buy extensions for your baby Glock and XD Sub’s mini-mags, the SR9c’s fifth finger rest is standard equipment. Right answer. The extra pinky purchase makes all the difference for 10-yard-plus accuracy and adrenalin-addled confidence closer in. Unfortunately, the SR9c’s mag add-on looks like, well, an add-on. Fortunately, only OCD sufferers will notice, and the smaller mag’s addendum doesn’t diminish the gun’s concealability.
The same cannot be said for the 17-round magazine with its slide-on grip extension. The longer mag instantly transforms the SR9c from a compact to a full-sized gun. Forget barrel length (girls). Hiding that big honking handle is . . . problematic. On the positive side, the longer mag instantly transforms the baby Ruger from a compact to a full-sized gun. That big honking handle enables a perfect grip and contains plenty ‘o bullets. Carry two extra extra-long mags (as you should) and you’ll have 44 lead projectiles at your disposal. The Ruger SR9c is two guns–carry and home defense—in one.
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Monday, September 27, 2010
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