Soless

I am so happy to finally get this bad boy home. I had to wait longer than I wanted to but I'm sure some of you guys have been there too. It's already been detail stripped and cleaned. I noticed some grit in the trigger pull so I went ahead and filed, stoned, and polished the guts and now the trigger is nice and smooth. Can't wait to take this to the range!

James6591

Great handgun, waiting for a report.

boomer1

+1

boomer

Soless

I'm going to try and get to the range today after work. I did put in a ghost rocket dohicky. The trigger travel is reduced a little. The trigger pull does feel perceptably lighter but again not a whole lot. It feels just as smooth as the stock trigger bar tab, but I did polish it up write nicely. It is an improvement over the stock configuration so it's staying in. More later...

RugerSR

Congrats! Seems like people are passing of the SR9 now and just going for the SR40. I wonder why?

HillbillyJim

Congrats on the new purchase! Picked mine up yesterday. Hoped to shoot it today, but the weather Gods didn't cooperate. Tommorow is looking good though! Field stripped mine last night and gave it a good cleaning. Surprisingly there wasn't as much crud in it as I expected based on what I've heard from others. A bit of grease from the factory, some residue in the barrel from Ruger's test fire. Otherwise pretty clean. Looking forward to getting it dirty again tomorrow. Good luck with your new 40.

boomer1

Hey Jim,

Congratulations on your new SR40. Which model did you get? Get back with your range report.

boomer

Soless

So I finally got a chance to go to the range. I really like the feel of the SR40. I like it much better that my XD. I'm able to grip it really high and I like the built in extended beaver tail which I'm glad to see S&W and now Glock are on board with that too. I can manipulate the mag release without breaking my grip. And it's ambi! I like the mag release in it's stock configuration. I personally see no reason to lighten the spring or purchase an extended release.

The ergo's are good. I could naturally grip the pistol with my eyes closed, present it to my target, open eyes and have the sights lined right up. The front sight is very visible even in semi dim light. I did some web surfing earlier and saw that Ameriglo and Novak have night sights for the SR9/40. I'm strongly thinking about making this my secondary Home Defense tool.

I mentioned that I did some polishing and that I replaced the reset bar. It's nowhere near 1911 status but the it seems that the travel both to fire and reset are reduced as well as the pull weight, but not by much. It is noticeable though. I will also note the there is no gritty feeling what so ever like there was out of the box. It didn't take much time to make it that way either.

I shot WWB 165 and 185 grain, and the first thing I notice is that it doesn't take as much effort to control muzzle flip. The low bore axis comes into play here and I can honestly say it does not feel like I'm shooting .40 S&W. Rapid follow up shots don't want to stray off target. I can follow the front sight pretty easy. My first group of well aimed shots were a little high and to the right. I confirmed it was the pistol and not me after shooting a couple other groups from a rest. I took me roughly about two minutes to adjust my sights at the range. Only minor adjustments were needed and I was on target point of aim point of impact after two adjustments.

The innards were only lightly lubed and I'll be darned, no failures what so ever. Wear on the barrel, slide, camblock and the metal tabs on the beavertail were minimal and even. Nothing seems like it's out of whack.

As far as accuracy, it's not that bad. It's no target pistol by any means but it ain't no scatter gun either. My groups spread out easily to 6" at 15 yards, but I was physically thrashed the night I went to the range. I'll need to go back when my muscles are recovered to before I can give an honest opinion about it's accuracy. Regardless, in my weakened state I was able to manipulate the pistol through rapid fire magazine changes and keep all my shots in the kill zone at 15 yards. The way I see it, it's accurate enough.

I did notice there is barely a bevel in the magwell last night, but when I was at the range it wasn't even an issue. Mag changes were performed rather flawlessly, but I have lots of training and trigger time, so your mileage may vary. It doesn't look like the is enough meat any more of a mag well then whats already there. It's not an issue to me so I won't gripe about it. Just something I thought other people might like to know. I'm looking at it right now and the flash could use a little deburring.

On a side note, my wife is 5'5" and this fits her small/medium hands just fine. And she can actually rack the slide and manipulate all it's functions without much effort. She likes the way it feels too.

One thing that I think needs some attention is the grip (this is a personal opinion for personal taste). This is the slimmest .40 cal pistol I have ever held. Almost too slim. The good news to this is that I would have no problems wearing gloves and operating it. I can also add grip enhancement without fear of making the grip unmanageable. The texture on the grip itself looks nice, but I personally like to have a little more bite. I have used grip tape on my 1911 and I love the way that feels. Thin enough not to through your grip off. Grippy enough to keep everything in place with sweaty or oily hands. But not so much that it's going to grate skin off. I'll be making a template out of paper soon so I can get the front and back straps as well as the sides covered in grip tape. I wouldn't mind if someone made an aluminum reversible backstrap either smooth or checkered. That would be the best thing since my home made bread.

Something else I just remembered. The slightest of peening on the barrel hood in the usual spot. Not enough to complain about yet.

Edit: Added a picture with some good shade to show what I'm talking about.



I've only got 200 rounds put through this gun. After another 200 and the next time I go to the range I'm going to try and burn through a box of HD ammo. It actually may be sooner. I just got my loading supplies and bullets in today. I'll be posting pictures and video in the future. Don't hold your breath though. I've got a busy schedule.

RugerSR

Great review. The peening that keeps coming up is what is preventing me from getting an SR9 or SR40.

GMinor

Sweet!

boomer1

Nice!

boomer

Soless

Added some grip tape last night. Feels much better. Stil hope someone will come out with a hard plastic or aluminum back strap. I could feel the squishiness of the stock back strap under the tape. All I had was my cell phone to take pictures last night.

Soless

Another update. Since my last post, I purchased a Galloway guide rod and Ameriglo night sights. The Galloway rod is nicely polished and comes with two screws to secure the recoil spring. One screw is black and one is stainless. Nice touch! The Ameriglo sights work just like any other night sight should. They glow green (front and back) and have white circles around the vials. Easy to pick up during the day, low light, and no light. The front sight on my SR40 went in almost too easy. I put a bit of red loctite as a preventative measure against movement. The rear sight needed some filling/stoning. So this is not a straight drop in sight swap fyi.

I went to the range LOADED with ammo. I put at least 700 rounds through it in the 2 1/2 hours I was shooting. Most of the ammo was Win White Box 160gr and 180 gr. No malfunctions of any kind with that ammo. I also shot 25 rounds of Fed Hydrashoks (180gr), 50 rounds of Rem Golden Sabres (180), 50 rounds each of Win Ranger 165gr 180gr and 100 rounds of custom handloads with Nosler hollowpoints (180gr). The Hydrashoks and Golden Sabres were nice to shoot. The recoil felt gentle. Almost like the slide was being pushed back vs. being yanked back. The 165gr Ranger ammo felt a little snappy, and the 180gr flavor felt less snappy but not quite like the Hydrashoks or Golden Sabres. My handloads felt just like the 180gr Ranger ammo. All of the ammo is pretty accurate. I had a couple flyers here and there (shooter error) but all of the ammo feed reliably.

“Upgrades” review:

The Galloway guide rod is a solid highly polished stainless steel guide rod with a threaded end so as to secure a recoil spring with either a black or stainless hex head machine screw. I thought that was a nice touch to keep everything matching or give a little contrast between the black or stainless slides. The screw sticks out of the slide just a tad longer than the stock guide rod. The rod speaks quality and ruggedness compared to the plastic deal provided by Ruger. Compared to its plastic counterpart, it does weigh a little more but not enough to pass a Pepsi challenge. What I like about it is that it’s metal. I sleep better at night knowing that but that’s a personal thing. It also adds the ability to fine tune your pistol with different springs to suit your needs. So far I have the stock spring and I feel that it’s perfect for the rounds I’m shooting.

Ameriglow night sights. When I got these, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have never owned Ameriglo anything. Looking them over, they are pretty much like every other night sight I have encountered. What I like about them is that they fit the SR pistols! The front sight went in very easy, but too easy for me not to feel comfortable with just friction holding it in place. I was generous with the red Loctite. No worries now. The rear sight did need some fitting. No big deal. A little filing here and there and it went on with a nice snug custom fit. The rear sight also has a set screw to secure it and help keep it from moving around. The vials glow green and bright. It’s VERY easy to see the sights in darkness. During the day, the white halos around the tritium vials make the sights easy to pick up. The profile of the front sight is longer than the stock Ruger sight. Not that it’s an issue, but for those of you who want to carry holstered, it might concern you. Maybe? The rear sight has a stepped profile. Much like Heine rear sights. I really like that profile because it’s easy to use the sights to manipulate the slide if you needed to do so. At the same time, it’s not going to snag much on anything unless that you intend to. Here is the bad. The rear sight is TOO SHORT. It might have just been my pistol but I was hitting way low. The further the distance the lower in the impact. This was a big letdown. I will send Ameriglow my thoughts regarding their sights. It wasn’t a total loss. I re-installed the stock Ruger rear sight and all is well. I can still pick up the front sight in darkness, and that’s good enough for me. I have a dead on natural point of aim with the Ruger. For what it’s work, I did take some measurements on the sights. The front sight is just a few hundred thousandths taller and wider. The rear sight when compared to the stock Ruger sight is much much shorter. I don’t remember the numbers off the top of my head but I did photo document the measure measurements.

Over all, this SR40 kicks ass! It manages recoil like no other. It’s easy to manipulate. It’s accurate enough to hit what you want to hit, and in my opinion is reliable enough to trust my life with. It’s still a baby with a round count at just under 1500 if memory serves, but it has been a very dependable gun that handles extremely well.

Pictures coming soon.

Soless

All the Targets were shot at 10 yards offhand except the Noslers. The Noslers were shot at 15 yards offhand at a quick pace (not quite rapid fire). The flyers you see are a byproduct user error.

Ranger ammo (180gr)



Ranger Hits



Hydrashok



Hydrashok Hits



Golden Sabre



Golden Saber Hits



Nosler Sporting JHP



Nosler Sporting JHP Hits

Soless

One thing I forgot to mention. After shooting at the first target, I didn't like not having a spot to aim at so I placed a black dot as an aiming point "lollipopping" my front sight on it. The impacts show the point of impact vs. point of aim. And no I wasn't anticipating or doing anything weird. The front sight is just too high or rear sight too low. However you want to look at it.