Ruger LC9s
In every podcast we recommend the listeners carry a gun for their protection. POGO! However, we rarely discussed the hardware itself – we were always too smart for that. Well, with this inaugural episode of The Far Side of the Gun Counter, we’re correcting that brief diversion into sanity with our review of Ruger’s LC9s concealed carry pistol.
Obvious Stuff:
The LC9s (Light Compact 9 – striker) is Ruger’s offering in the concealed carry 9x19 market. At first glance the Ruger LC9s is a small to medium-sized pistol with a black polymer lower and a matte blued slide. It tapes in as 6” long and 4 ½” tall, with conventional 3-dot sights. It tips the scales at only 17.2 ounces unloaded. The mag holds 7 rounds of 9, one more than the Glock 43. The trigger bears the mark of the striker with a Glockish dingus protruding from the face. The slide incorporates some deep and usable serrations at the rear. Fit and finish are typical Ruger’s high standards and certainly acceptable. The firearms corners and edges are nicely rounded and streamlined for discreet carry. All in all, it’s handsome-looking pistol.
The LC9s also feels good in the hand. At 9/10 of an inch of width, the well textured grip is thin enough for small hands. And the longish grip and the pinkie extension on the magazine make it comfortable for big paws. The gun points well and the controls are nicely placed and usable, although necessarily small. With the proper technique, the gun is easy to load, cock and unload. The trigger has a long, light take-up, then a moderate final pull and let off. Our test sample, Charlotte Foxtrot’s Raspberry LC9s (yes, the girlies love their pink), has a measured 5 ¼ pound trigger pull. The reset is moderate, with a faintly audible click. In our humble opinion, the trigger is well suited for a firearm meant to be carried. And it happens to be one of the best striker-fired triggers out there.
Offerings:
The pistol comes in three basic configurations. The first is the LC380, which incorporates the old gaw-dawful shrouded hammer firing system stolen from the Ruger LCP, from which it also swipes the anemic .380 ACP cartridge. With the .380 in a 9mm sized pistol and the horrific trigger, this pistol is chock full of suck and fail. Ye Olde Gonne Shoppe had a LC380 when it opened, and it’ll probably still be there when the store closes many years in the future. If a plus sized .380 is desired, consider the Walther PPK - which has all sorts of style points to boot.
The second configuration is the basic LC9s. It also comes with a left side external safety and a magazine disconnect. The safety is somewhat recessed and would be relatively difficult to engage accidentally. The magazine disconnect “safety” is just plain annoying. A witness hole is provided for checking the status of the barrel chamber. The pistol is sold with one 7 round magazine, an orange plastic dummy magazine and an unpadded gun rug. The dummy magazine satisfies some insane New Jersey regulation, but it’s very useful for practicing magazine changes and dry firing. When this version was introduced, it immediately received significant praise, especially with the low bar set by the prior hammer-fired version.
To make the third configuration of the LC9s, Ruger got over their well-known fear of liability lawyers and did the unthinkable: they actually eliminated some so-called safety features. Ruger dropped the magazine disconnect and external manual safety to create the LC9s Pro. Many self-defense instructors recommend against the thumb safety and magazine disconnect for a self-defense firearm. In a life-or-death situation, the pistol simply has to work, work now, and work every time. Fumbling around with an external safety or dealing with a partially dropped magazine could take the remainder of a lifetime. With those deletions, the Pro is the definitive version of the pistol and our overwhelming recommendation for the best LC9s.
Accessories:
As you’d expect, there’s a lot of options and accessories for this popular pistol. Ruger has 14 additional SKUs, for colored, camoed, engraved, and otherwise tarted-up pistols that can be bought from the various firearm distributors. The poor pistol is even offered in Hospital Puss Green by TALO. There are lasers and lights and holsters and aftermarket sights in abundance. What we certainly recommend are the extended capacity mags for the necessary reloads. Ruger offers 9 round extended magazines; and ProMag has their well-regarded 10 rounders. We favor SnagMag’s vertical pocket magazine holster for the spare magazine supplementing the 8 rounds in the gun. Another of our favorites is the Talon black granulate grip applique which gives a very nice enhanced grip without permanent modification.
Shooting:
We found our LC9s to be an excellent shooter, accurate and reliable. The pistol shot to the point of aim at 7 yards. We’ve had no failures though about 300 mixed rounds of ball and hollow-point. The longish grip allowed for a three fingers hold and made the pistol very controllable. Managing the trigger reset was a simple task - this gun would be easy to shoot fast and accurately. Although we haven’t benchrested it yet, the LC9s looks to have more than acceptable accuracy for a self defense pistol.
Summary:
In our not so humble opinion, the Ruger LC9s Pro is one of the better concealed carry handguns out there. It combines the respected 9mm cartridge, an 8 round capacity, excellent overall ergonomics with quality and shoot-ability. All for a good price. You just can’t go wrong.
