SR9 upgrades for Production

[MrPCHead]

Well, after 4k rounds I'm convinced this a good pistol for Production. The peening on my barrel has been of no consequence. The mag springs have softened up (hand loading 10 rounds works fine now). The accuracy is still good and the ergos are perfect. So, what next?

Dawson Precision now has a good variety of front and rear sights. I'm leaning toward trying the FO front made for use with the factory rear (.16 tall). I will black out the rear dots I think. Anyone using these?

As smooth as my trigger feels now, the pull is still too much. Finally measured it and it was worse than I thought at 8.5 lbs! Ghost says they will have a trigger out "shortly" but I have noticed references to folks already using the Glock trigger bar in the SR9. How does that work out?

So what else? I shot an XD9 Tactical with a red Dawson FO front this weekend and it looked like someone was shining a bright red light back at me so that's a no-brainer. Trigger must see improvement or I'm moving on. Not sure where else I could improve the pistol.

Thanks folks!

William Daugherty

Plainfield, NH

[Red Ripper 11]

William,

I have just over 8,000 rounds through my SR9 and it works just great for Production in USPSA. The following mods have been made:

Glock Ghost connector and polished internals where needed. Lighter striker spring. Result 3lb 70z trigger. Short and sweet.

Glock 17 11 lb recoil spring (lock slide open, remove part of plastic guide rod to make it uncaptured)

Hi-Viz Front sight (Green)

Comp-Tac Belt holster, CR Speed belt and pouches.

Al

[MrPCHead]

Thanks Al

I was in error regarding the Dawson sights. Must have gotten mixed up with another model. I now have the HiViz in red and I like it a lot. I have a light striker spring and had the internals polished but still at just over 6 pounds. Who did the Ghost bar for you?

CR Speed belt awaits the Blade-Tech DOH holster on order. Grip tape helps too.

Thanks again

William

[waynejitsu]

William,

I have just over 8,000 rounds through my SR9 and it works just great for Production in USPSA. The following mods have been made:

Glock Ghost connector and polished internals where needed. Lighter striker spring. Result 3lb 70z trigger. Short and sweet.

Glock 17 11 lb recoil spring (lock slide open, remove part of plastic guide rod to make it uncaptured)

Hi-Viz Front sight (Green)

Comp-Tac Belt holster, CR Speed belt and pouches.

Al

Hi,

Can you share how you managed to improve the trigger?

Thank you:)

[liontribe]

this is relevant to my interests.

liontribe

[sfinney]

Also, for whats it worth, I dry fired a SR9c (the new compact one) at my local dealer the other day.... WOW. NIGHT and DAY trigger difference from previous SR9s I've held.... Much better. Short travel, short reset, nice clean MUCH lighter break. Did not measure it but it felt sub 4 pounds, wiht no gravel or crunch. I kept going back an forth from the Compact model and full size model, trying the trigger, they felt like different guns. Don't know why, but they did.

[MrPCHead]

this is relevant to my interests.

liontribe

I'm still loving my first SR9. I worked on it myself following the excellent guides on ruger-forum.com. A good cleaning and lube job helped right out of the box. I then removed the mag disconnect, polished the internals and shot it several thousand rounds. This made a big difference. I also replaced the original striker assembly with a current production unit. This also helped but if you've got a current production gun you already have this. The trigger is still a little on the heavy side (6.5 lbs) but is completely smooth and has a crisp, predictable break. I'm shooting this gun with much success at matches.

I have recently purchased a second SR9 which is currently being worked on by Dwight Clark of CGS, LLC in Orrville, Ohio. Again, thanks Al for the reference. Dwight tells me this current generation of SR9 now contains a trigger bar very similar to the Ghost rocket so he did not suggest changing it. He has done the standard fluff-and-buff and is experimenting with making some changes to a test striker assembly. Worst case I will still be down to near 4lbs on the trigger when he sends it back. If the pistol feels good I will probably send the first one back for the same treatment.

Dwight said I could post his phone number for anyone else interested: (330) 466-1257

I will post an update later this week once I shoot the new pistol.

William Daugherty

Plainfield, NH

[Gunsby_Blazen]

i have not tried out the compact model yet but have heard the same thing that they are night and day.

and by the way, i am glad i stumbled onto this thread... fantastic info here.

i told myself that i was not going to get another SR9 but if that C model is any good i may be too tempted. the prices on these things are too good to pass up..... although I do hate that atrocious trigger! It reminds me of El Guapo's revolver in The Three Amigos

i would also really like to hear some tips on improving that trigger. i am not as accurate as i would like to be with mine and i know its that trigger.

anyone hear from Ghost if and when those blasted bars are coming out?

and... was adapting that Glock bar difficult, what all did you do?

thanks again...

[Red Ripper 11]

William,

I wondered who's SR Dwight was working on. I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago and he was telling me about some of the changes Ruger has made. I beleive he ended up getting yours down under 4 lbs on the trigger. I should've aske him to let me test fire it! Do you have it back now? If so, what do you think?

Al

[MrPCHead]

William,

I wondered who's SR Dwight was working on. I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago and he was telling me about some of the changes Ruger has made. I beleive he ended up getting yours down under 4 lbs on the trigger. I should've aske him to let me test fire it! Do you have it back now? If so, what do you think?

Al

Hi Al

Yep, that was my new one. Here's the story: I cleaned the gun thoroughly, shot a bunch of rounds through it (50-100?) removed the mag disconnect, polished the easy parts then sent it off to Dwight. He had it for over two weeks working on various ideas on improving the action. He tells me that the gun is quite a bit different now than even a year ago. Eventually he settled on a set of changes that got the trigger down to 4.15 lbs. It bears stating that the new guns appear to have a factory trigger around 7 lbs after the above treatment. That's a big difference from the 9+ lbs on my first one. So, how does she run?

I got the gun back on Friday, shot it in practice Saturday and shot a match with it on Sunday. My initial impressions are that the trigger is very different now in terms of how it feels and obviously the pull weight. The uptake is still the same but much softer. This is more like my stock XD pistol triggers. It takes some adjustment. Also, the reset is not as obvious as before. Frankly it was not smart of me to shoot this gun at a match with only 2 hours of practice. I blew a couple of stages badly, partly because the new gun is so different and partly because the factory sight is so hard to see compared to the HiViz fiber sight on my first gun.

So, since then I have installed a HiViz fiber front sight and shot about 500-600 rounds through the pistol. Huge difference. My groups and shots are as good as ever and I expect as the slide/mainspring break in a bit the gun will be much improved over my first SR9. Also I did switch to the 13 lb Glock recoil spring and have left the action open over the last two weeks to soften it a bit more. Cycles perfectly with 124gr MG JHP bullets over 4.0 gr of TiteGroup.

So, I like it but as with any big change it will take some time to accommodate. It was certainly worth the money to have the work done. I have not had time to practice as much as I would like but that should change as Spring comes along.

FYI, I posted on ruger-forum.com re: my new SR9c. I just love it. Shoots really well with just the basic fluff and buff. I open carry my 1911 when off work but the SR9c is my primary concealed weapon at this point. It's nice having a smaller version of my competition gun for CCW.

William

[phique2000]

Hello all,

After reading this post, I'm hoping you guys may be able to help me.

I've been shooting my SR-9 for about a year now in IDPA. I've been using WWB ammo, and it's been flawless. This past weekend I tested some reloads,(147 gr. FMJ RN @ 850 fps), and had some Failure To Ejects, about 1 in 10.

If I read some of your posts correctly, you're using Glock recoil springs in the SR-9? If that's the case, can you recommend what would be a slightly lighter one than the standard SR-9 spring?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Philip

[MrPCHead]

Hello all,

After reading this post, I'm hoping you guys may be able to help me.

I've been shooting my SR-9 for about a year now in IDPA. I've been using WWB ammo, and it's been flawless. This past weekend I tested some reloads,(147 gr. FMJ RN @ 850 fps), and had some Failure To Ejects, about 1 in 10.

If I read some of your posts correctly, you're using Glock recoil springs in the SR-9? If that's the case, can you recommend what would be a slightly lighter one than the standard SR-9 spring?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Philip

Hi Philip

If your 147gr reloads are only going 850fps then you are running a very soft powder load which would explain your failures. I am running the Glock 13lb spring which is perfect for my 124gr JHP bullets with 4.1gr of TiteGroup (was 4.0gr but it was too close to the Minor PF floor for comfort) so you might was to try an 11lb spring. Al noted in this thread that all you have to do is lock back the slide and carefully dremel off the end of the plastic rod. This will free your spring and allow you to swap it out. I ordered several extra spring/rod assemblies from Ruger in case I messed something up but have not had any trouble. Both my SR9s have the 13lb spring. Make sure you order the one compatible with a G17. It may work for other models but that one I know for certain works.

The only down side swapping the spring is that it is slightly more difficult to reassemble the pistol after field stripping.

Final word of caution: if you do go with a much lighter spring you will want to avoid factory ammo as it will really slam the slide back and wear the gun unnecessarily. You can of course switch back to the stock spring whenever you want.

I'm loving both my SR9s for USPSA with the load mentioned. Big fun for short money.

William Daugherty

Plainfield, NH

[phique2000]

Thanks to all for you replies.

I just ordered a 12 & a 14 lb. Wolff G17 spring.

After the upcoming SC & NC IDPA State Matches, I'll give them a try & post the results.

Thanks again to a great bunch.

[phique2000]

OK. I got my Glock 17 recoils springs and am about to install one. The G17 springs are 2 pcs., looks like an inner & outer. Should I install both in the SR-9, or just the outer?

Thanks again.

[MrPCHead]

OK. I got my Glock 17 recoils springs and am about to install one. The G17 springs are 2 pcs., looks like an inner & outer. Should I install both in the SR-9, or just the outer?

Thanks again.

Something is not right. The G17 springs should be one-piece, unless they have changed the design in new models. The SR9 uses a single spring also. The new SR9c model has a double spring because it is so short. You can go ahead and dremel the end of the plastic rod and see if the new springs fit. Worst case is you put the original spring back in and return the springs for the correct one.

William

[Too Eazy]

I see this post is about a year old but Galloway Precision has steel guide rods and light 15lb, standard 18lb and heavy 20lb mainsprings for the SR9, as well as lighter and heavier than stock striker springs. They are designed for the SR9 also which to me is piece of mind on a reliability stand point. he also makes extended mag bases. a mag well and lots of other stuff he's working on. He say he'll even have some extented barrels in different configurations soon. Check out his site and give hima call. He's a really nice guy and very knowledgeable. Just google search "Galloway Precision" and it should be at the top of the list.

[pevadijk]

I've ordered a pair of Ameriglo sights for my SR9 and I'll post when I've got them.

BTW, is anyone offering a non captured guiderod yet?

Edited March 9, 2011 by pevadijk

[Too Eazy]

I've ordered a pair of Ameriglo sights for my SR9 and I'll post when I've got them.

BTW, is anyone offering a non captured guiderod yet?

Yes Galloway Precision has a stainless steel guide rod, it's threaded at the muzzle end so you can have it captured or un captured. I have one and love it, combined with his 20lb spring the gun shoots ultra flat. You can't shoot ultra week ammo with the heavier spring though but that's what's nice about his guide rod, it's easy to slip the factory spring back on.

Mike