Ruger PC-9 Review

So... the Ruger PC-9. I promised a review of it so here it is.

Let me just start by saying again that I absolutely adore this little gun! It's well balanced, accurate, reliable, the controls are handy and the breakdown feature is solid and simple. It breaks down in the blink of an eye and fits easily in a large briefcase, range bag, gym bag or small suitcase. Reassemble in 5 seconds and you're ready to rock and roll. It comes with 2 magazine wells, one for Ruger mags and one for Glock mags. I love the fact that it shares magazines and ammo with my 9mm Glocks and there's just something very sexy about pistol-caliber carbines!

 

So why did I get it to begin with? Well, I wanted a handy, short reasonably accurate long gun as a constant companion for my EDC. It's basically an urban fighting rifle. If I go to the woods or the civil war breaks out, I'll probably grab something with a little more horsepower but a 115 grain bullet at over 1600 fps is nothing to sneeze at.

It's just a tad heavier than you might expect for a little 9mm carbine but that's because its built like a fricking tank. VERY rugged little gun! No comparison to something like the Kel-Tec Sub 2000 which is kind of a pathetic excuse for a real gun. I suppose they're OK for recreational use but they are definitely not fighting carbines. When you pick up the Kel-Tec, it kinda makes you wonder why the muzzle is not painted orange.

How does the PC-9 shoot? Well... well, very well. I haven't really put it through its paces yet but I've shot it enough to know that it is going to be one of my forever guns. The trigger could stand a little attention but it's really not bad for a Ruger. I wasn't looking for a match-grade trigger on a 9mm self-defense carbine anyway.

Preliminary accuracy tests are impressive and I plan to do more with it when I get time. I had probably put maybe 200 rounds through it and had the iron sights (rugged, easy to see aperture sights) dialed in pretty well when I decided that I wanted to put some glass on it. I had an extra 3x Nikon compact scope laying around so I stuck it on top of the little Ruger. My first trip out to the woods with it was enlightening, to say the least! 

My bench was a rickety little plastic table and the ammo was Remington 115 grain FMJ so I didn't really expect to set the world on fire but I was actually more than impressed with the results! After goofing around with it a little, I decided to see if I could make something that resembled a group with it at 50 yards. After a few sight-in shots, I shot a 3-shot group that strung vertically a little more than I like but was still only about 1⅛". So when I saw that it might actually be a shooter, I put a little more effort into it and the second group measured just ⅝"! Granted, that was only at 50 yards but that indicated that it had the potential of shooting about and inch and quarter out at 100 yards. I don't know about you but I can live with that kind of accuracy out of this type of a weapon!

Downsides? Well, not many really besides what I already mentioned. I guess the biggest thing is the spring on magazine catch needed to be a little stiffer. Even though the button is marginally protected, it's not at all hard to bump it and have a speed-unload. I remedied that most rikky-tik by finding a similar sized, slightly heavier spring, thinning it down slightly on one end and replacing the original. It takes a just little more effort to release the mag now.

These little darlin's are difficult to impossible to find now and I have no idea what they would cost if you found one but they were quite reasonable when I got mine.

They also make this gun in .40S&W and I desperately want one!

 

Nearing the End...

One of my final posts before I left FB. 

This was posted yesterday, 30 January 2021, by the daughter of some friends of ours. I know these good people. I can literally see their house out my kitchen  window. Since I can see lots of houses out my kitchen window and I know most of the people in them, I won't be identifying these people when I say that. I don't know that they would want their names all over FB. 

This means that I probably know some of the people that turned this man away. Luckily, angels were watching over and guiding this man. I am appalled and disgusted that any of my neighbors would do that! Until now, I was pretty sure that I could trust everyone around here and depend on them during hard times. Now, I'm not so sure. Could these people not have at least made a phone call for him or called 911? Could they not provide him with a blanket and a granola bar as they turned him away? I am way more than disgusted at these people. I'm going to post this far and wide and I hope it gets back to these bad Samaritans!

*********************

Nearing The Beginning Of The End!

It’s bitter cold in Vernon Arizona. Last night it was about 20 degrees at 10 pm. There’s almost a foot of snow on the ground near my parents home, and their home was quiet, silenced in a dark spread out wilderness, a typical night. A few homes scattered within the miles of the area had dim lights shining at that hour.

My mother was sitting on her bed when she just happened to look up and seen a man in the window pass by. Shocked she hollered for my Father and said “Xxxxx, there’s a man outside the door”. My father stepped out into the cold where an older man nearing his seventies was standing in their carport. My father asked “Can I help you?” The man said “Where Am I?” My father said you’re in Vernon Arizona, what's going on? The man was half frozen, shivering, with frost all over his face and looking for a place to just lay down.

He was very tired and delirious with no bearing of his location. My father asked him what happened, are you lost, where’s your home, where’s your family? The man asked if my father had a phone charger and my father handed him his cell phone and said no, but you can use my phone. The man was extremely Humble, and thankful and thanked him as he stood in the freezing cold trying to remember numbers. The man told how he had been up on the mountain looking for wood and had gotten stuck and had spent hours trying to dig out, when he decided to walk out for help. While using his phone for GPS and directions his phone went dead after walking a great distance. He told how he knocked on a few Doors, Our Neighbor’s Doors and was told to leave, that he was not welcome and to leave their property. 

It was very clear that he was in desperate need of warmth and help, completely at the point of laying down somewhere, which is a normal human reaction after being so cold and tired after so many hours. 

Miracles happen everyday. Had my Mother not seen him, they could have found him dead the next morning. I cannot express the seriousness of the situation. He had knocked on several doors! His footprints were spread through acres of land.

Thank goodness, My father gathered him up and told him he was taking Him home. He started the truck, loaded him inside, and headed to Concho Valley several miles away with the man all the time thanking him and it was a humbling moment for all involved.  When they arrived at his Home in Concho Valley his wife was in the front yard overwhelmed with worry and once reunited they both thanked my Father over and Over. My father, the humble man that he is,  turned to him and said “No Sir... Thank you!”

It was clearly my fathers honor to assist this man.

Do you know who your neighbors are?

Is it Nearing the Beginning of the End?

The end of human Compassion? Of Decency and Good Will?

I cannot image the overwhelming feeling of vacancy that must have been felt as time and time again this freezing older man was told “No, we won’t help you”...

Leaving him to literally fight the elements that without a single door knock left could have ended His life. But he didn't knock, he had given up at that point and was headed for any kind of shelter to lay down very diluted and let down. 

Are we such bitter souls that making a call to the Sheriff or providing any kind of compassion has become unreasonable? I am stricken with amazement at the footprints found leading him to my family’s Home in Vernon. To think that a human being was left to die in the cold for no reason by so many. It opens your eyes!

To This I say... WE ARE NEARING THE BEGINNING OF THE END!

I am eternally thankful for the way us kids were raised! That we were taught to love one another and to stretch out our hands to those in need. I'm thankful for the lessons that are still being taught to us by actions and not just words.

*****************