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AirForce2 · February 2, 2013, 11:14 PM

My thoughts on these 2 guns after only 100 rds. Yours may differ and this is not a bash/glamour review for either (just info).

Tested 3 new guns that I purchased recently:
-Ruger SR40 (full size)
-Ruger SR40C (compact)
-Springfield XDM .40 5.25 inch barrel competition.

Quick bio:I've been shooting the .40 cal since 1990 from a handful of brands during 10 years of USPSA competition in limited class as well as .38 super in open class. I was a sandbagging master class ability wise but enough bad matches kept me a high A class shooter. Many top 1st-3rd placings in local, state, area matches 1990-2000 and #2 man represented Air Force Action Pistol Team. I shoot most guns very well and despise gun & equip malfunctions over the years and learned to tweek alot myself. On with my review.

Disassembled both guns and checked for lube and no excess noticed.
Day 1 range-small to med hands will love this grip feel since small checkering feels smooth while still supplies grip vs the big longer grips front to back is a a little shorter and allows good reach to trigger on both guns. The only difference between sr40C and sr40 is shorter barrel on "C" and shorter grip on "c" but can use 15 rd mag w/sleeve to make it same handle length as SR40

-both guns have had the ramp and throat polished even though they were not bad, they both hand cycled (med speed rough brand new) and I have the right tools. After my feed ramp job, they both fed smooth even before first shots. The brand new Springfield xdm .40 longslide fed the best and smoothest during hand cycling.

-both guns require a stout smack to seat a fully loaded 9 or 15 rd mag but not horrible. This seems to be a common issue over the recent years due to the manf cramming the most rounds and to keep handle length less, over crams the # of bullets into a mag and no extra room for a full mag and compressed spring. The reason I think this is with old springfield P9 .40's (POS by the way due to parts always breaking), STI .40, STI .38 sup open, or other staggered 1911's, I always had some room left with full loaded mags which made mag reloads more reliable.

-Fired total of 75 rds thru both SR40 & SR40C and Spgfld xdm .40.
-spgfield xdm longslide-no FTF, FTE, FT fire
-SR40C & SR40
--at least 10 of the 75 rounds i fired went click from both rugers. Now this was with mostly my reloads from all three guns and only 20 rds were amer eagle factory from all three guns. I fired appx 25 thousand rounds of my reloads over the years and have always used "small rifle primmers" with no issues from other guns. I use them for hotter loads since they are a little stiffer and less primer bleed. I used a combo of 180 gr lead and jacketed reloads, 4.2 gr hodgdon clays powder (4.0 for lead), oal 1.120, fed sml rifle prim w med crimp. Cycling was fine in all three guns but on the 2nd range day with high winds and lots of dust & sand blowing the rugers both started to have lockup issues yet the xdm had none. Zero misfires with exact same ammo from xdm.

-I think the rugers have a weak firing pin setup that is only suitable for soft primers and still is a liability with those. Do not use primers that are considered on the harder side in either small pistol & definitly not small rifle primers. My primers were set good and hard and the xdm had no issues with the same lot of reloads. I have never experienced the amount of misfires in over 70,000 rounds from 1990-2000 between 10 guns total as in these rugers. I've looked online now and wish I had done so earlier and see there are some scattered issues with misfires and maybe getting a higher pound trigger spring is the answer, but jeeeeez, come on factories, do some real f---k--g testing on multiple guns will ya. The ruger shot pretty accurate after I peened the rear site over since they shot way left. I will try some winchester small pistol next time and see if this problem goes away. If not will send back. I also had to disassemble both rugers and the xdm to wash them out from the amount of dust & sand that was blowing around and inspected the firing pin holes in both rugers and there will be no excuses for me if they have any more misfires. I have no room for a gun that won't go bang. Remember for me a gun should hand cycle medium speed without jamming. If a gun doesn't I make it that way or get rid of it. bumpy means still bumpy during shooting. Most of these guns parts people claim have to shoot it 200-500 rds means they are not the right specs (most of the parts are "hardend" steel and don't break in or wear down much if at all). Good looking and handling guns except for the fickle cycling during high wind/dirt times and the misfires. After searching the internet, I see enought problems with the ruger trigger mechanism that tells me the have some ruger lots that are fine and other have problems. I think the old model ruger P series was more reliable. Sad to say the croation made xdm seems most reliable of the 3 and for now reloads are out with my rugers. If you want a report on the taurus tcp .380 or xdm .40 from me a few years ago, do a search.

February 2, 2013, 11:14 PM	#1
AirForce2 Member Join Date: June 23, 2008 Posts: 38	Ruger SR40 & SR40C Review My thoughts on these 2 guns after only 100 rds. Yours may differ and this is not a bash/glamour review for either (just info). Tested 3 new guns that I purchased recently: -Ruger SR40 (full size) -Ruger SR40C (compact) -Springfield XDM .40 5.25 inch barrel competition. Quick bio:I've been shooting the .40 cal since 1990 from a handful of brands during 10 years of USPSA competition in limited class as well as .38 super in open class. I was a sandbagging master class ability wise but enough bad matches kept me a high A class shooter. Many top 1st-3rd placings in local, state, area matches 1990-2000 and #2 man represented Air Force Action Pistol Team. I shoot most guns very well and despise gun & equip malfunctions over the years and learned to tweek alot myself. On with my review. Disassembled both guns and checked for lube and no excess noticed. Day 1 range-small to med hands will love this grip feel since small checkering feels smooth while still supplies grip vs the big longer grips front to back is a a little shorter and allows good reach to trigger on both guns. The only difference between sr40C and sr40 is shorter barrel on "C" and shorter grip on "c" but can use 15 rd mag w/sleeve to make it same handle length as SR40 -both guns have had the ramp and throat polished even though they were not bad, they both hand cycled (med speed rough brand new) and I have the right tools. After my feed ramp job, they both fed smooth even before first shots. The brand new Springfield xdm .40 longslide fed the best and smoothest during hand cycling. -both guns require a stout smack to seat a fully loaded 9 or 15 rd mag but not horrible. This seems to be a common issue over the recent years due to the manf cramming the most rounds and to keep handle length less, over crams the # of bullets into a mag and no extra room for a full mag and compressed spring. The reason I think this is with old springfield P9 .40's (POS by the way due to parts always breaking), STI .40, STI .38 sup open, or other staggered 1911's, I always had some room left with full loaded mags which made mag reloads more reliable. -Fired total of 75 rds thru both SR40 & SR40C and Spgfld xdm .40. -spgfield xdm longslide-no FTF, FTE, FT fire -SR40C & SR40 --at least 10 of the 75 rounds i fired went click from both rugers. Now this was with mostly my reloads from all three guns and only 20 rds were amer eagle factory from all three guns. I fired appx 25 thousand rounds of my reloads over the years and have always used "small rifle primmers" with no issues from other guns. I use them for hotter loads since they are a little stiffer and less primer bleed. I used a combo of 180 gr lead and jacketed reloads, 4.2 gr hodgdon clays powder (4.0 for lead), oal 1.120, fed sml rifle prim w med crimp. Cycling was fine in all three guns but on the 2nd range day with high winds and lots of dust & sand blowing the rugers both started to have lockup issues yet the xdm had none. Zero misfires with exact same ammo from xdm. -I think the rugers have a weak firing pin setup that is only suitable for soft primers and still is a liability with those. Do not use primers that are considered on the harder side in either small pistol & definitly not small rifle primers. My primers were set good and hard and the xdm had no issues with the same lot of reloads. I have never experienced the amount of misfires in over 70,000 rounds from 1990-2000 between 10 guns total as in these rugers. I've looked online now and wish I had done so earlier and see there are some scattered issues with misfires and maybe getting a higher pound trigger spring is the answer, but jeeeeez, come on factories, do some real f---k--g testing on multiple guns will ya. The ruger shot pretty accurate after I peened the rear site over since they shot way left. I will try some winchester small pistol next time and see if this problem goes away. If not will send back. I also had to disassemble both rugers and the xdm to wash them out from the amount of dust & sand that was blowing around and inspected the firing pin holes in both rugers and there will be no excuses for me if they have any more misfires. I have no room for a gun that won't go bang. Remember for me a gun should hand cycle medium speed without jamming. If a gun doesn't I make it that way or get rid of it. bumpy means still bumpy during shooting. Most of these guns parts people claim have to shoot it 200-500 rds means they are not the right specs (most of the parts are "hardend" steel and don't break in or wear down much if at all). Good looking and handling guns except for the fickle cycling during high wind/dirt times and the misfires. After searching the internet, I see enought problems with the ruger trigger mechanism that tells me the have some ruger lots that are fine and other have problems. I think the old model ruger P series was more reliable. Sad to say the croation made xdm seems most reliable of the 3 and for now reloads are out with my rugers. If you want a report on the taurus tcp .380 or xdm .40 from me a few years ago, do a search. Last edited by AirForce2; February 2, 2013 at 11:40 PM.