My new Ruger P90

[Elerius]

I bought a used, good condition Ruger P90 from Gunbroker a while ago with the intention of refinishing it to my liking. The frame was cerakoted semi gloss Socom Blue and the slide blasted to a dull grey, and I spent a few hours polishing it up with successive grit sandpaper and Mother Mag polish, and installed a pair of Mike's grips and a heavier recoil spring. The machine marks and the pitting imperfections (all invisible until the polishing) make it a little incomplete, but I think I like it best like that. Most people don't seem to bother with these models. Here are the pics of the results.

Before:


After:

[WESHOOT2]

Bull-strong (originally designed for the 10mm cartridge), durable, reliable, accurate.

Nice work

[RockDTMC]

Great job! I always loved those.

[lee n. field]

Did you polish the guide rod as well? Mine skuffed up pretty badly the first time I shot it.

Nicely polished. It kind of gives it an antiqued look (even though, of course, it's not that old).

[Elerius]

I ended up liking the antique type look more then what it would be if it was a flawless mirror finish.

The guide rod was polished easily, but it is behaving oddly. Maybe I just don't know enough about aluminum but when I took the pics it had only been sitting on the shelf for a week after I polished it, and the guide rod has blurring and scratches, like it was oxidizing. I was under the impression that should take months if not years

[Northrider]

Nice job refinishing. If you haven't shot it yet, or another one, you are going to love it. I got mine used too and love taking it to the range.

Shoot Safe and Often

[MandolinMan]

Most people don't seem to bother with these models.

The P90 isn't hi-cap and doesn't have that 'tacticool' look that everyone seems to want. Alas... but its their loss. The P90 is one tank of a gun. As reliable and durable as they come.

Sure the Sig guys may smirk when I pull out my ol' P90 at the range, but it doesn't bother me. I just chuckle as I recall reading once of Mr. Massad Ayoob showing up at competitions with the humble P90. The other competitors giving the 'O crap' look as they realized they were going to be out done by the P90 of all guns.

Enjoy it. Oh, and shoot some hot rounds through it and listen as it says: " Is that all you've got?"

[Guv]

I have always liked the P-series guns, my sister has my Dad's old P-89 I gave him years ago. Very underrated and affordable on the used market!

[Sevens]

I have a Ruger P-90. It shoots well, runs always and it is accurate. But the trigger is pretty horrendous. I have read that swapping it out for a Ruger P-95 trigger is the ticket for improvement and there's very little work that needs to be done for the swap. However, it does seem like getting your hands on a Ruger P-95 trigger isn't the easiest thing to do.

Your pistol -- I really like the color change on the frame, although it definitely appears as black and not any manner of blue to my eyes, at least with these photos. But major improvement in how it looks. I can't say the same for the slide, I really don't care for the bright, shiny, almost mirror look to it, but to each his own. Your work certainly looks well done, I just don't care for the look of the slide.

Mine doesn't get a heap of range time. My log says it's eaten only 1,375 since I got it (barely used) four years ago. But for the $325 I spent on it, I'm happy with the purchase. I wouldn't hesitate to trust it if I found myself in that position, but I do have to relay a short tale:

I also replaced the OEM grips (those grips are horrendous in look & feel!) but I did mine with a set of NOS Pachmayr. And in my first range trip out, it was massive, fall-on-my-face FAILURE. Quite simply, the rubber grip was interfering with the trigger bar/linkage. I didn't realize that on the range, I simply thought the gun went to the crapper on me. Further investigation revealed the problem and a lot of very methodical work with an X-acto razor fixed everything and not even a hiccup since that time, and that was a thousand rounds ago.

So... please check, re-check, and check again to ensure that any replacement grip panels, especially rubber or anything that may bend, swell, or be gorilla-gripped to deform and change shape does NOT interfere with the linkage, or you may also have a day of frustration on the range. You will notice that the OEM grips are rock-solid and won't be gripped or squeezed out of shape. If you replace them with anything pliable, you can have complete failures if they interact with that linkage.

[stu925]

I wish I hadn't sold my P-90, it was the first gun I bought for myself and it was a great gun. I sold it to partially fund a Kimber Pro CDP II and while I now own the nicer gun I still mist that P-90. Mine was a great shooter and would eat just about anything I fed it with the exception of some reloads with LRN bullets, I never could get those to feed reliably.

Stu

[lee n. field]

I have a Ruger P-90. It shoots well, runs always and it is accurate. But the trigger is pretty horrendous. I have read that swapping it out for a Ruger P-95 trigger is the ticket for improvement and there's very little work that needs to be done for the swap. However, it does seem like getting your hands on a Ruger P-95 trigger isn't the easiest thing to do.

So I find. I suspect they've all been bought up by people wanting to do the P90 trigger mod. I hope Ruger makes more.

I also replaced the OEM grips (those grips are horrendous in look & feel!) but I did mine with a set of NOS Pachmayr. And in my first range trip out, it was massive, fall-on-my-face FAILURE. Quite simply, the rubber grip was interfering with the trigger bar/linkage. I didn't realize that on the range, I simply thought the gun went to the crapper on me. Further investigation revealed the problem and a lot of very methodical work with an X-acto razor fixed everything and not even a hiccup since that time, and that was a thousand rounds ago.

I don't care for the factory grips either. I ran with the Hogue finger groove grips for a long while, but decided soft rubber didn't do it for me. I got a set of the same Uncle Mike's rubber grips that the thread originator used.

I wish I hadn't sold my P-90, it was the first gun I bought for myself and it was a great gun.

I'd offer to sell mine, but I'm going to guess that we wouldn't be able to meet on price. In other words, how badly do you want one?

I sold it to partially fund a Kimber Pro CDP II and while I now own the nicer gun I still mist that P-90. Mine was a great shooter and would eat just about anything I fed it with the exception of some reloads with LRN bullets, I never could get those to feed reliably.

Nothing is loaded commercially with LRN bullets that I'm aware of, so those would be handloads. Depending on exactly how it was having the problem feeding, it could be either a problem with seating depth or crimp. (I've had problems with both that I had to solve.)

[Elerius]

I have a Ruger P-90. It shoots well, runs always and it is accurate. But the trigger is pretty horrendous. I have read that swapping it out for a Ruger P-95 trigger is the ticket for improvement and there's very little work that needs to be done for the swap. However, it does seem like getting your hands on a Ruger P-95 trigger isn't the easiest thing to do.

Your pistol -- I really like the color change on the frame, although it definitely appears as black and not any manner of blue to my eyes, at least with these photos. But major improvement in how it looks

There were few pictures of what the Socom Blue was supposed to look like, and not that it mattered anyways; I've looked at plenty of pics of cerakote in the same color and they are always somewhat different shades. So I took the chance to experiment on this gun to see for myself what the Socom Blue looks like. It is as close to real blueing color as you can get from what I hear, and I suppose I agree. in sunlight there is a bluer tinge to it. It is barely noticeable in normal lamplight. I am trying to get a P95 trigger to do that mod and have been unable to locate one. If you look carefully you can see the trigger on my gun wasn't polished at all, just raw blasted since I'll be replacing it. I posted asking if the P345 trigger might work the same but it was unanswered.

As for the stainless, I normally don't like the look, however, reading through my list, there are only a few guns that I selected stainless for, the rest are blued or coated. So I tried it out on this also, and I enjoy the antique look. When I get my S&W 4566 I'll try that out in more of a satin.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I will have more plans for cerakote in interesting combinations (I hope) in the future.