The Ruger P97DC .45ACP caliber pistol was never on my “got to have” shooting list, but I have become a big fan with one trip to the range. I picked up this .45 caliber pistol from a friend last Saturday and it was the first time I had ever taken a second look at the Ruger 45 auto. I have owned many Ruger revolvers over the years in .357, .45 Long Colt and .44 Mag, but have never been a fan of the Ruger autos. I always loved the Colt 1911.
What I liked about the Ruger P97DC right from the start is that it is a “de-cocker”. To put the gun on safe, you just push the decoking lever on the rear of the slide and it safely lowers the hammer into the safe carry position. You can then either cock the hammer and shoot single action mode or just pull the double action trigger to fire the gun. It works just like a double action revolver or a Sig P226/228 (my favorite pistol).
It has one of those evil polymer grips that feels really comfortable in the hand, and has a stainless steel slide. Sights are a very nice 3-dot setup, and it has a really good trigger in double or single action mode. The magazine holds 7 rounds, and although magazine looks like a Colt 1911 mag, it will not fit into my Commander.
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Off to the range it went to see if my new Ruger .45 was a keeper. Took along my favorite handloads that shoots 200-grain cast wad cutters at about 800 fps and a few factory 230 hardball rounds.
Bottom line, the gun shoots well, handles well and I can lay down 50-yard steel plates about as fast as you can set them up . I set up the paper target in the photo at 20 yards and proceeded to shoot the center out of the bull with the wad cutters. After 20 rounds of wad cutters I put in a magazine full of hard ball and it put them right in the same spot on the target.
After the paper, I reloaded and put down four straight plates at 50 yards before a miss. With my old tire eyes, I was extremely happy with the results.
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Technical Specs:
Manufacturer …Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc.
200 Ruger Rd.
Prescott, AZ 86301
Model ………………………………………..P97
Operation …………………Recoil operated;
short-recoil tilting barrel
Caliber………………………………… .45 ACP
Barrel length …………………4.203 inches
Overall length …………………..7.6 inches
Weight, empty ……………….30.5 ounces
Safety …………………………..Ambidextrous
45-degree-arc short-throw
decocking levers;
internal firing pin block
Sights …………………….Three-dot system;
drift-adjustable rear;
pinned-in semi-Patridge front
Sight radius ………………….5.188 inches
Rifling …………….6 grooves; 1:16 RH twist
Stocks …………..Integral injection-molded
fiberglass-fill Urethane
Magazine capacity …………….8 rounds
Finish ……………………………….Semi-gloss
black polymer frame;
bead-blasted stainless-steel slide
Also see Ruger 77/357 and Ruger PC9 Carbine Reviews
