Recently came into an as-new stainless SR40C, which only included the full-length 15-round magazine from the full-size SR40 pistol. I ordered the factory Ruger grip sleeve that slides over the mag and essentially replaces the full size grip that was cut off to make the 40C. Honestly, it feels great in the hand. The frame is extremely slim side to side, especially compared to the .40 Glocks of the day. I'd prefer a bit more palm swell in the center of the sides of the grip, but it can't be denied that this is an extremely well-thought out grip, especially for a 15+1 .40 caliber (with the full-size mag and spacer). The slide felt a bit gritty or mechanical/springy like many of Ruger's semi-auto pistols and the slide serrations are very sharp; almost too sharp. But they actually do what they're intended to do, and it's easy to charge the pistol using either the front or rear serrations.

I was able to intuitively field strip the gun even though I have no manual and it's a sort of combination of the FN Hi Power/CZ75 type and the Glock (and most other striker-fired autos) method; you lock the slide back and use the corner of the magazine baseplate or something else suitable to push the end of the takedown pin shaft from the right to the left, and then pry out the takedown pin to the left using its sort of flattened/extended end that runs along the left side of the frame. Then you release the slide and pull the trigger to release the striker as the slide moves forward and off. Unlike the CZ, the takedown pin is not also utilized as the slide stop; the Ruger has a separate, abbreviated, rather Glock-like one of those. It's not ambidextrous, though the magazine release button and the manual safety levers are.

Speaking of the latter, this is essentially the only thing I really dislike about this pistol. The safety lever is stiff, way too small, and poorly placed. It's too far back to be activated with my thumb knuckle, and it's so stiff that I can't apply it with my shooting thumb unless I completely let go of my grip and rotate the pistol, pushing up on the lever with the tip of my thumb. I also was unable to swipe the safety off with the skin/surface on the side of my thumb with a firing grip about 60% of the time, despite REALLY trying. It's like sometimes it's just as stiff as it is when applying the safety, and sometimes it decides to cooperate. I messed with it for a couple of minutes but gave up trying to make sense of it. Regardless, it's unnecessary, ridiculous, annoying, and potentially problematic in a fight, in my opinion. Were I to carry this pistol (which, after shooting it, I'd actually consider doing), I'd make sure the safety was off, and if possible remove it, though that's probably not a good idea liability-wise.

I stripped the dual-spring-style recoil spring assembly and barrel out of the slide, wiped out the (what appeared to be) factory grease from the inside of the slide and rails (which was yellow-gold in color and still doing greasy-type things, feeling suitably slippery), sprayed on some fresh lube, and tried my first shots. I was very surprised, and one might say astonished, at how pleasant this diminutive .40 handled the recoil of factory 180-grain ammo. It wasn't unpleasant, and for me, that's pretty rare in polymer-framed .40s. I own Gen 3 G22 and G23C, and have experience with the G27. They aren't nice to shoot IMO. In fact, to make sure I wasn't imagining things I loaded the same ammo in my G23C and tried a few shots. Yep, still sucks. And feels MUCH thicker and blockier in the hand.

The SR40C's sights had either been messed with by the previous owner (unlikely IMO, since it looked to have not been shot much if at all), or just installed at the factory and left alone, since it was printing about 15 inches high at 18 yards. I couldn't tell where I was missing after holding low, holding high, holding center, so I walked downrange until I was about 10 yards from the steel and finally hit the top edge of the 12" plate when I aligned the sights with the bottom edge. LOL

I cranked the sight down and after a few more shots from 18 yards I got it hitting close to where I like them, which is just above the front sight. The trigger felt like hot garbage the first time I dry fired it when I was just checking out the pistol, but when actually shooting it, I found it's one of the better striker-fired triggers I've ever tried, particularly for defensive use. It feels like about 6 pounds but there's no wall or creep. Rather, it's a sort of rolling break that surprised me for the first shot. It breaks well forward in its travel compared to other stuff like the Glock, and there's a bit of overtravel after the striker releases. When shooting, you don't really notice this, and it's a very nice experience, with a solid reset. 15 rounds of .40 feels like a lot, particularly from a pistol that was the "subcompact" of its day.

My first impression upon handling this gun is that the slide action seemed pretty stiff. Maybe that's why the recoil is so nice; they got the right balance between spring rate and slide velocity and flexy polymer frame or whatever. The magazine release is pretty stiff also, particularly with a loaded mag in the gun and/or with the mag sleeve in place. I imagine it's putting a little extra downward pressure on the mag. It's liveable, though. I have no use for the ambi mag release button nor the ambi (and pointless/stiff) safety levers but I can see how lefties would appreciate them. There's a very prominent loaded chamber indicator lever that pops up like a mohawk when loaded. The sides were painted bright red but after 3 shots the paint came loose in two big long L-shaped pieces and was interfering with my sight picture. I was like WTH is that; what a stupid design, etc. but it turns out it was just the bright red paint. After I removed that, I don't notice it anymore.

I've only shot a few magazines through it so far but this thing makes me want to shoot .40 S&W again, which is something I never thought I'd say. My eyebrows were actually raised in surprise. It's fun to shoot. That'll do, pig. That'll do.

Nice writeup, thanks for sharing. I've seen these, but don't know as I've ever even handled one.