It's hard to tell if this has been a success for Ruger or not. It's somewhat disappeared in a sea of Polymer 9mm/.45 guns, and you rarely hear it mentioned any more.

I guess it works but is unexciting. Anyone have any positive/negative experiences?

Shot a buddy’s .45 full size and I genuinely liked it very much. Good trigger, accurate, easy to shoot and far and away the best Ruger pistol to date (IMO). Problem is, there is a metric shit tonne of great, proven, semi auto pistols out there for a good price

Honestly if you removed the branding you wouldnt peg it as a Ruger polymer pistol. You would probably think it was a SIG experiment.

The Ruger American does not sell to well around here. I bought one in a 45 and have shot the American in 9mm. The 9mm did not do much for me, seems a bit to large and over built for just a 9mm. I must say the the American is at its best in the 45 version. My Ruger American 45 shoots better than my early P220 Sig and my stock made in 1989, 1911 Colt gold Cup. There was a recall on some of the early 9mm Americans and that might not have helped.

Ruger introduced the Security 9 Pistol in early 2018 with a real good price point and I think it is in many ways a very good 9mm for Ruger. It is much better for concealed carry than the American 9mm. It is the size and weight of a Glock 19 with a 1911 grip angle. No one seems to be buying the Ruger American 9mm around here. But the Dealers are having a hard time keeping the Ruger Security 9 Pistol in stock.

I never got past the janky grip to frame connection and backstrap. It looks uncomfortable and cheap.

It is heavy, has a shitty trigger, crappy grips, the only redeeming thing about it is low felt recoil because it's so heavy. It's a $300 gun being sold for $350.

Wasn't there a recall on the American Pistol? Pretty sure I read that in American Rifleman within the last few months.

Safety Bulletin:

https://www.ruger.com/dataProcess/APRetrofit/?r=nav

I like the compact. Didn't care for the full size. And yeah, it's not been a strong seller for us but ALL of Ruger's double-stack poly semi-autos are not doing particularly well for us, from the cheapie Security 9 up to the Americans. Then again, even their single-stack LC series has kind of done the same nose dive. When it comes to their semi-auto pistolas, only do the 22LRs, the LCP II and their 1911s garner much interest in our shop.

Ruger makes a tough gun,like a tank. The problem for me with this model, is that it looks like a tank. The SR9 is a great pistol and is very accurate.

I have a RAP9 early production. My example was in the serial number recall range for wear issues of the barrel shoulder and slide contact locking surface areas. Let me say that Ruger customer service is exceptionally better than S&W. Ruger replaced the barrel on my example. The recall cost me, no out of pocket expense and they provided USPS priority mail box and the turn around time was less than ten days.

I have examples of the Glock G17-Gen3 and the S&W MP9-Gen1 in comparison to the RAP9 I found the RAP9 to be a service pistol on par with the previously mentioned Glock and S&W pistol models. The weight of the RAP9 was not problematic nor were there hand grip interface problems.

My example of the RAP9 is exceptionally accurate at 7-25&50Yds shooting from standing both slow and rapid fire sequences.

Brand bias may or may not be part of the problem when individuals make comparisons between different brands. I am not a Ruger person but rather a S&W person but I don't allow that to influence objectivity of differing brand firearms.

The replacement barrels (and all new production) are the black Nitrided type instead of the original silver colored stainless. Presumably this is a more durable barrel?