Ruger P345 opinions
- Thread starter Vet66
- Start date
I think they are almost great.
I love the grip.* The trigger can helped with a lighter spring. When my eyes were better and I still shot pistol regularly, I could shoot 2 inch groups at 60 feet with my 345.
Everything bad about it is in the slide. The magazine safety design invites damage with dryfiring without magazine. There used to be a tutorial online about how to get rid of it.
I dislike frame mounted safeties, don't love the chamber indicator, wish it had adjustable sights, and would prefer a five inch barrel.
A P345 with a P97 slide would be a great pistol.
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*Ruger's new crop seem roughly modeled on Glock grips, which inspire no affection in me. The 345 approximates a 1911 grip with a rounded mainspring housing. With a piece of bicycle grip on it, it allows my XXL hands an excellent grip.
I love the grip.* The trigger can helped with a lighter spring. When my eyes were better and I still shot pistol regularly, I could shoot 2 inch groups at 60 feet with my 345.
Everything bad about it is in the slide. The magazine safety design invites damage with dryfiring without magazine. There used to be a tutorial online about how to get rid of it.
I dislike frame mounted safeties, don't love the chamber indicator, wish it had adjustable sights, and would prefer a five inch barrel.
A P345 with a P97 slide would be a great pistol.
______________________
*Ruger's new crop seem roughly modeled on Glock grips, which inspire no affection in me. The 345 approximates a 1911 grip with a rounded mainspring housing. With a piece of bicycle grip on it, it allows my XXL hands an excellent grip.
Cornhusker77
New member
I had one and loved it.
Wish I still had it
Wish I still had it
This. ^
I " cleaned out under the sight" so I didn't have to worry about a broken firing pin due the magazine disconect.
The gun was 100% reliable on any ammo I shot through it.
I sold it cause of two things. I cut my teeth on a 1911, and I just couldn't get used to the DA/SA trigger, and the flex in the polymer grip when I shot it.
I seem to be the only person I know that could feel the flex.
I " cleaned out under the sight" so I didn't have to worry about a broken firing pin due the magazine disconect.
The gun was 100% reliable on any ammo I shot through it.
I sold it cause of two things. I cut my teeth on a 1911, and I just couldn't get used to the DA/SA trigger, and the flex in the polymer grip when I shot it.
I seem to be the only person I know that could feel the flex.
Excellent Pistol
I've been carrying my stainless P345 daily in a Kangaroo Carry. It carries well, I don't notice the weight, and I like the full length grip. Mine has never had any kind of malfunction, and is very accurate. I like a DA pistol, because I like the comfort of hammer down, safety off, long DA first shot, then SA mode. Once in SA mode, the trigger is light, crisp, and the reset is short. I think that makes the perfect defensive pistol. The LCI doesn't bother me, but I do wish it didn't have a magazine disconnect.
I've been carrying my stainless P345 daily in a Kangaroo Carry. It carries well, I don't notice the weight, and I like the full length grip. Mine has never had any kind of malfunction, and is very accurate. I like a DA pistol, because I like the comfort of hammer down, safety off, long DA first shot, then SA mode. Once in SA mode, the trigger is light, crisp, and the reset is short. I think that makes the perfect defensive pistol. The LCI doesn't bother me, but I do wish it didn't have a magazine disconnect.
Got one, Like it.
I bought my P345 when they first came out. Ruger had a nice ad in the gun mags "The best .45 wasn't made in 1911" !!/??
Good looking gun, good sights, good trigger, Polymer frame , S.S. slide, shoots good too.
But i think the death knell was the mag safety. Personally I like think they are OK, Many do not.
I could see how the value would go up, because I'm not selling mine, - it is a highly under rated gun. Hey it's a .45
I bought my P345 when they first came out. Ruger had a nice ad in the gun mags "The best .45 wasn't made in 1911" !!/??
Good looking gun, good sights, good trigger, Polymer frame , S.S. slide, shoots good too.
But i think the death knell was the mag safety. Personally I like think they are OK, Many do not.
I could see how the value would go up, because I'm not selling mine, - it is a highly under rated gun. Hey it's a .45
If the magazine disconnect is removed I like them. I owned one of the 1st made and mine broke within days of purchase. Most guns with a magazine disconnect simply won't work if the magazine is removed. The Ruger design allows the hammer to drop when the trigger is pulled, but a block between the firing pin and hammer prevents the gun from firing. Doing this only a handful of times will damage the gun to the point it won't work at all. There was no warning in the owners manual, in fact it said dry firing was OK.
Ruger didn't even know of the problem until they started being returned. Mine was returned to me with an updated owners manual stating that dry fire was fine, but an empty magazine must be in the gun when doing so.
I'd be concerned about buying used except as a range gun. You have no idea if it has been dry fired with or without the magazine. While I liked the gun well enough, this feature was the reason I sold mine and moved along to something else. There are plenty of equally good options where you don't have to worry about this happening.
Ruger didn't even know of the problem until they started being returned. Mine was returned to me with an updated owners manual stating that dry fire was fine, but an empty magazine must be in the gun when doing so.
I'd be concerned about buying used except as a range gun. You have no idea if it has been dry fired with or without the magazine. While I liked the gun well enough, this feature was the reason I sold mine and moved along to something else. There are plenty of equally good options where you don't have to worry about this happening.
I would do this if I thought I could without damaging the pistol. I had to drift adjust the rear sight; I used a hammer and punch, used a lot of heavy pounding to get modest movement, and have a dented rear sight. I don't care about the appearance, but it isn't ideal. At 60 feet, my point of impact is at the top right corner of the front sight.
In a way the disconnect problem may be worse than you describe. Apparently, the disconnect component can be pinched or peened enough to cause unpredictable or intermittent failure to fire.
Ruger has had some good design ideas. That disconnect wasn't one of them.
Thanks for the replies. I just wondered if it was me or most at the pluses this pistol has. As for the mag disconnect, I don't have a problem with it, could be a plus in a bad situation. Not the prettiest gun in my stable but, it sure goes bang at every trigger pull regardless what ammo I feed it. Okay, I guess from reading the replies I'm not nuts...LOL.
A very poor design, and one of the primary reasons Ruger wasn't taken seriously when it first ventured into the 1911 market, specifically because it just wasn't known what kind of kooky modifications they'd dream up for it! Fortunately, Ruger learned from their mistakes, and I hold the P345 as one of their major ones! They do however look nice, but do yourself a smart turn, and stay well away from them, there are dozens of other better choices on the used market, including Ruger's P90, which is a good design!
Google P345 failures, and captured springs, or clunk, no bang!
FrankenMauser
New member
The P345 is not a 1911 by any stretch of the imagination.
If someone can't handle a P345, they won't be able to handle a P90. They're very similar designs. (Identical in many ways.)
Improper assembly or maintenance by owners does not make a design inherently bad.
If someone can't handle a P345, they won't be able to handle a P90. They're very similar designs. (Identical in many ways.)
When they came out I debated selling my Ruger P97DC to buy one, but realized that the addition of the light rail wasn't important enough to me to offset the mag disconnect and thumb safety. I preferred my no mag disconnect and decocker only design.
I can't say anything bad about them: just not something I cared to try.
BTW, I love the quality of the Ruger's I've used. Some are nice looking, and some are an acquired taste: yet all have just plain worked, and well.
I can't say anything bad about them: just not something I cared to try.
BTW, I love the quality of the Ruger's I've used. Some are nice looking, and some are an acquired taste: yet all have just plain worked, and well.
Nobody said it was a 1911, what it was, was a POS that had a terrible reputation, and track record of quantifiable failures, and it is no way similar to the P90, which had exactly the opposite reputation. The P345 was so well thought of that it contributed greatly to the perception that the company was just Taurus north, and was a prime reason many expected the worst of the SR1911's when they hit the shelves.
Under no circumstance would I recommend a P345 to someone looking for a decent firearm for either home defense or carry, and not one professional I'm associated with considers them a viable choice. The design was dropped by Ruger for a reason!
FrankenMauser
New member
Badfinger, YOU eluded to it being a 1911. Re-read your last post (#12).
You can't compete in the 1911 market without a 1911.
The P345 is substantially similar to the rest of the P-series. All of the important parts are the same, or similar, designs: fire control, slide, springs and guide rod, barrel lockup, takedown, safeties, and on...
The only notable differences are the lockable safety and the magazine disconnect.
And, you're skipping right over the fact that the entire P-series lineup was discontinued.
You're contradicting your own supporting argument.
If only a bad gun (P345 in your argument) will be discontinued, then why did so many other good guns (P89, P90, P94, P95, P97) get the axe?
It's a very poor argument.