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The first thing I noticed about the gun was that it felt really good in my hand. The fit was really nice and the .90″ width still felt solid even though my normal everyday shooters are mostly the XD9 and XD40 sub-compact, which are 1.25″. To still have a nice solid grip on the gun but lose .35″ will be a nice change for concealed carry. Ruger’s smooth “melted” edges designed for ease of holstering, carrying and drawing really do help give the gun a nice profile for carrying concealed. No sharp or hard 90 degree edges to poke you and make you uncomfortable when the gun is holstered. All in all I would give the LC9 a 10 out of 10 for feel, handling and comfort in a CCW gun.

Firing the gun was next on the agenda. I had already heard quite a few things about the DAO (double action only) trigger of the LC9, but it seemed some people had zero issues with it and some people just had a real dislike for the trigger. Unfortunately I am going to have to place myself in the second camp. Now, given it IS a DAO trigger, so having a long, heavier trigger pull is to be expected. It is in fact, purposely designed to be that way. For myself, I feel the trigger pull is a bit too long and the trigger reset is really long as well. It took 50 rounds or so to start to get a feel for the break point of the trigger. After shooting the gun for a bit I did start to get a feel for the trigger, though I would still prefer a shorter, lighter pull. Can you get used to this trigger? Absolutely. It is certainly not a deal killer as far as this gun is concerned for CCW. The long trigger reset probably bothered me more than anything. I can certainly see the logic behind having that first shot have a very long pull for a CCW gun, but subsequent shots should not, IMHO, have the need for such a long trigger reset. Now, I certainly have to take into account the fact that my strong preference is for striker fired or DA/SA triggers. 95% of my pistol shooting is done with guns in either of those trigger setups, so I have a heavy muscle memory towards that. Keep in mind if you are a striker fired or DA/SA shooter like myself you will want to give yourself a good number of rounds down the pipe before depending on this gun for concealed carry. I’m going to give the trigger a 7 out of 10.

Now Galloway Precision is making an LC9 trigger kit that supposedly cuts the trigger pull and reset to about 1/2 of the factory. The reviews I have seen on it so far are all very positive, though I have yet to shoot it myself. Cutting that pull and reset in half sounds about perfect to this Striker Fired – DA/SA shooter.

Would I recommend this gun to my students as a CCW gun. Absolutely! Size and feel wise the gun is very nice. The trigger is something that can be learned to shoot easily and I highly recommend that people spend a good number of range sessions and put a large number of rounds through ANY gun before using it as a CCW gun. That said, not everyone out there has such a strong preference for Striker and/or DA/SA triggers such as myself. For these shooters the learning curve on the trigger is going to be significantly less.

I foresee this gun being a very popular seller for Ruger and gaining a healthy following among CCW holders. In my area you can pick one up for about $325, which brings this gun into the budget of just about any shooter!

Author – Steve Wasylko