Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
The Wonder-Nine Era, one of my favorite times in the world of firearms.
Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1987.
But Mr. Peabody, if we want to see the introduction of the Ruger P-85 shouldn’t we go to 1985?
No Sherman, we must go to 1987.
If you were in the pistol scene in the mid 1980’s, you knew that Ruger planned to release a high-capacity pistol chambered in 9mm that would have a DA/SA trigger. But more exciting, it would have a price well below the other pistols in that class. The model was the P-85 and the projected release date was 1985.
I can remember visiting multiple gun shops in search of this new affordable wonder-nine that I had read about in all the gun rags. Everywhere I went it was the same story; we don’t have one, but Ruger says it’s on the way.
Well……. Ruger didn’t get the pistol on the market in 1985, or even 1986. It was around 1987 when the P-85 finally hit the gun stores. Ruger missed the boat, and the initial military trials. But the public eventually got a solid pistol, for a reasonable price; albeit a somewhat clunky one.
The P-85 is not a pistol that earns the labels “elegant” or “sleek” but like most Ruger products, they earn loyalty.
There’s nothing revolutionary about the P-85 design. It used a Browning tilting barrel locking system, a conventional DA/SA action and was pretty straight forward. The only really unusual design feature was the lack of a trigger pin. The trigger pivots on trunnions cast into the trigger. This didn’t win accolades for smoothness, but it did reduce the parts count. The ambidextrous magazine release was a bit wonky but it worked.
Ruger used a lot of investment cast parts in the P-85, and that probably helped to keep the cost down. The frame was cast aluminum and machined only where it needed to be machined. While lots of manufacturers used aluminum frames, most started with forged blanks and performed a lot of machining operations on that forging. Ruger started with a nearly complete investment cast frame. This reduced expense. A lot of the internal parts such as the trigger, hammer, barrel, pins, etc., were stainless steel. This may seem common today, but it was a bit unusual in the mid 1980’s. Stainless steel slides became available circa 1990. Except for some reports of firing pin breakage in early models (which Ruger promptly corrected and redesigned) the guns have a reputation of being very tough. In that regard, the P-85 is very much a Ruger.
There were numerous variations of the P-85; DA/SA, De-cock only safeties, DAO, etc. The P-85 went on to be the basis for many other P-series pistols and the family grew to include different chamberings, different slide and frame materials, different barrel lengths, etc. They all have the same lineage that started with the P-85.
The P-85 is long out of production, having been superseded by several generations of P-series guns. The P-85 doesn’t get much love these days, but it deserves its place in American history.
Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1987.
But Mr. Peabody, if we want to see the introduction of the Ruger P-85 shouldn’t we go to 1985?
No Sherman, we must go to 1987.
If you were in the pistol scene in the mid 1980’s, you knew that Ruger planned to release a high-capacity pistol chambered in 9mm that would have a DA/SA trigger. But more exciting, it would have a price well below the other pistols in that class. The model was the P-85 and the projected release date was 1985.
I can remember visiting multiple gun shops in search of this new affordable wonder-nine that I had read about in all the gun rags. Everywhere I went it was the same story; we don’t have one, but Ruger says it’s on the way.
Well……. Ruger didn’t get the pistol on the market in 1985, or even 1986. It was around 1987 when the P-85 finally hit the gun stores. Ruger missed the boat, and the initial military trials. But the public eventually got a solid pistol, for a reasonable price; albeit a somewhat clunky one.
The P-85 is not a pistol that earns the labels “elegant” or “sleek” but like most Ruger products, they earn loyalty.
There’s nothing revolutionary about the P-85 design. It used a Browning tilting barrel locking system, a conventional DA/SA action and was pretty straight forward. The only really unusual design feature was the lack of a trigger pin. The trigger pivots on trunnions cast into the trigger. This didn’t win accolades for smoothness, but it did reduce the parts count. The ambidextrous magazine release was a bit wonky but it worked.
Ruger used a lot of investment cast parts in the P-85, and that probably helped to keep the cost down. The frame was cast aluminum and machined only where it needed to be machined. While lots of manufacturers used aluminum frames, most started with forged blanks and performed a lot of machining operations on that forging. Ruger started with a nearly complete investment cast frame. This reduced expense. A lot of the internal parts such as the trigger, hammer, barrel, pins, etc., were stainless steel. This may seem common today, but it was a bit unusual in the mid 1980’s. Stainless steel slides became available circa 1990. Except for some reports of firing pin breakage in early models (which Ruger promptly corrected and redesigned) the guns have a reputation of being very tough. In that regard, the P-85 is very much a Ruger.
There were numerous variations of the P-85; DA/SA, De-cock only safeties, DAO, etc. The P-85 went on to be the basis for many other P-series pistols and the family grew to include different chamberings, different slide and frame materials, different barrel lengths, etc. They all have the same lineage that started with the P-85.
The P-85 is long out of production, having been superseded by several generations of P-series guns. The P-85 doesn’t get much love these days, but it deserves its place in American history.
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