Ruger 9mm. 6 Best Ruger 9mm Pistols For Concealed Carry [2022]

Ruger 9mm. Which pistol is best for concealed carry?

What’s the best Ruger 9mm for concealed carry? That really depends. Sturm, Ruger and Co. manufacture a number of different pistols in 9mm, some of which are wildly different from each other.

Some are definitely good for some people, and some are good for other people! It really depends on what kind of gun you prefer to put in your Ruger 9mm concealed carry holster.

Things to Consider When Buying a 9mm Pistol.

Things to Consider When Buying a 9mm Pistol. There are a few things you should consider when purchasing a 9mm pistol. The first is your experience level. If you are a beginner, you may want to consider a pistol that is easier to operate. If you are more experienced, you may want to consider a pistol with more features. The next thing to consider is your budget. 9mm pistols can range in price from $100 to $1,000 or more. Choose the pistol that fits your budget. Finally, you should consider the features that are important to you. Some of the features to consider include the type of sights, the type of magazine, the weight of the pistol, and the recoil. Let’s take a look at the top 6 9mm pistol options from Ruger.

Ruger Max-9

The Ruger Max-9 is Ruger’s entry into the double-stack micro 9mm segment. Just like the Sig P365, Springfield Hellcat and S&W Shield Plus, it’s a slim subcompact 9mm pistol that has serious carrying capacity.

All Max-9 pistols come with a milled slide, if you want to mount an optic. It’s milled for the JPoint/Shield micro footprint, and has co-witness height sights with a black rear and a day/night fiber optic front sight. And the gun has a 10+1 capacity with a flush fit magazine, and 12+1 with an extended magazine.

The choices you have are whether to get the gun with or without a manual safety, or with or without a Hogue grip sleeve.

Ruger SR1911 Commander

The Ruger SR1911 is a sleeper in the 1911 space, with a quiet reputation for being one of the best you can get of the mass-market 1911 pistols. The SR1911 Commander in 9mm would be the ideal choice of them for concealed carry.

The SR1911 Commander in 9mm is currently only offered as a lightweight model, with an aluminum alloy frame and steel slide. Steel-frame models were made in the past, so you may find them as well.

Standard features are a beavertail grip safety, an extended thumb safety, Novak-style sights (and Novak low mount sight cuts) skeleton hammer and trigger, and a 4.25-inch bushing barrel. Ruger’s 1911 pistols are Series 70-style, so there’s no firing pin block.

Very decent out of the box, but they’re also fertile ground for upgrades like forged parts, fitted barrels, genuine Novak sights and beyond.

Ruger American

The Ruger American is Ruger’s top-of-the-line striker-fired pistol, and the compact model is the easier to live with for concealed carry.

The gun has a 3.55-inch barrel, with a standard capacity of 12+1 but can accept the 17+1 magazines of the full-size model. The sights are by Novak, and you can choose the night sight models or three-dot for lower cost. The gun has a railed frame for mounting a compact light, and swappable grip panels to dial in the fit.

It is the most feature-rich of all the Ruger 9mm pistols besides the Max-9, and a lot of people consider the American to be a sleeper in the crowded poly-striker segment.

Ruger EC9s

The Ruger EC9s is a working person’s concealed carry pistol or backup gun in 9mm. It’s a slim, simple, single-stack subcompact that has everything you need and nothing you don’t.

It has a magazine that holds 7+1 of 9mm, a striker-fired operating system, fixed sights and it comes in black. It also comes in some other colors too. It’s the most ruthlessly simple of the Ruger 9mm pistols, but that isn’t a bad thing.

Simple and sinister works pretty well if that’s what you want.

Ruger Security 9

The Ruger Security 9 is slim, lightweight and simplified…but is more feature-rich than you’d think.

Capacity is 15+1 in the full-size and 10+1 in the compact, with a 4-inch or 3.42-inch barrel, with railed frame for mounting an accessory. Since the Security 9 series has an internal hammer system, takedown doesn’t require a trigger press, the slide is easier to manipulate and the trigger has a cleaner break than a lot of other guns at its price point.

LCR 9mm

The Achilles heel of the revolver is reloading…but the answer to that is moon clips and has been for a century. It’s also true that .38 Special and certainly .357 Magnum are more expensive to buy and shoot. The LCR 9mm hits both birds, so to speak, with one stone.

Both the LCR and LCRx (exposed hammer model) are offered in 9mm, and ship with three moon clips for loading and ejection. The front sight is swappable, so the standard steel sight with a white stripe can be changed for a night sight or fiber optic.

A lot of people consider the LCR the smart person’s choice of snubbie revolver. Opting for 9mm makes it that much smarter.

Curios And Relics: Ruger 9mm Pistols To Watch For On The Used Market

There are, of course, a number of Ruger 9mm pistols on the used market that you might find in the discount case. Ruger has never been the largest player in the semi-auto 9mm segment, so there aren’t a wealth of models out there.

Here’s what you will find.

The most recent vintage will be the Ruger SR9 and SR9c

These are the previous striker-fired pistol prior to the release of the Ruger American. They’re serviceable.

The Ruger P series pistols are not the most refined and aren’t seriously collectible but are definitely rugged workhorse pistols.

These guns had a DA/SA firing system with a slide-mounted decocking safety like a Beretta. Some models were decocker-only and there are a few DAO models out there.

The 9mm models are the P89, P93, P94 and P95. The 93, 94 and 95 are the compact models. The P93 and P94 have an alloy frame for lighter weight and P95 has a polymer frame. Again, not collectible but they are a hoss of a handgun.

With that said…there is one cool-guy gun from Ruger’s back catalog.

Ruger made a small number of Service Six and Speed Six revolvers chambered in 9mm, which – like the LCR – take moon clips. They don’t come up for sale often, as the .38 and .357 Magnum versions were far more common…and aren’t cheap when they do.

The 9mm models are most common with a 2.75- or 3-inch barrel, but some 4-inch barrel models are known to exist. The Security Six has a square butt and adjustable rear sight, but the Speed Six has a round butt and a top strap gutter sight.

That said, the Security Six and/or Speed Six in 9mm is undoubtedly the coolest Ruger 9mm pistol on the used market.

But what do you think though? Do you have a Ruger 9mm that you love? A Ruger 9mm that you’d like to have? Let us know in the comments, or on social media.

About The Author

Born in southeastern Washington State, Sam Hoober graduated in 2011 from Eastern Washington University. He resides in the great Inland Northwest, with his wife and child. His varied interests and hobbies include camping, fishing, hunting, and spending time at the gun range as often as possible.