wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
come children, gather around and i shall tell you a story.
back in 1991 i decided to enter into the world of pistols.
while at my LGS and range i was looking between the Ruger P89 and some new fangled plastic gun called a Glock.
PLASTIC!
who would ever...... (little did we know at the time)
so i opted for the Ruger P89.
now i had grown up with a Ruger 10/22 and had put easily 80-100k rounds through it with no issues so i was feeling very comfortable buying the Ruger pistol.
and i was not let down.
i loved that pistol, hell, i still love that pistol!
it was all metal, solid and heavy and was 90% ambidextrous which is hard to find for a left handed shooter.
so a couple years went by and Ruger one day in 1996 came out with what i thought was a revolutionary rifle.
The Ruger PC9.
it was very similar to my beloved 10/22 but it shoots 9mm!
i was over the moon!
i gobbled down that worm and hook like a starved lunatic!
they marketed the rifle as the perfect companion to your P89 as they use the same round and magazines.
i couldn't believe my eyes.
this was, to me, was the perfect marriage!
this was like peanut butter and jam, but in a gun and pistol!
while i waited for the rifles to make their way up here i chewed over the idea of having a rifle and pistol in the same caliber.
then i realized that cowboys where way ahead of their time.
carrying 45 revolvers and 45 rifles. (or 357 or any other number of pistol and lever action rifles in the using the same cartridge between them)
that just makes so much sense to me.
and while i continued to wait for the rifles to make it up here in 1998 FN joined the market with their PS90 and pistol the Five-Seven both chambered in their funky round.
they had seen the light like i did, they knew this symbiotic marriage of pistol and rifle was gold!
I was, as one would expect, getting rather tired of waiting to see these rifles up here in Canada.
they where not to be found.
so i finally went into my LGS and range at the time and asked what the hold up was.
i was informed that the PC9 was a restricted rifle in Canada due to the barrel length.
so i could get one but it would have to be special order and even then i could not use it other than at the range (or course).
i was pretty disappointing.
but i still wanted one.
but as luck would have it i was too lazy to special order one in and decided to just wait until i found one for sale.
and again, as luck would have it i never saw one.
ever.
their sales where not good and Ruger discontinued their production in 2006 after 10 years.
but im pretty sure they tooled down well before 2006 as you just didn't see the rifles anywhere.
so years went by and i got older and with age of course came financial stability and free time.
i decided that i didnt care about the rifle being restricted or hard to find i wanted one and it was high time i hunted one down for myself to join my P89 pistol in the safe.
so i actively hunted for one online in from about 2010-2017.
a couple times i would find them in the states but either the seller would refuse to sell to me because i was out of country or the prices they where asking was just too stupid high.
so nothing ever came of it.
as luck would have it in 2010 a coworker of mine purchased a Ruger SR9 Stainless.
what a nice pistol that was.
he picked it up because he is a smaller fella and that pistol was at the time marketed to smaller hands.
they also marketed the pistol as the replacement to the P series of pistols.
i really liked that pistol.
and, to my astonishment in 2012 my co-worker decided he needed to thin down his herd a little and he offered the SR9 to me for a song because he remembered that i really liked it.
so i picked that up off him.
not thinking anything other than i got a nice new pistol for a cheap price i was a happy man and went about my life.
then 5 years went by and Ruger reintroduced their PC Carbine line of rifles with new changes...... take down...... make of lighter material.... totally changed the trigger group..... basically took their take down 10/22 and beefed it up into the PC Carbine!
and..... and it takes SR9 magazines!
and..... lord above, they put out a Canadian non-restricted length barrel!!!!!!!
i was in!
lock stock and barrel i was in!
i was in so hard i per-ordered from 2 places and STILL actively searched other stores.
i was finally gonna get my pistol/rifle set up!
and i did.
i picked up 2 of the rifles and i was a happy man.
and i lived happily ever after.......
but i didn't.
in the back of my mind i still lusted for the original PC9.
it was always there in the back of my mind, chewing away, nagging at me as the rifle that got away.
so i posted here on CGN about it one day, talking about the pistol/rifle goodness and how i had missed my unicorn.
and i received a PM from a fellow CGN'r last year.
he had a PC9 and he had had the barrel replaced with a non-restricted length one and had the rifle reclassified (well, a gunsmith/store did all that) and no longer wanted it or needed it and was offering it to me!
the god of guns was smiling upon me.
it was a good day.
i snapped up the rifle and ushered it into my loving gun safe where it joined its life partner the P89 pistol.
i have spent the last 6 months enjoying both the new and old PC9/PCC and i have come to the conclusion that i was right back in 1996, these rifle and pistol combo's are great and i really love them!
i thought i would share my journey about the this with you all on this cold winters evening.
The PC9 and P89
The PCC and SR9
back in 1991 i decided to enter into the world of pistols.
while at my LGS and range i was looking between the Ruger P89 and some new fangled plastic gun called a Glock.
PLASTIC!
who would ever...... (little did we know at the time)
so i opted for the Ruger P89.
now i had grown up with a Ruger 10/22 and had put easily 80-100k rounds through it with no issues so i was feeling very comfortable buying the Ruger pistol.
and i was not let down.
i loved that pistol, hell, i still love that pistol!
it was all metal, solid and heavy and was 90% ambidextrous which is hard to find for a left handed shooter.
so a couple years went by and Ruger one day in 1996 came out with what i thought was a revolutionary rifle.
The Ruger PC9.
it was very similar to my beloved 10/22 but it shoots 9mm!
i was over the moon!
i gobbled down that worm and hook like a starved lunatic!
they marketed the rifle as the perfect companion to your P89 as they use the same round and magazines.
i couldn't believe my eyes.
this was, to me, was the perfect marriage!
this was like peanut butter and jam, but in a gun and pistol!
while i waited for the rifles to make their way up here i chewed over the idea of having a rifle and pistol in the same caliber.
then i realized that cowboys where way ahead of their time.
carrying 45 revolvers and 45 rifles. (or 357 or any other number of pistol and lever action rifles in the using the same cartridge between them)
that just makes so much sense to me.
and while i continued to wait for the rifles to make it up here in 1998 FN joined the market with their PS90 and pistol the Five-Seven both chambered in their funky round.
they had seen the light like i did, they knew this symbiotic marriage of pistol and rifle was gold!
I was, as one would expect, getting rather tired of waiting to see these rifles up here in Canada.
they where not to be found.
so i finally went into my LGS and range at the time and asked what the hold up was.
i was informed that the PC9 was a restricted rifle in Canada due to the barrel length.
so i could get one but it would have to be special order and even then i could not use it other than at the range (or course).
i was pretty disappointing.
but i still wanted one.
but as luck would have it i was too lazy to special order one in and decided to just wait until i found one for sale.
and again, as luck would have it i never saw one.
ever.
their sales where not good and Ruger discontinued their production in 2006 after 10 years.
but im pretty sure they tooled down well before 2006 as you just didn't see the rifles anywhere.
so years went by and i got older and with age of course came financial stability and free time.
i decided that i didnt care about the rifle being restricted or hard to find i wanted one and it was high time i hunted one down for myself to join my P89 pistol in the safe.
so i actively hunted for one online in from about 2010-2017.
a couple times i would find them in the states but either the seller would refuse to sell to me because i was out of country or the prices they where asking was just too stupid high.
so nothing ever came of it.
as luck would have it in 2010 a coworker of mine purchased a Ruger SR9 Stainless.
what a nice pistol that was.
he picked it up because he is a smaller fella and that pistol was at the time marketed to smaller hands.
they also marketed the pistol as the replacement to the P series of pistols.
i really liked that pistol.
and, to my astonishment in 2012 my co-worker decided he needed to thin down his herd a little and he offered the SR9 to me for a song because he remembered that i really liked it.
so i picked that up off him.
not thinking anything other than i got a nice new pistol for a cheap price i was a happy man and went about my life.
then 5 years went by and Ruger reintroduced their PC Carbine line of rifles with new changes...... take down...... make of lighter material.... totally changed the trigger group..... basically took their take down 10/22 and beefed it up into the PC Carbine!
and..... and it takes SR9 magazines!
and..... lord above, they put out a Canadian non-restricted length barrel!!!!!!!
i was in!
lock stock and barrel i was in!
i was in so hard i per-ordered from 2 places and STILL actively searched other stores.
i was finally gonna get my pistol/rifle set up!
and i did.
i picked up 2 of the rifles and i was a happy man.
and i lived happily ever after.......
but i didn't.
in the back of my mind i still lusted for the original PC9.
it was always there in the back of my mind, chewing away, nagging at me as the rifle that got away.
so i posted here on CGN about it one day, talking about the pistol/rifle goodness and how i had missed my unicorn.
and i received a PM from a fellow CGN'r last year.
he had a PC9 and he had had the barrel replaced with a non-restricted length one and had the rifle reclassified (well, a gunsmith/store did all that) and no longer wanted it or needed it and was offering it to me!
the god of guns was smiling upon me.
it was a good day.
i snapped up the rifle and ushered it into my loving gun safe where it joined its life partner the P89 pistol.
i have spent the last 6 months enjoying both the new and old PC9/PCC and i have come to the conclusion that i was right back in 1996, these rifle and pistol combo's are great and i really love them!
i thought i would share my journey about the this with you all on this cold winters evening.
The PC9 and P89
The PCC and SR9
