                                Combat Arms
                              2869 Grove Way
                   Castro Valley, California 94546-6709
                         Telephone (415) 538-6544
                                     
                      Update on Ruger P-85 9mm Pistol
                             December 8, 1988

     The December, 1988 issue of the American Rifleman (the National Rifle
Association's publication) has an article on pages 38 - 40 + 80 relating to
Ruger's P-85 9mm pistol. The following is a summary of that article. This
material is of interest to potential buyers of this $300.00 pistol and to
others interested in Ruger's progress in producing the weapon. For a copy
of the original article, please contact:

                      The National Rifle Association
                      1600 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
                      Washington, DC 20036
                      Telephone (202) 828-6000
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     Ruger established a plant in Prescott, Arizona to build the P-85 and
moved into this 10,000 square foot facility in 1986. There they began
producing and testing the gun. In January, 1989 the company expects to move
to a 200,000 square foot facility near Prescott Airport. This is an
increase of 20 times the original size.

     There are presently 60 employees at the Prescott plant and when Ruger
moves to its larger location near the airport there will obviously be more
employees added to its staff.

     The Ruger P-85 was not built in time for the original U.S. military
tests that Beretta USA won for the M-9 9mm pistol. Beretta was awarded a
contract to build approximately 320,000 M-9 pistols. The M-9 is the
military version of the Beretta 92-F. Beretta USA has delivered about
175,000 pistol so far and has about two years to go on the original
contract.

     The military has decided to offer an additional contract for 142,292
pistols to be designated the M-10. Beretta has stated that since they
already won the M-9 contract they will not go through the expense of
re-testing but will let their previous record stand. Beretta, Ruger and
Smith & Wesson (and possibly others) will compete for the M-10. Weapons
were to be delivered for evaluation to the U.S. Army's testing facility at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland by August 17, 1988. Once again, it is my
understanding from Beretta that Beretta will not submit a gun but will
compete on the basis of their previous test results.

     I have test fired the Ruger P-85 and find that the accuracy of the
pistol is adequate for military operations but inadequate for the typical
civilian demands and law enforcement requirements. The article in the
American Rifleman states about the same thing.

     However, Ruger is trying to improve the accuracy and reliability of
their P-85. The plant manager of the Arizona operation is William Atkinson
and he has extensive experience as a barrel maker.

     The article mentions that changes made include making the barrel and
its locking block one piece. Previously the locking block had been welded
to the barrel. The firing pin block has been moved and the slide stop arm
of the P-85 has been re-designed.

     A newer design has been incorporated into the muzzle area of the slide
which permits a more adequate lock up of the pistol in battery. This makes
the barrel return to the same position when the round is fired. Naturally,
accuracy will be improved by this.

     The article speaks of some tests that were performed on the gun. These
are generally destructive tests involving plugging the barrel, firing the
gun and seeing where the stress results appear in the frame. Another test
involved cutting away parts of the slide below and forward of the ejection
port and then firing the pistol.

     During Ruger's tests, the article says they used PMC 9mm ammunition. I
personally do not like PMC ammo because it is inconsistent. The reader is
better advised to shoot Winchester USA brand of 9mm 115 grain full metal
jacket ammunition.

     The article states that the NRA conducted firing tests on three
randomly selected pistols. The NRA used the PMC 9A 115 grain full metal
jacket, Winchester 115 grain Silvertips and Remington R9MM1 115 grain
jacketed hollow point ammunition. Both of these latter rounds produced
better accuracy out of the gun than did the PMC 9A 115 grain full metal
jacket ammunition. Naturally, the best results were with the Silvertips
(super ammunition for all 9mm pistols in my opinion).

     Here are the results that the NRA got during their firing test. The
results speak for themselves.

                                  Test 1
Fire five 5 shot groups from 25 yards with a Ransom Rest using PMC 9A 115
grain full metal jacket ammunition.

                  Smallest       Largest        Average        25 shot
                   Group          Group          Group          Group
                  (Inches)       (Inches)       (Inches)       (Inches)
Gun #1              2.78           4.69           3.89           5.78
Gun #2              3.80           5.01           4.37           6.50
Gun #3              2.67           5.11           4.05           5.93
Average group size for all three guns was 4.10 inches.


                                  Test 2
Fire five 5 shot groups from 25 yards from a sandbag (without a Ransom
Rest) using a variety of 9mm ammunition.

                  Smallest       Largest        Average        25 shot
                   Group          Group          Group          Group
                  (Inches)       (Inches)       (Inches)       (Inches)
PMC 9A              2.90           4.75           3.80           5.91
115 gr. FMJ
Vel.: 1143 fps
SD: 18
Remington R9MM1     2.51           3.38           2.95           4.21
115 gr. JHP
Vel.: 1165 fps
SD: 10
Win. Silvertips     0.93           4.28           2.40           4.28
115 gr. JHP
Vel.: 1179 fps
SD: 18
Average group size for all three types of ammo was 3.05 inches using Gun
#1.

     The "standard deviation" (SD) for the latter test needs explanation.
Standard deviation, when applied to the velocities given, means that two
thirds of the shots fired were within the specified variance. For example,
using the Winchester Silvertips data, the velocity (measured at 15 yards)
was 1179 fps ñ18 fps SD. Two thirds of the Silvertips rounds fired were
between 1161 fps (1179 - 18) and 1197 fps (1179 + 18). Thus, a third of the
Silvertips rounds had velocities outside this boundary (meaning below 1161
fps or above 1197 fps). I offer this explanation because I see the
increased use of standard deviation in ballistic reports.

     If you had additional questions on this material, please do not
hesitate to contact me. The P-85 has a retail price of $325.00 for the
pistol in a deluxe box with an extra magazine and $295.00 for the pistol
with one magazine in a cardboard box. It is difficult at this time to get
P-85's. Hopefully that will change in 1989.



Richard Bash
c/o Combat Arms
Castro Valley, California
