The P89 review:

[P89]

The P89 is one of the members of the P-series of sidearms offered by Strum, Ruger Company founded in 1949. The P-series family takes the name of the year of development. The first of this style was the P85, developed for a replacement of the 1911A1 for the U.S. military. Unfortunately the Beretta M9 was chosen due to some of the P85’s issues. Some of these issues included accidental discharge if the firing pin broke in front of the firing pin block. Engaging the safety would drop the hammer & could transfer enough force to cause a discharge. Also certain features were cumbersome to reach. It also was not terribly accurate compared to the high standard of other Ruger firearms. Regardless of it short falls the P85 was described as “Tank tough & reliable”.

Now that we have the history lesson out of the way, let’s get to the P89.



The P89 was developed in 1989 and reached the public in 1991. It embraced all the lessons learned from the P85. It is recoil operated, locked breech semi-auto 9mm pistol. It utilized some features such as a tilt barrel and link system similar to the 1911. It featured an aluminum alloy frame, steel slide, stainless steel barrel & internal parts. Accuracy was greatly improved when Ruger hired a consultant to rework the barrel. It also was offered in three different configurations of double action; decock manual safety which dropped the hammer and disengaged the trigger, decock only, & double action only. The trigger had a ton of pretravel and overtravel. If you noticed in the picture below the black P89 has had trigger work done compared to the KP89. The ‘K’ denotes the use of a stainless steel slide.



Here’s the technical low down:
Caliber 9mm
Action(s) DA, DC, DAO
Length 7.75”
Barrel 4.5”
Weight 2.4lbs
Frame Aluminum
Slide SS or Blued steel
Capacity 15 (preban)


Just for comparison I broke down the P89 next to the 1911. To quote Rocketfoot, “I wish the 1911 had a take down (slide lock) lever like the P89...life would be sweet!" I’d have to agree.



All in all, I love my P89. It has never failed me and has been my primary carry for over 10 years. I would recommend anyone looking for an affordable sidearm to pick one up, if you can find one (new). Other than the trigger I have not one complaint overall. When I was lurking in the shadows before signing up for the PAFOA I pondered a screen name. In the end it was a no brainer…I would pay tribute to my first handgun. Sadly, the P89 was discontinued in 2008.