My initial review of the Ruger SR40 condemned the gun’s trigger an epic fail. Not only was the SR40’s trigger horrible in and of itself—gritty, stacky and unpredictable—it was a sick joke compared to the fantabulous go-pedal on the Ruger SR9c. The SR40’s trigger was so ergonomically disastrous that I returned the handgun to Ruger thinking it was a mechanical typo. The second gun was just as bad. So I sent the whole kit and kaboodle to our Gun Doctor, who diagnosed SR40 MKII with a bad case of WTF. There was so much sand in the spring channel that the latch couldn’t compress. And despite Ruger’s claims, the SR40’s trigger parts were not the same as the SR9c’s. The good Doctor advised me to send the weapon to the Ruger mavens at Galloway Precision for a re-do. And so I did. Here’s what Eric Galloway did to the gun . . .

I started by detail stripping the pistol and giving it a complete cleaning. Then I hand polished/deburred the striker, trigger transfer bar, and camblock rail. Also relieved the sear contact surface and staked the fire control housing. I also polished/deburred the contact area of the safety lever and transfer bar. 4 hours labor at 35 dollars an hour.

Barrel was next with polishing/deburring  on the lock/unlock surfaces and feed ramp. Next came deburring the striker channel and slide rail channels in the slide. 1hour labor.

I fitted the gun with our competition 3.5 lb trigger kit (polished striker blocker and 3.5 lb reset bar, reduced power blocker spring and striker spring, a heavy trigger transfer bar spring) and used our stronger CCW striker spring instead of the light competition striker spring. A 50 dollar kit with optional heavy striker spring 10 dollars.

Lastly I installed a factory rate spring (22 lb) on my stainless steel guide rod. 30 dollars without the spring 40 with.

After firing some 400 rounds through the gun, I can state without equivocation that we now have the Ruger SR40 that Ruger should have built—for an additional $275 plus shipping.

You could say that what master gunsmith Eric Galloway has wrought is a hot rod, with nothing to do with the demands of the mass market, especially when it comes to price. And you’d be wrong.

Trigger-wise, the improved SR40 is the 40-caliber version of the SR9c. The trigger has the exact same extremely short, almost 1911-ish take up, with no stacking whatsoever and a clean crisp breaking point. This gun is good to go.

Everythingelsewise, the Galloway Ruger SR40 is now the world’s smoothest shooting 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol. As I stated in the original review, the SR40’s heft and reduced slide velocity ameliorate much of the high pressure round’s reviled snap. The improved trigger’s predictability gives the shooter more control, which reduces felt recoil (’cause you know it’s coming). And it makes it possible to shoot the shit out of the gun. Like so . . .

Could Ruger manufacture the SR40’s trigger bits to Galloway Precision’s standard at the same price as the current gun? Hell if I know. But there are now two SR40’s. The one you can buy at your gun dealer and this one. Nuff said?

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Can you explain the difference between the CCW striker spring and the competition striker spring from a user standpoint? Are there durability differences in addition to any trigger “feel” changes?

  2. Once again, any gun that requires another 50% of the MSRP to get a half-way respectable trigger is no gun for me!

  4. According to RF, “the Galloway Ruger SR40 is now the world’s smoothest shooting 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.” If (repeat, if) it is, then maybe (repeat maybe), the Galloway Ruger is worth the price. I’ll let you know.

  5. Glad Robert and the rest of the crew dig it. As for the striker springs the ccw spring is a higher rate to really kill the primer. It raises the trigger pull somewhat over stock but not drastically as stated in Roberts review. The competition kit has a reduced power striker spring that will lighten the trigger pull under stock. As with any spring kit you might see some light strikes on really hard primers. I haven’t had any negative feedback on that but I’m covering myself for that one batch of out of spec primers a customer reloads from and wants to blame the trigger kit.
    If I can be of any services let me know the SR family of pistols is a real winner in my book and we are proud to be offering performance parts and services for them.

    • I had some fail to fire rounds like you’re talking about through an Sr40c. I loved the short magazine for carry, but every round out of that magazine had a mark on the primer but none fired. Those same rounds fired fine through both of my 15 round mags.

      Looks like a magazine issue, and it may be just that, but I still want the tune-up described in the review, and the heavier ccw springs you explained may fix my magazine issue.

  6. Special thanks to Robert and his friend shooting in the videos. Most people are only interested in the lightest shortest trigger pull possible. It was a breathe of fresh air to have someone say what can you do for the carry gun. Alot!!! Anyways thanks to the trigger tester for his comments I’m really pleased you wanted to shoot it more and rank it high on your list of 40 s/w guns. I believe Ruger has big a home run with the SR40.

  7. The bone stock SR9c I have run roughly 500 rounds through shoots great. While the trigger pull is about 6#’s, it is crisp with very little over-travel. I shot it next to my newly purchased M&P Pro 40 last night and was pleasantly surprised at how accurate it was (the S&W breaks at 4.5#’s). The 9mm also has much less “snap” than the 4.25″ 40 cal. I would suggest polishing the trigger components first, then see how you like the gun… No reason to have a super-light trigger on a carry piece.

  8. Can someone please explain to me which weight I need the guide rod, I own 2 SR22’s, a sr9c and sr40. It’s 2015 and all my triggers on my pistols are without a doubt top dog! But I would like to have my sr9c and sr40 shoot with the minimum recoil of my sr22! Now I know that’s not possible but with that said what do you recommend? Also I ordered the optic mount from Galloway precision that replaces the rear sight so I can mount a rmr red dot sight, and after watching 3 gun and research I would love to be able to buy from you a red dot mount that isn’t on the slide (for obvious reasons mostly to much movement that could cause failure on the sight) also what else can I install/and or replace to improve what already is the best handgun line I’ve seen? Thanks in advance

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