There was no chance Ruger was going to be left out of the micro-compact fray, and the company did a whole bunch of things right with the Max 9. Available with or without the manual safety lever, the Max 9 comes standard with a slide cut for optics and a fiber-optic/tritium front sight that’s easily visible in both daylight and low-light conditions. Additionally, the sights are nicely sized to co-witness with JPoint or Shield-style micro-red-dot optics. Oh, and the Max 9 also boasts a 10-round capacity for the standard magazine, as well.
The slide and barrel wear a black oxide finish and the mag release is reversible for left-handed shooters. Speaking of which, controls like the magazine release and the slide stop are a little skimpy but Ruger makes up for it with how well the pistol handles during fire and with the really nice trigger pull. The sample unit’s trigger measured an average of 4.75 pounds at the break and the pull was very clean and grit-free.
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Though the grip looks a little boxy, it’s extremely comfortable. Every single evaluator lauded the Max 9’s controllability and everyone was very impressed with its accuracy. One of our testers, David, was shooting one-hole groups at 7 yards with the pint-sized heater. The only issue we ran into was that the magazine release was small and a little hard to engage, and the 10-round magazine didn’t want to fall free on its own at times. It may have just been an issue with that one particular magazine since there was no problem getting the 12-rounder to pop free.
The Ruger Max 9 brought a lot to the table in regard to features and performance, especially in comparison to other pistols in the test. While it wasn’t the least expensive pistol on the table, there’s no question that it’s action-packed with value and very worthy of being at your side.
