Ruger Max-9 Four-Inch Pistol Review: A Cool Sub-Compact 9mm

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Ruger introduced its entry into the high-capacity micro 9mm market about three years ago, and like other manufacturers have done with such models, the company has tweaked the Max-9 pistol to make it slightly bigger. The new variant has a four-inch barrel and, spoiler alert, I like it better than the original.

The gun is 6.8 inches long and weighs 21.2 ounces. That compares to a six-inch overall length and 18.4-ounce weight for the original and its 3.2-inch barrel. Otherwise the platform remains the same.

The Max-9 four-inch features a through-hardened alloy steel slide with a black oxide finish. For all you non-metallurgists out there, through-hardening is a process that boosts the strength of steel alloys by heating them above their so-called transformation range and then quickly quenching them. Through-hardening is used for components that have to withstand heavy loads, a category in which a semiauto’s slide certainly qualifies.

The slide serrations, which are located front and back, may look subtle, but they’re nice and sharp to offer excellent gripping surfaces. The front of the slide is beveled for easy holstering.

Sights

The sights include a drift-adjustable steel rear that has a 0.15-inch notch. The front is a combination of a green fiber-optic rod that’s illuminated by ambient light when you have it and tritium when you don’t.

The slide is cut for a red dot on the Shield RMSc footprint, and the cut is covered with a steel plate engraved with the Ruger logo. The iron sights co-witness with the red dot, or at least they did with the Burris Fastfire C I mounted on the gun for testing.

My sample had a manual safety. For a small, unobtrusive safety, it worked just fine for me in both Safe and Fire directions. When on Safe a white dot is visible, and on Fire you see a red dot. A viewing port in the barrel hood allows you to judge the chamber’s condition.

The small slide-lock lever is fenced so it won’t snag on the draw, although it’s not all that easy to use as a release if that’s your reload procedure. Similarly, the magazine release, which is reversible, sits fairly flush. I had to shift the gun from a firing grip in order to operate the release with consistency. This isn’t a knock on the gun because this is pretty typical for me, but attaining speed on reloads may require practice depending on your hand size.

Trigger Work

The trigger pull is decent. After about a 3/8-inch take-up, there’s a bit of creep before the sear lets go, and the trigger pull on mine averaged four pounds, 10 ounces. The break is nice and clean, and the reset is short and easily discernible.

The frame is Ruger’s tried-and-true glass-filled nylon. The texturing on the sides, frontstrap and backstrap is not overly aggressive. There’s a bit of a beavertail and a slight undercut at the back of the trigger guard, and the guard should be sufficiently roomy to accommodate most gloved fingers.

The gun shot well from the bench, as you can see in the accompanying table. But where it really shined was in drills. I said at the beginning that I like this four-inch version more than the original. I found the former to be too snappy for my taste, which is a common complaint for 9mms this small.

While you wouldn’t think that 0.8 inch of barrel length and less than two ounces of additional weight over the original Max-9 would make a difference, it did for me. The pistol was equally controllable with the extended 12-round magazine and the 10-round magazine—both of which are coated with E-Nickel Teflon for slick reloads—despite the fact I can’t get all three fingers on the gun with the shorter mag.

Shooting It

I didn’t try the supplied finger-hook extension on the 10-rounder in live-fire, but I did dry-fire it, and the extension gives you that extra real estate for a better grip—at the expense of maybe a tiny bit of concealment.

The Max-9 pistol was quick to get on target from the holster and just as quick to get back on target for follow-up shots. It’s a pleasure to shoot for such a small gun.

Further, the 0.8-inch longer barrel isn’t going to hurt you one bit in the concealment department. We’ve said it many times before, but it bears repeating: It’s primarily grip/gun height that can tip people off that you’re carrying, not barrel length (within reason). The Max-9 four-inch has the same height as the original and the same dehorned slide back that allows clothing to slide off it. The weight difference between this gun and the original is insignificant.

While the four-inch barrel might exclude this new Max-9 from the micro brotherhood, in many ways it’s a better gun. Or it’s a better gun for more people. And despite the longer barrel and frame, the price is the same as the original.

Ruger Max-9 Four-Inch Pistol Specs

• Type: striker-fired semiauto centerfire
• Caliber: 9mm Luger
• Capacity: 10+1, 12+1
• Barrel: 4 in.
• OAL/Height/Width: 6.8/4.5/0.95 in.
• Weight: 21.2 oz.
• Construction: black oxide-finished through-hardened alloy steel slide, glass-filled nylon frame
• Trigger: 4 lb. 10 oz. pull (measured)
• Sights: drift-adjustable steel rear, green fiber-optic/tritium steel front; slide cut for optics on Shield RMSc footprint
• Safeties: manual thumb, trigger lever, internal striker block
• MSRP: $439
• Manufacturer: Ruger, ruger.com

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