# Difference between P85 and P89?



## Shipwreck

Always wondered - the P85 was a 9mm when it was made, and so is the P89. What is the difference between the 2? They look almost alike...


----------



## hberttmank

I have a P85 MkII and the only difference I can remember was that the P85 has a safety that rotates 90 degrees and the P89 only rotates 45 degrees. There may be other, smaller changes but these are the only ones I can think of offhand.


----------



## Thunderhawk

Difference tween a P-89 and a P-85??? Is this a trick question??? 4!


----------



## Rustycompass

Thunderhawk said:


> Difference tween a P-89 and a P-85??? Is this a trick question??? 4!


 Good one...... Thunder

I believe the P89 has a decocker and the frame is aluminum & the older P85 does not have a de~cock and is a steel frame...


----------



## Charlie

Secretary bought her husband a P89 a few months back and I'm 1% sure it was an all steel gun.


----------



## Rustycompass

Charlie said:


> Secretary bought her husband a P89 a few months back and I'm 99% sure it was an all steel gun.


 1% HUH...?

VIEWS: Profile·Exploded View 
Extras with this
Product include: 
·Instruction Manual

·2 10-Shot Magazines

·Loader Magazine

·Case

·Lock

Ruger 9mm P89 pistols offer the following features:

** Ruger P89 pistols feature hard-coated, (aircraft-quality aluminum frames), rugged steel slides and nearly indestructible polycarbonate grip panels.

** P-Series pistols are designed to be easily maintained and can be field-stripped into five major subassemblies for cleaning, without the need for special tools.

** High-visibility front and rear sights.

** Ruger P89 pistols feature a 15-round magazine capacity. 15-round magazines are not available in all states and locales; 10-round magazines are available where required to meet state and local regulations limiting magazine capacity.

Corporate Site|Casting Site © 2006 STURM, RUGER & CO., INC. |Privacy Policy|Legal Statement|Web Help


----------



## Charlie

rustycompass said:


> 1% HUH...?
> 
> VIEWS: Profile·Exploded View
> Extras with this
> Product include:
> ·Instruction Manual
> 
> ·2 10-Shot Magazines
> 
> ·Loader Magazine
> 
> ·Case
> 
> ·Lock
> 
> Ruger 9mm P89 pistols offer the following features:
> 
> ** Ruger P89 pistols feature hard-coated, (aircraft-quality aluminum frames), rugged steel slides and nearly indestructible polycarbonate grip panels.
> 
> ** P-Series pistols are designed to be easily maintained and can be field-stripped into five major subassemblies for cleaning, without the need for special tools.
> 
> ** High-visibility front and rear sights.
> 
> ** Ruger P89 pistols feature a 15-round magazine capacity. 15-round magazines are not available in all states and locales; 10-round magazines are available where required to meet state and local regulations limiting magazine capacity.
> 
> Corporate Site|Casting Site © 2006 STURM, RUGER & CO., INC. |Privacy Policy|Legal Statement|Web Help


Well, hell.......maybe I was havin' a bad day! Give a guy a break. At least I gave myself a little slack.


----------



## Rustycompass

Hey Bro, 
Jus' busting your chops :smt003 .....actually ya might be right.... because theres more that one P89, there's a few. I just knew the P89"D" is alummy cuz I have one. :smt077


----------



## hberttmank

The P85 and P89 only came with aluminum frames. I know that the P89 could have either a manual safety that decocked, or decock only. I will have to check on the P85, I think you could get it both ways also.


----------



## white-nite

*P85*

Here is my Guess on the difference between the p85 & p89. Right after they recalled all of the P85s they started to make the p89. The p89 incorporated the change they made to fix the p85. The p85's that were fixed in the recall are stamped mk11. To avoid confusion and stigma of a recall, they changed the name to p89. The problem that had to do with the decock and firing pin block.

I still have my p85 and when the recall happened they were really good about taking of me for the trouble. I will probably never part with it.

Well for my first post here I hope I didn't give out wrong information.

_White-nite_


----------



## Hal8000

Didn't they also make the "take down lever" thinner and captive on the P89?


----------



## white-nite

Not sure about the lever but it is fairly thin on the P-85. They might have changed that as well. I know they started making them thinner just not sure when they started doing it.


----------



## Hal8000

Maybe they changed it when it was still the P85. I had one of the earliest models and it stuck out aways... Also, it was not captive.


----------



## Flashbang

white-night is closest to right!!! ( Hey, I'm a poet and didn't even know it!! )

Ruger received complaints that the P85's barrels were below par accuracy-wise, the safety/decock levers were too small, and there were rumors of broken firing pins.... The upgraded version ( with fixes ) was the P85 MkII. The P85 Mk II.

Also, from an Article in shooting Times


> The slide stop on the original P85 was positioned below the bottom edge of the slide, and its wide, grooved thumb-engagement surface extended backward above approximately a third of the depth of left-side grip panel. The current slide stop sits notably higher on the gun with its thumb-engagement surface well above the top of the frame and angled inward over the frame's beefy top shoulder, almost even with the bottom of the manual safety lever. And it extends about a quarter-inch less far back. The reasons for the design change were to streamline the gun's profile and to reduce the amount of the slide stop's outward protrusion, which was found to cause a bit of drag and resistance with some holster designs.
> 
> Barrel manufacturing design has also improved. Original P85 barrels were of two-piece construction with the barrel and the square breechblock pressed together and then welded. It was a time-consuming and expensive manufacturing process. Current barrels are cast one-piece with broached bores.
> 
> Also notably better than the original is current P-Series trigger pull quality due to internal changes in the sear/trigger engagements linkages and parts configuration. The sear pivot pin has been reduced in size from original models, and the trigger bar has been thickened and the hammer-spring seat pin has been enlarged. The new mechanism also involves a bearing and slave pin to hold the sear-blocker lever spring assembly together as a coherent unit. The overall result is a distinct smoothing of the trigger pull due to the bearing's considerable reduction of friction in the sear assembly's operation.
> 
> Safety function is always critical to all Ruger designs. A substantial improvement was introduced with the P89 group of guns that modified the position of the firing pin when locked in the "Safe" position. The change eliminated the possibility of any transfer of energy from the hammer to the firing pin during the decocking procedure, which ensures the safety of the pistol even in the rare event of a broken firing pin. This modification was undertaken after it was discovered that with the original P85 safety design a broken firing pin could possibly become positioned such that depressing the safety/decock lever might strike the broken end of the pin in such a way as to cause the gun to fire. The new design eliminates this possibility, and Ruger has widely advertised an offer to provide a free factory safety modification to the owner of any P85 pistol made between 1987 and 1990 who wants the same new feature incorporated into his gun. If you have a Ruger P85 from those years and have not done it already, I recommend you call Ruger at 800-424-1886 and make arrangements to return your gun, even though no injuries have resulted from an older broken firing pin.


That should 'bout cover it......:smt048


----------



## XD-45

This is all true Aluminum frame and a decocker SA/DA


----------

