The P series of the
Ruger line were relatively inexpensive, and were a good way to get into
the shooting arts. I owned a P89, and the gun was not meant for folks with small hands. My
wife, for instance, couldn't wrap her hand around the gun, let alone fire it.
The first thing most people did was to buy a decent grip. The stock grips were rather cheap and a bit slippery. A popular replacement was the rubberized wraparound grip that added indentations for the fingers.
These pistols were very picky with ammunition. Once you found a brand that worked well, you usually stuck with it. My pistol preferred Federal rounds, but tended to jam if I used Remington or Winchester brand ammunition. Several friends of mine in law enforcement owned one, but would not bring them to work because of the jamming issue.
The weapon was easy to break down and clean, but I had to replace the barrel spring twice. Bad luck I suppose, my friend had no problems with his after we both pumped 3,ooo rounds through them.
I prefer the larger "heavy metal" guns over the plastic Glocks. If I were to buy another pistol, it would be a CZ75 first, then a P89.