Purchased NEW Ruger .380 LCP

[tartop]

New to forum, sorry if this question is in the wrong place...

I purchased a NEW Rugger .380 LCP on Feb. 23rd. 2011 for my wife, took it to my friend’s house to test it, and I had a shell in the chamber with the clip out I tried to elect the shell and the shell got stuck, had to pull the slide all the way back and turn the gun upside down to shake the shell free, so I loaded a full clip and chambered a shell, and with the full clip in I tried to eject all the shells, never got the 1st one to eject, got stuck again, so I unloaded the clip pulled back the slide and shook the shell free again.

So then I tried to pull the slide all the way back and lock it, but it would not go back far enough to engage to lock. So I never even fired the gun once. At that point I just put everything back in the box and took it back to the gun shop the next day, and explained to the owner what happened, he got kinda huffy and said I don't know anything about the gun, don't you have the owner’s manual not at all the way he acted the day before when I was interested in purchasing it, telling me how nice and popular this gun was and hard to find etc. etc. etc., he wanted $340.00 for it, asked if he could do any better would not budge telling me they sell for at least $380.00 if you can find them, "which I found out later was a bunch of talk" so anyhow he took the gun box, and contents called Rugger on the phone and told them to pick it up.

He told me it should be back in a few weeks to check back yesterday so I did he says have not heard a thing, it might take another 6 weeks, I said wait a minute I just shelled out $400.00 "Also ordered an extra clip" not in stock and a box of shells, which in the past have just been given for free with gun purchase.

So I told him I would give it another week and if I did have the gun I wanted a refund, at which time he shows me a sign that says no returns on guns, I say what? Where was that sign when I purchased the gun he insisted it was there, whatever.

Sorry this is so long, but I need some advice on this situation, has anyone else had this problem with Rugger not the dealer, I'm sure there are many worse than this guy, and I won't mention his name or gun shop, just curious if it takes as long as he said to get a NEW gun replaced/repaired? At this point I would just demand my money back, but it looks like this may take some legal action on my part to have that happen...

Thanks for any replies, and sorry again if this question is in the wrong spot.

-Hank

[donm]

This post leaves the impression that you are not familiar with semiautomatic handguns. You misspelled "Ruger" three times, repeatedly called a cartridge a "shell," and a magazine a "clip." Was the dealer able to reproduce the problems you saw? You may have bought a lemon, but other things can cause the kind of problems you describe -- like not pulling the slide back in one quick, continuous motion. Tiny guns like the LCP and lightweight snubbies are not easy to shoot well. Ruger's customer service is generally pretty good.

[YBNORMAL]

Ok, well I will try to answer some of your questions. No I have not had any problems with my LCP or with Ruger. First off the LCP does not have the type of slide stop that holds open the slide on the last shot, meaning that there is no 'follower' on the mag and no tab on the inside of the slide release that would engage the slide stop on the empty mag.

Ruger put the slide stop on there but it has to be manipulated by hand, full mag, empty mag, no mag, whatever.

As far as your ejection problem, I would be willing to bet that you are not pulling forcefully enough back on the slide to have the ejector knock the cartrige off of the extractor. I would tell you to go shoot the pistol and see how you make out, since you sent it back you can't so I guess your SOL.

Where is this gun shop that tried to tell you LCPs go for $380 (unless you have the Crimson trace grip, that would be more in line iirc) and they are hard to find? I say this respectfully since we are here to help: next time come here and ask questions BEFORE you spend your money and or send your stuff back.

YB

[legendarylorot]

The ejector on the LCP, like most semiautomatic firearms, is a small claw on the right side of the frame that grips the groove around the bottom of the casing. this pulls the spent casing out of the chamber to the point where it hits a small notch on the opposite side of the frame. The opposing forces (back from the claw, forward from the notch) creates a torque which ejects the casing.

On the LCP, this notch is part of the slide's lock-open mechanism and operates, roughly, via the explosive force of firing a round. This notch is NOT part of the slide or frame like many other semi-autos. When you pull back the slide, feeding a round, the previous round is only slowly pushed out of position, and the torque is not great enough to overcome the force of the claw holding the casing in place. As a result, the old round is only shifted upward instead of ejected, and you get a jam. This can happen with weak rounds or manual operation.

In layman's terms, you need to simulate a fired round when you manually operate the slide ie. you're not pulling back hard enough. There's nothing wrong with the gun.

[offshorebear]

If you have your LCP's serial number, you can call Ruger and get a status update. My experience with Ruger customer service is that it takes a few days, not 6 weeks to have something fixed. Your shop sounds so lazy they don't want to look at what UPS brings them everyday. For future reference, you can send a gun back to the manufacturer yourself through UPS or FedEx.

Sorry man, it sounds like you are stuck in a worse case scenario with this gun shop and/or LCP. I think the gun shop is to blame for this fiasco, but use your own judgement.

[aveojohn]

Regardless of what the op did, the gun store clerk should not have been such a smart ass. It is possible he could have resolved the problem right at the counter by practicing a little common courtesy by asking a few questions and showing the op what he may have been doing wrong. If he had treated me that way, I would never purchased a gun there again.

[tartop]

Wow!! thank you donm for your lesson in spelling and and the scolding for using wrong terms, sorry they did not meet your approval and are not up to your I'm sure superb knowledge you obviously possess in the area of guns by your answer...
But I did not come here for that, so save your peanut gallery comments for someone else!!!

Thank you YBNORMAL, legendarylorot & offshorebear for your input, I am not familiar with the Ruger "Right donm" .380 as I said I was buying this for my wife, I have a .45 ACP Semi Automatic which as you have stated is a totally different Semi Automatic than the Ruger .380.

I only had one day to try to familiarize myself with the Ruger and obviously need to learn more about it when/if I ever get it back.

I will take your advise offshorebear and call Ruger Monday morning and see what they have to say since the gun dealer does not seem to care since he already has my $$$.

So thanks again for those of you "ADULTS" who have given me some "useful" help...

[Asmodeus6]

There's nothing wrong with the gun.

^This.

You just don't know how to work it properly. Which is fairly astounding considering you own another semi-automatic firearm.

The LCP has a slide "catch" but it's manual. Meaning you have to lock it back yourself. It does not do so on the magazine.

All would have been ok if you would have just fired a few rounds through it and realized there was nothing wrong with the gun.

So in the end I'm sorry to say, all of the frustration you encountered was primarily caused by you. Call Ruger and have them track the gun.

[39flathead]

Checking the function of a firearm using live rounds is not a very good idea and is surely not a very wise thing to do with a mouse gun with a small grip that is DAO.

I cringe whenever I read a post where someone describes "testing" of a firearm with live rounds, bad, bad idea, that is what dummies/snap-caps are for.

I hope Ruger can help you out by "finding" your missing gun, everything else that I would say has already been said.

[DonM55]

So then I tried to pull the slide all the way back and lock it, but it would not go back far enough to engage to lock.

This makes it seem like a gun problem. Haven't had any trouble with my LCP with over 500 rds thru it.

If your wife has never shot the LCP don't be surprised if she does not like it.