Ruger LCP Malfunction Help

[Avi90]

Two weeks ago I purchased a new Ruger LCP.

Last weekend I took it out and fired 100 rounds through it. I had two malfunctions. Both times, the empty casing failed to fully exit the chamber.

When I took it apart to clean it, I noticed there was a ton of oil in there and assumed Ruger's overzealous oiling was to blame. I cleaned the gun very thoroughly and applied the appropriate amounts of oil.

Today I took it to the range again and put 50 rounds through it. Once again, I had two malfunctions.

These malfunctions can only be cleared by removing the mag and then pulling back the slide to clear the empty casing.

All four malfunctions I have had have been exactly the same. I have noticed that the rim of the casing seems to have a gouge in it from the extractor "slipping" off of the rim. I am wondering if it may be a problem with the extractor, or if the case is merely binding up on its way out of the chamber.

First 100 rounds was Independence.
The 50 rounds I shot today was Winchester White Box.
The gun also has 13 rounds of Speer Gold-Dot through it. The Speer worked fine.

Any thoughts?

[Concealed9mm]

should be able to send back to ruger, the extractor might be slightly off, I had the same issue with a .45 I just bought and a gunsmith said a new extractor will solve it.

[Arrdy]

The gun's 1st cleaning is very important .... and should be done before the 1st shot.

Scrub the chamber clean with a good brush and solvent, wipe it dry ... and don't oil it. Also check your grip you may be slowing the slide a bit by how your holding it.

These little guns are real sensitive to the COL. because of the steep feed angle. With my TCP I've had good luck with Speer and American Eagle round nose.

Put another 100+ rounds through it before sending it back. It's no where near broken in yet.

[TheWolff]

Please don't take offense, but is there any chance you're not squeezing the hell out of it for those couple shots? LCPs are very sensitive to "limp wristing" (I've experienced it firsthand). Have you had anyone else shoot it to see if they could replicate the problem?

Also, WWB has a bit less of a rim for the extractor to grab. I used to read about it a lot on elsiepeaforum.com. I'm not familiar with any such reputation for Independence. Some people chose to just not shoot wwb, but if it were my gun, I'd get it back to Ruger for a look. The good news is that they will always take a looks at it. The bad news is you'll be without your darling Elsie for 4 weeks or so.

[steveo1234]

I'd send it back to Ruger. I shoot wwb almost exclusively in my LCP with zero issues. I probably have close to 1000 rounds trough it.

[Asmodeus6]

Two things.

1. Polish the feed ramp and chamber. A simple dremel, some rouge and a felt tip. Don't need to even get serious with it.

2. As mentioned. Limp wristing an LCP until broken in. Will always induce a malfunction in this gun. So will shitty ammo.

[bripro]

Four FTEs out of 163 on a brand new gun and your worried? Don't pack it up for return shipping yet. Do what was advised as far as cleaning and polishing then put several hundred rounds through before you come to a conclusion. It very well may work itself out as the gun breaks in.

[EandGWZ]

^ agree ... give it about 200 rounds before making a decision.

[TGS]

1) The oil in the gun from the factory is not a lubricant. It's a preservative. The pistol is not meant to be shot with any amount of it in there, and most pistols come packed pretty well in the stuff for obvious reasons. So, yeah, no wonder.

2) My bet is on the extractor. A limp wrist will not likely cause this malfunction. Limp wrist will usually lead to a stove pipe (failure to eject), or a really limp wrist may not even clear the chamber and see the spent cartridge reinserted. What we are seeing here is not a failure to eject, but a failure to extract.

As we can see from the pictures, the extractor let go of the spent case, which it's not supposed to (the spent case should be held tight until the ejector kicks it out at the end of the extraction stroke). The slide is back far enough that it was able to engage a new round and cause a double-feed. If it was limp wristed, the shell would have still ejected (or failed to eject) if the slide was this far back and the extractor was functioning.

Thus, the extractor is the culprit. Even more telling is the pictures: you can see what looks like a mark on the leading edge of the case rim, from the extractor ripping over the top of the case rim.

Since you fired the gun with preservative in it, it may have collected an inordinate amount of carbon in the extractor channel, or even between the extractor/spring and slide; this can impinge the function of the extractor and keep it from 1) getting a full bite on the rim and/or 2) applying enough pressure. So, make sure to do a really good cleaning and, if feasible, disassemble the extractor assembly in order to do a good cleaning. Shoot some more. If it still has this problem, it needs to see an armorer. At that point, it could be a weak extractor spring or an out-of-spec extractor.

[Valorius]

From the pictures my guess would be limp wristing and a weak extractor.

My LCP is 100%. Get yourself a Wolff recoil spring, it makes these guns far less susceptible to various issues.