First time shooting my new Ruger LCP .380

[timk225]

I got a new Ruger LCP .380 recently to be used for a CCW defense gun. I hope I never need to use it, but then again, I don't want to be on the news as someone who was needlessly killed in a carjacking or 7-11 robbery or some such thing.

Anyway, I got my gun, brand new. I looked around for ammo, and even though I am a Wal-Mart hater, they had the best prices on ammunition. 300 rounds of Winchester 95 grain FMJ ammo was mine for $125.10, including tax.

This ammo isn't a round nose bullet, it's a flat nose design. While cycling rounds through the pistol at home, I noticed that while pulling the slide back on a full clip, it would frequently hang up the first round on the feed ramp. I could either pull & release the slide again, or slap up on the bottom of the clip to free it. Is this a common problem? Either way, I'm going with full round nose ball ammo from now on, even if its lead and not jacketed.

At the indoor shooting range this evening, I burned through 294 rounds, saving 6 to refill the clip for just-in-case scenarios. I figured some good hard shooting might break it in and loosen it up a bit. Some observations:

While it generally cycled reliably, it continued to hang up on manually chambering the first round from a full clip about 50% of the time.

While doing some rapid fire from a two handed grip, I accidentally pressed the magazine release a few times, causing it to pop out into my hand about a half inch.

The "sights" are intended as more of a suggestion of where to point the gun than for actual use. With the target at 15 feet and aiming and squeezing the trigger carefully, it would shoot about 2 inches low. Was it accurate? Well, if having the shots hit somewhere on the paper is considered accurate, then yes. It was accurate enough to hit an assailant inside of 20 feet, let's put it that way. With the paper target out at 30 feet, the bullets were rising more into the middle of the paper.

I've never had a small centerfire pistol like this before. The .380 ACP does have some bark and snap to it, although it was controllable. I tried single firing, double taps, rapid fire, one hand shooting (using either hand), and two hand. Even holding the gun loosely to see if it would malfunction, it did well.

I had about 4-5 shells fail to extract / eject, although that only happened after about 100 rounds had been put through it, so I'm sure the chamber was a bit dirty.

I thought the trigger pull was okay. It was more long than it was hard to pull. But in rapid fire it could easily pull the gun off target if not done right.

This gun likes to throw the empty shell cases all over the place. In front of me, on me, behind me, and 10 feet to either side. I had .380 brass all over the place when I was done!

So I will take it apart and give it a good cleaning and inspection, and then find some round nose ammo for its next trip to the range for further testing.

Anyone else have an LCP, and did you notice any of the same things I listed, or something different?

[buckengr]

I experienced some feeding problems with my LCP when it was new as well. In my case, I discovered that the recoil spring was installed incorrectly from the factory! The flared end of the "inner" recoil spring must be towards the muzzle end. Also, make sure the "outer" spring is not caught on the inner spring. Once I fixed this, I had no more feeding problems.

It might be worth checking the orientation of the springs in your gun.

[ray h]

When you manually feed a round, don't baby it. This is a documented LCP thing. Pull the slide all the way back and just abruptly let go of it and let the spring take it home. If you ride it home even a little it won't feed. I think they are all like that.

[Squatchy]

When you manually feed a round, don't baby it. This is a documented LCP thing. Pull the slide all the way back and just abruptly let go of it and let the spring take it home. If you ride it home even a little it won't feed. I think they are all like that.

Good point. This should be done with ALL firearms.

[dkf]

From the two LCPs I shoot erratic ejection is normal for both. The only failure I had with my LCP with factory ammo was with Winchester 95gr FMJ. I ran 100 through it with one failure on the range trip and never bought it again. I would pick up some ball ammo and run it through. In my experience LCPs like 90gr XTP bullets. If the COAL of the round is close to max they tend to choke on rounds.

I polished the feed ramp on the barrels of both to help the rounds slide up easier. Painting the front sight (well sight nub) with orange paint or some other visible color helped for me. I always run the LCPs kinda wet with oil, they seem to like that. Always slingshot the slide when chambering a round.

[Im not Batman]

When you manually feed a round, don't baby it. This is a documented LCP thing. Pull the slide all the way back and just abruptly let go of it and let the spring take it home. If you ride it home even a little it won't feed. I think they are all like that.

My Beretta PX4 is the same way..

The slide has to be at full speed so it "POPS" THE ROUND up the feed ramp

[Im not Batman]

And...

Clips don't work too well it the LCP

Go get some magazines ...

[timk225]

Thanks for the tips. I was thinking of getting one of the Ruger factory extended 7 shot magazines off of ebay or gunbroker. Has anyone ever used them? I presume that being a OEM manufacturer item, they should work fine?

I will look around for some ball ammo, and may pick up a box of the XTP bullets for CCW duty, although I will test fire some first.

Before I bought this gun, I watched quite a few YouTube videos on it. In one video, some kid was showing how he customized his pistol with an aftermarket trigger and recoil springs. I read that the recoil springs come in 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 pound weights, and the factory springs are 9 pound. Maybe they should have gone a pound or two heavier as OEM equipment.

Has anyone used those add on hand grips that look like a rubber sleeve stretched over the frame, and did they make a significant difference?

I'm not too concerned about where the empty shells land when they eject, I just want them to get out of the way of the incoming round every time. I thought it was odd that they seemed to fly all over the place.

[sinkrun]

I used the slip on dint care for it, then bought one of these cheap but well made and great fit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOGUE-18100-...item4d0c4029e0

[GeneCC]

So I will take it apart and give it a good cleaning and inspection, and then find some round nose ammo for its next trip to the range for further testing.

Anyone else have an LCP, and did you notice any of the same things I listed, or something different?

You gotta break in any semi-auto handgun. At least a few hundred rounds.

Wolff Springs makes a nice set of springs for the LCP.

I use factory magazines. Don't trust aftermarkets, not for the LCP. The LCP is really "finely tuned".

Don't buy hot 380 ACP for it. Some suggest using hot loads. I do not recommend it.

I agree with everyone else here. Don't ride the slide. Pull it all the way back and let it rip.

The LCP is a really nice compact pistol. Most of the time you won't even notice it.