I just picked one up for $269, new, with tax and fees it was $292.00. After swearing I would stay away from small pocket guns, "I have had a seacamp for 12 years", and all of them at some time or other have some kind of problem. The simple way I decided on this one was, I looked at 200 venders at the gun show, and saw that of all the 380 pocket pistols they had, most chose to carry the Ruger. One of these guys has 8 gun stores and 4 ranges. Just about all his crew had LCP's on them, they said that they can have what ever they want, and they chose this one because it is the most reliable. It isn't the most expensive by far so there was no reason to lie about it having about 8 little guns to choose from. The kel-tec makes a nice 9mm in the pf-9 , I have one, but the 380 "although stated many times was the model for the LCP", just isn't finished as well in my opinion. We all get duds, My buddy and I had to return a brand new 357 Mag that he bought yesterday and we checked 6 or them before finding one that locked up nice. The problem was that when you put ammo in it, it wouldn't open lol. Now he and his pal were both Marine snipers, and there was no way to tell without putting the rounds in the gun. We got a new one today with no hassle. That's what's good about dealears who have 8 stores. Now I took the ruger apart as soon as I walked in my house, and saw two things right away. It was dripping grease out of every crack, and the pistol was not going into full battery with the mag in. So I cleaned it polished it a bit and it appears fine now. I will shoot it in the next day or two and let you know how it went. I think that a lot of people buy guns and don't break them down and get all the crap out of them before claiming that they are problematic. I don't like grease or oil in the firing pin area of the pistol or for that matter anyware in the slide with the execption of tiny bit on the rails and top of the barrell. It will just cause the weapon to fail. A little alcohoal will clean out all that crud and a drop or two of oil or tri flow in the areas of wear other than the firing mechanisim usually goes a long way in stopping some of these problems.