Range Report: Ruger LCP *Problems*

[Solid]

Today on April 2nd I went to the range with my Ruger LCP. I purchased it on March 31st and the gun was test fired on March 19th in Prescott, AZ.

50 rounds of Remington UMC FMJ
50 rounds of Fiocchi FMJ
No JHP tested since the only I had were in my carry gun

Impressions
-Gun shoots softer than the P3AT.
-Accuracy not really relevant, but was able to hit a body silhouette at 25 yards in rapid succession. The gun shines at 15 feet.
-Easier to shoot one handed than two handed due to small size.
-The large extractor works great

Problems
The gun does not like to feed the last round in the magazine. This happened twice on the second to last round. This was with both ammo brands. Shooting "limp" wristed or firmly didn't affect the frequency.

After cleaning and inspection I noticed some machining problems.
-The feed ramp isn't completely smooth and quite uneven.
-The machining on one side of the chamber is uneven. Looks like a dull bit was used.
-The rear of the slide where the hammer passes up and down is uneven on the left side.
-The center rib of the slide that re-cocks the single strike hammer is too wide. It looks like poor machining and it actually impacts the frame which is now dented from the 100 impacts
-The hammer sits angled to the left rather than straight up and down. This has scrapped and "cut" into the channel on the slide for the hammer. Pieces of metal were found in the channel.

There are a few more problems like this and I am somewhat amazed. I called Ruger in Prescott, AZ today during office hours, but they didn't pick up so I left a message and return phone number.

I will keep this thread updated.

 

[Spyvie]

Sounds like maybe they're rushing production to meet demand.

That's too bad...

 

[Gunnerpalace]

All those problems remind me of another handgun....dare I say it, well I'll give the model number: an L380.

 

[lvcat2004]

Well I just bough myself a P3AT last week and put 50+ rounds of UMC and 25 rounds of Federal HS JHP. I thought about LCP but it seemed to be in short supply and I needed something small, quick.

I went stratight from my FFL to the shooting range to qualified for my CCW and I did without a hitch...literally straight out of the box.

I went to the range the next day and had absolutely ZERO problem.

I'm kinda feeling good about the P3AT now...

But plese DO keep us updated, I like the P3AT so much that if Ruger is good, I might get one too....

 

[guntotinguy]

My wife wants one..but I think the jury's still out on this,not exactly decided if its going to be worth it,but it IS a Ruger.After reading Solids post above,I need to 'see' a lot more about this little gun before I buy one,because of the extreme heat here in LV,need something that wont have problems with 'sweat' and 'heat'.

 

[jocko]

3900

My shooting friend has now 3900 rounds through his lcp, NO BREAKAGES. Once he found the ammo's that it liked it has been flawless. He can't limpwrist it. there are going to be lcps that leave ruger that probably should not have been shipped and this fella seems like he got one of them but over all the reports have been absolutely excellent. We have to realize that probably between 5000 and 10,000 have been made and sent out and we have heard of a very few with issues. teething problems, probably but nothing like its competittion. I'll take the Ruger any day..

 

[Mad Magyar]

Once he found the ammo's that it liked it has been flawless.

I never could understand this logic...Many leading authorities contend that if your pistol is so unsure in which ammo it prefers, it's just a matter of time when this peculiar balance will become disruptive....

 

[craig_o]

Every report I've heard with UMC in the LCP has mentioned problems.

Not poor machining and all the rest, but feed issues SEEM to be common with that particular brand.

Call Ruger, see what they'll do for you. Kel-Tec's customer service is touted often and loudly (and for good reason), as is Ruger's.

 

[DawgFvr]

Mad Magyar: I disagree with you. Winchester white box ammo, for instance, has very hard primers compared to other brands...my PT145 does not like hard primers at all...whereas it has never had a problem with Corbon. Some JHP 9mm rounds, like 115 grain Federal, are a bit more rounded...actually designed for superior feeding than other 9mm brands. Some weapons really do not fare well with aluminum casings...etc., etc.

As for the Ruger...I finally found one in my gun dealer's store. The outside frame/slide/grip looked much nicer than the P3AT. Internally, it looked pretty much the same. I suspect you will find just as many malfunctions in both of these pistols...they are virtually the same...a Kel Tec design.

 

[Nikon777]

I feel that any modern combat pistol worth its weight should feed and cycle just about anything. ie M&P, Glock, HK etc.

The lcp is a pocket ccw pistol, not a "combat weapon". So I wouldn't personally hold it to that standard.

 

[Solid]

I got off the phone with Ruger and they are shipping me a pre-paid mailer for the gun. They were very courteous and listened to all the flaws I noticed from machining/assembly. They also told me they recently had one other like mine from a magazine author and mine may have come from the same batch.

I must say +1 for Ruger customer service

 

[tinygnat219]

Solid,

THANK YOU for the Range Report for this little gun. I am glad to see that someone has posted something objective about it.
As for the guy whose friend has shot 3900 rounds through his, the only questions I need to ask are: "Why"?, that's 78 boxes of ammo at 14 bucks a box equals $1092.00

 

[springmom]

I got off the phone with Ruger and they are shipping me a pre-paid mailer for the gun. They were very courteous and listened to all the flaws I noticed from machining/assembly. They also told me they recently had one other like mine from a magazine author and mine may have come from the same batch.

I must say +1 for Ruger customer service

They really do have good service. Hope when it comes back it's 100% good.

Springmom

 

[DPris]

Solid,
That was probably me. When they mill the corner on the problem area out, it should fix your frame peening problem along with any ejection irregularities. Sounds like yours is more problematic than mine, though. The slide comes off & goes back on easily.
You may have other things going on, too. I have no machining or assembly flaws on either sample here.
Could possibly end up with a replacement, if yours is that bad.
Good luck.
Denis

 

[jocko]

tinynat219

he owns a shooting range and lets anyone shoot it, Not all are his rounds, and he said from the git go, he is going to shoot it until it breaks. So far no luck..

 

[jocko]

Magmagyar

just reporting what was told to me. Don't know to many semi's and expecially the mini semi's that are not somewhat ammo sensitive. Why that is, I don't know. OAL has alot to do with it, bullet design etc. I have never had one issue with my kahr pm9 with 9900 flawless rounds through it but also I shoot Winchester 100 pak from wal-mart, works perfect for me, and corbon dpx works perfect for me, Now I am sure that if I tried alot of different rounds, I would find one that just doesn't like my pm9. when I find a round that I can shoot with no issues and is availalbe I stay with it.. Why look for trouble??

 

[tinygnat219]

jocko,

THAT clears things up a bit. Thank you! I was wondering how someone would have the time to shoot that many rounds out of a pistol that's been officially out less than a month.

Still, I don't understand why people spend good money on guns and then try to break them with these silly stress and endurance tests.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Once he found the ammo's that it liked it has been flawless.

I never could understand this logic...Many leading authorities contend that if your pistol is so unsure in which ammo it prefers, it's just a matter of time when this peculiar balance will become disruptive..

Agreed 100%. It's one thing if you've got a competition pistol that's set up to run with a certain load that performs ideally for that competition. It's quite another to have a finicky defense/combat pistol.

I have four guns that I CCW; a Kel-Tec P3AT, Kel-Tec PF-9, Tanfoglio Witness Compact 10mm and a S&W 4516. None of them are ammo-sensitive, or they wouldn't get carried.

 

[grimjaw]

I just picked up the Ruger LCP today, and took it to the range this evening.

Fired 105 rounds, 50 American Eagle FMJ, 50 Monarch FMJ, and 5 Hornady JHP. All rounds went boom. All rounds has very similar POI with the same POA. From a rest, groups were pretty tidy at 10 yards.

I had three rounds of AE that didn't want to chamber fully. Ejecting them, loading them back into the magazine and rechambering a second time worked. Maybe my grip on the pistol wasn't solid enough? No ejection failures. Keep in mind the gun was taken literally straight out of the factory packaging, loaded and fired.

By the 50th round my hand started to shake a bit. By the 100th round it was shaking alot. I seem to remember the Keltec trigger being a little lighter than this one, but I never shot the P3AT to know for sure.

It's a little disconcerting to be able to see this much of the cartridge (open area near the extractor).

I'll keep testing it and let you know. So far I'm pleased.

jm

 

[Solid]

Gun was overnighted to Ruger on Friday/Saturday. I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[BHPshooter]

Mad Magyar: I disagree with you. Winchester white box ammo, for instance, has very hard primers compared to other brands...my PT145 does not like hard primers at all...whereas it has never had a problem with Corbon. Some JHP 9mm rounds, like 115 grain Federal, are a bit more rounded...actually designed for superior feeding than other 9mm brands. Some weapons really do not fare well with aluminum casings...etc., etc.

That's a curious statement, when Winchester primers are widely recognized as being the "softest," most sensitive primers in the reloading world -- that is, of the ones that are commonly available in the US.

I'm gonna have to go with Mad Magyar with this one. If one's testimony of how reliable their gun is must be followed by any conditional statement, it's not all that reliable. Yes, some guns are picky about what ammo they like. That is the definition of being less-than-perfectly-reliable. If you always have Brand ABC available to you, great. What if you don't, though?

Anyway, Solid, thanks for the reports. I'm watching this one with interest.
Wes

 

[moooose102]

nikon777, i would wholehartedly disagree with you. as a ccw'er, my life may very well hang in the balance. if the pistol does not perform WHEN I NEED IT, it becomes a large expensive stone! and my life could very well be over. a ccw gun needs to be as reliable as any combat gun. actually, they both need to be stone dead reliable, always. anything else, is unacceptable!

 

[wally]

Once he found the ammo's that it liked it has been flawless.

I never could understand this logic...Many leading authorities contend that if your pistol is so unsure in which ammo it prefers, it's just a matter of time when this peculiar balance will become disruptive....

No arguments that a gun should work with all the ammo made in its caliber, but in the real world guns vary, ammo varies. The net result is not all guns work with all ammo and vice-versa.

Different ammo has variations in bullet shape, primer hardness, extraction groove dimensions, surface finish etc

When the guns get small for their caliber the margin for error goes down.

I prefer my guns work with any ammo, and try to fix the issue when I discover a brand that doesn't work in a particular gun -- for my P3AT never had a problem with any brass cased ammo or CCI aluminum Blazer, but all the steel cased ammo (Wolf, Brown Bear, Silver Bear, Monarch, Barnaul) have extraction issues. Kel-Tec sent me plenty of spare parts to try and solve the problem but no go.

If that is not weird enough for you, my Wife's Beretta 86 (the one that is like the .25ACP on steroids with the tip up barrel) works great with Wolf .380ACP ammo and it doesn't even have an extractor! But then its larger than a good number of 9mm Pistols on the market.

--wally.

 

[Solid]

Gun left my hands on the 11th, and I talked to Ruger today. They said the technicians still had it, so it will be another week before I get it.

 

[equitytrader]

Ruger reported the first quarter 2008 on Tuesday, after reading the report it was quite eveident they're having problems with backlogged orders. This is a good and bad problem. I think in the long run everything will be fine; as stated, Ruger's customer service is one of the best in the industry, them and S&W.