Ruger LC9

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Bobson

Bobson

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I saw that there was a thread about the LC9 back in January of this year, but nobody commenting in it seemed to have any firsthand experience with it. Now that the gun's been out for a while, what are some of your thoughts on it? Specifically those who own it, or at least owned it for a while.

I checked it out in a shop today and was very pleasantly surprised. I don't much like the comparable Kahr or KelTec models, but the LC9 seemed perfect. Thanks.
 
I've had one for about 5 months now. Shoot it almost weekly. Have yet to experience a single issue with it. It took a little to get used to the loooong trigger pull but I also have an LCP so that wasn't unexpected. It is my go to carry gun.
 
ive had one for about a month now and have ran 1000+ trouble free rounds through 2 range sessions. the only problem round ive had were S&B FMJ that have hard primers. i had both a pm9 and a pm40 that were problematic, the 40 more so.
 
I have the LC9 and have had zero problems with it. I don't like the loaded chamber warning or the presence of a manual safety but I ignore both. It's a shame the lawyers mess with good designs but it's a great pistol anyway.

Flash
 
I've had mine for a while. Put somewhere between 300-400 rounds through it with no malfunctions. All 115gr Remington UMC.

The gun always shot really low. I called Ruger a couple weeks ago and they said it probably needed new sights, based on the serial number. Haven't got it back yet.

Honestly, I'll probably sell it when it comes back from Ruger. It's a great little gun, but I've been carrying my SP101 ever since I shipped the LC9 off, and I realize it works just fine.
 
I'll chime in though I don't own one. I am a guy who likes thin grips on a gun... my hands are medium sized for a guy 6 ft tall. But I was surprised by how thin the grip is on the LC9. It's actually too thin - thinner even than the Kel-Tec PF9. I've never said that about a pistol before. Frankly I'm impressed by their engineering to make that possible, but I'd have to put something on the grip. OTOH, I do love the looks and the finish on it. Again, I'm impressed with that as well.

For me, though, I've opted for the Kahr PM9.
 
I love my LC9. I thought long and hard about the Kel-Tec PF9 but bought the LC9 and have been very happy I did so.

My personal Pros:
  • small / easy to conceal
  • as accurate as my other larger handguns, though I need to use a rest to prove it. The short sight radius is the limiting factor of the LC9's accuracy for the average shooter.
  • recoil isn't anymore noticeable (to me) than my XD-9sc which is a larger handgun
  • firing pin block


My personal Cons:
  • Blued slide finish started slightly rusting after my first 2 weeks of carrying it in the hot Florida salt air so I am planning on having the slide chromed or Nickel Teflon coated which adds to the cost of the firearm... I wish Ruger had done this to begin with at the factory. I would have happily paid more. I talked w/Ruger and they said they do not have a surface coating facility in-house but I was more than welcome to have an aftermarket finish applied and they would still take care of me w/their customer service if I had a function issue in the future (as long as the issue was not related to the aftermarket surface finish of course).
  • The trigger has a very smooth surface and when sweating profusely I am unable to keep the pad of my finger on the trigger like I do w/my XD or 1911's. Not a huge problem, it is easily solved by putting the trigger in my finger joint. However, the trigger pull is so long that I then get the pad of my finger pinched against the frame (ouch!). That didn't happen to me with the Kel-Tec PF9 which has a slightly shorter break point. So I had to learn to just "sorta" curl my finger around the trigger instead of "really" curling my finger.
  • the magazine d/c and the manual hammer safety annoy me. In my opinion the firing pin safety and the double-action trigger pull are more than enough safeties (assuming the user is going to carry the firearm in a good hoslter that protects the trigger). The manual safety does lock the slide in battery, though, which is great if you are going to be running or jostling around.
  • occasional light firing pin strike. After loading a fresh magazine and slingshotting the slide closed the slide (rarely but occasionally) fails to lock fully into battery. The slide is closed enough, though, that the hammer will fall with a trigger pull and the hammer will push the slide the rest of the way closed. The firing pin, however, hits the primer light and/or just above the primer resulting in a non-firing condition. To avoid the issue: After slingshotting the slide tap the slide to make sure it seats and/or flip the manual safety up to make sure the slide is fully in battery. If you pull the trigger and nothing happens, Tap-Rack to fix the issue. I've heard Ruger says this troubling occasional issue goes away after a few hundred rounds of breakin. I believe it is caused by the recoil spring not being strong enough to lock the slide in place and, as the slide-to-rail surfaces smooth out from use, the spring is more likely to successfully lock the slide in place.
  • If you get an early production model you need to check the front sight and ensure it is pinned in place with a roll pin going vertically through the sight and into the slide. If it is not pinned in place Ruger will fix it for you for free. Early un-pinned sights were somewhat prone to flying off during shooting...
 
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LC9

I have had mine about 2 months. Have not fired it much but it goes bang every time I pull the trigger. I used it last night to kill an injured raccoon that had been hit by a car. It shoots very accurately for such a small handgun. Mine is a keeper................:D
 
I bought my first LC9 in Feb. In the first eight days I put over a thousand trouble free rounds through it. Now I have over 1,700 trouble free rounds through it.
I liked it so well that in Aug I bought a second one for a spare.
 
Boy the trigger sure gets some getting used to - so much travel seems like its broken.
 
Its got a long pull, but aside from that, I thought the trigger was just fine. Don't really mind a long trigger pull on a carry gun.
 
I shot a friend's LC9 for the second time this morning. The trigger pull does take some getting used to--I shot the LC9 right after shooting my SIG P220 so it required a little adapting. I was also on hand when my friend shot it for the first time. He had not cleaned it beforehand and it had two failures to fire at the end of the range session after about 150 rounds. I told him to flush out the firing pin channel with some Gun Scrubber to remove any of the gunk that might be present. That seemed to do the trick 'cause he hasn't had a single failure since.

I like the gun and plan to buy one in the future.
 
Regarding the firing pin. I read in a few places that the LC9 does strike lightly occasionally. What can be done to fix that, if I find that it's a problem with the LC9 I buy? Assuming I actually do buy one, that is.

Or is it more of a design flaw that an LC9 owner will have to live with?
 
I'd say flitz the slide and frame rails, clean out the firing pin channel and enjoy the firearm. Ruger says the issue goes away w/time. I assume it's a tolerancing or a surface roughness issue that goes away as the firearm is used. If not, Ruger will take care of it for you.
 
Sounds good. Never owned a Ruger, but I've always planned to eventually. Always heard great things about the company itself, not just their products.
 
I know what you mean about reliabilty bobson. Ive had my eye on the sr9c and lc9 for a while now . I too was waiting for Ruger to get all the bugs out. Ive heard that the sr9c has some no trigger reset issues.I own a Ruger gp100 in 357 mag and i love it. Its my home protection gun and Ruger has reliable revolvers thats for sure. Im lookin to buy another ccw and after thinkin about it long and hard its gonna be a glock 26. Already have a g19. Im only going that route cuz glock is reliable. Sure its a bit chunky but it really is a great fit for ME. Plus i dont have the time or patience for a possible NIB lemon.
 
I'm wonder if Ruger did a modification for getting rid of light strikes. I picked up my LC9 new a few weeks ago. After running through a ton of a wide variety of ammo with no light strike issues, the one thing I notice is the strike dimple in the primers is always very deep. Probably the deepest of any handgun I've shot.

The trigger pull is really annoying. Seriously considering selling to get a different subcompact 9mm. I hope Ruger reads these forums . . .
 
Bobson;
The LCP is a different gun and I have it, the LC9 and SR9c.
All three are easy to carry, of course the smaller the better.
The trigger on the LCP & SR9c's are better and much shorter.


I own a lot of Ruger's newer stuff and I have not needed to call Customer Service at all! No problems with the firearms (just the owner :eek:).

As for the LC9, I would get it again if I ever got rid of the one I own! ;)

Good Luck and have fun

Lateck,
 
The other day one of the other instructors brought a new LC9 through the range. He said he was experiencing repeated light-strikes with our premium duty ammunition. I suggested he fire some more rounds (he'd fired less than 50 at that point), and include some other ammunition we had available. It continued with the other loads, although it seemed to 'improve' a little with the duty loads.

I tried his LC9 with a mix of some loads and experienced some light strikes over the course of just a few magazines. I recommended he return the gun to Ruger for examination and repair.

I did notice upon looking at it, however, that the striker & visible area around it seemed excessively covered with oil. It wouldn't surprise me if the striker channel was filled with it, from what I could see. Since it's a new gun, belonging to someone else, and I'm not an armorer for the Ruger plastic pistols, I'm not touching it, though.

Personally, over the years I've come to prefer leaving brand new guns alone for the first 1-2 years, giving the manufacturers a chance to identify and resolve any early issues while the guns are still in the hands of the "Beta testers" who lined up to buy the first production runs. ;)
 
Put the first 50 rounds through mine at the range today. No problems, except for getting used to the trigger. (I had a lot of vertical stringing on the first mag.) Long is OK, heavy is OK, the creep and inconsistent stacking not so much. I've used worse, but here's hoping it improves as it breaks in.
 
Like mine so much it bumped by trusty Colt's spot as a primary carry.

No problems with the trigger whatsoever.

First 7 rounds down the pipe:
TargetLC9-1-1.gif
 
I thought I'd post an update to this thread regarding the LC9 I mentioned above that's owned by another instructor.

It was determined by the company that his pistol had a weak striker spring, and it was replaced as the company. So far, his repaired LC9 exhibits no sign of the previous light-strike issue. He's pleased.
 
Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Fastbolt. :)

Regarding the LC9 and other "pocket pistols," do any of you keep them in "normal" IWB holsters? Is that even an option? The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of keeping a gun in a pocket. I think the idea of pocket holsters is fine, I just don't have room in my pockets, typically, because I'm almost always carrying a variety of other things in them to begin with. So I'm pretty sure my concealed-carry pistol will need to be worn IWB.
 
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