MedWheeler
Member
Got my MAX to the range today. I had ordered a twelve-round magazine from a gunbroker seller (shopruger.com was out of stock) and it came in last week. So, both magazines, the gun, and three boxes of ammunition came with me.
It's said that the gun handles more easily and is less snappy than either of the other two pocket-380s from Ruger. I believe it. I don't have any experience with either previous LCP (or the Kel-Tec from which they evolved), but I do have a Taurus TCP that is thought to be easier in hand than the original LCP. I found the MAX to be easier in hand than the Taurus. It's no slouch, but it's very easy to manage, more so than the PF9 that I also had with me.
I shot from 7 yards, and a few from about ten yards, using Winchester Train and Defend ammunition. I had 100 rounds of the flat-tipped FMJ "Train" stuff, and fifty of the "Defend" JHP ammo. All bullets are 95-grains. I found it very easy to hit where I wanted to on a combat silhouette target at those ranges, and could keep groups in a fist-sized area in paced, but purposeful fire, though the center of the group placed just a tick to the right of POA for me, a left-handed shooter.
I wasn't exactly going for accuracy, as I am more of a point-shooter with guns this small, looking to shoot them the way they're most likely to be needed to be shot. I am also trying to acclimate to shooting with both eyes open, which is a new practice for me, and, with the current ammo situation, I have to sometimes implement two or more practices in one session with one shoot, instead of separating them like I could do in the past.
Purposeful double-taps hugged close and came quick. The gun was swift to eject off to my right (despite the pistol being in my left hand) and return to battery. The sights were easy to make out, and I don't think I found myself as distracted by the white outline and tritium insert as I first thought I may be when I got the gun.
I had two rounds fail to feed, both from the "Train" group, and both in the ten-round magazine. The slide would not close fully into battery with either of those rounds. Inspecting them didn't show me any case bulge or other explanation, so I tried feeding them from the 12-rounder. Both fed fine, and I tried them back and forth between the two magazines (without firing them) and the ten-rounder refused to feed them at all, while the bigger magazine always did. I discarded the two rounds after testing them in the magazines.
The ten-round magazine also failed to lock the slide back every time except one. I tested it repeatedly with one-round loadups, and the slide consistently closed after every one of those rounds. The twelve-rounder functioned flawlessly, even through the one-round loadups I subjected it to.
All in all, I'm very pleased, and wouldn't hesitate to pack this gun tomorrow. The two magazine options offer a great setup choice, ten-rounder in place for pocket carry, twelve-rounder in place for belt carry or for bedside duty. I will reach out to Ruger about my ten-rounder not locking the slide open when it's empty, but I have no other concerns about the gun and package altogether. It really is a remarkably-easy shooter. Probably half my shooting with it was one-handed, a skill practice I've been bad about working on but, when I tried it with the MAX, it felt so natural that I found myself forgetting to go back to two-handed fire.
I then had to pack up quickly and scurry out of there lest I ended up buying the LCP-II .22LR they had in there (the gun I was looking for when I found the MAX.)
It's said that the gun handles more easily and is less snappy than either of the other two pocket-380s from Ruger. I believe it. I don't have any experience with either previous LCP (or the Kel-Tec from which they evolved), but I do have a Taurus TCP that is thought to be easier in hand than the original LCP. I found the MAX to be easier in hand than the Taurus. It's no slouch, but it's very easy to manage, more so than the PF9 that I also had with me.
I shot from 7 yards, and a few from about ten yards, using Winchester Train and Defend ammunition. I had 100 rounds of the flat-tipped FMJ "Train" stuff, and fifty of the "Defend" JHP ammo. All bullets are 95-grains. I found it very easy to hit where I wanted to on a combat silhouette target at those ranges, and could keep groups in a fist-sized area in paced, but purposeful fire, though the center of the group placed just a tick to the right of POA for me, a left-handed shooter.
I wasn't exactly going for accuracy, as I am more of a point-shooter with guns this small, looking to shoot them the way they're most likely to be needed to be shot. I am also trying to acclimate to shooting with both eyes open, which is a new practice for me, and, with the current ammo situation, I have to sometimes implement two or more practices in one session with one shoot, instead of separating them like I could do in the past.
Purposeful double-taps hugged close and came quick. The gun was swift to eject off to my right (despite the pistol being in my left hand) and return to battery. The sights were easy to make out, and I don't think I found myself as distracted by the white outline and tritium insert as I first thought I may be when I got the gun.
I had two rounds fail to feed, both from the "Train" group, and both in the ten-round magazine. The slide would not close fully into battery with either of those rounds. Inspecting them didn't show me any case bulge or other explanation, so I tried feeding them from the 12-rounder. Both fed fine, and I tried them back and forth between the two magazines (without firing them) and the ten-rounder refused to feed them at all, while the bigger magazine always did. I discarded the two rounds after testing them in the magazines.
The ten-round magazine also failed to lock the slide back every time except one. I tested it repeatedly with one-round loadups, and the slide consistently closed after every one of those rounds. The twelve-rounder functioned flawlessly, even through the one-round loadups I subjected it to.
All in all, I'm very pleased, and wouldn't hesitate to pack this gun tomorrow. The two magazine options offer a great setup choice, ten-rounder in place for pocket carry, twelve-rounder in place for belt carry or for bedside duty. I will reach out to Ruger about my ten-rounder not locking the slide open when it's empty, but I have no other concerns about the gun and package altogether. It really is a remarkably-easy shooter. Probably half my shooting with it was one-handed, a skill practice I've been bad about working on but, when I tried it with the MAX, it felt so natural that I found myself forgetting to go back to two-handed fire.
I then had to pack up quickly and scurry out of there lest I ended up buying the LCP-II .22LR they had in there (the gun I was looking for when I found the MAX.)