I recently decided to wade into the waters of .380 pocket pistols. I've been a J frame snubby man for years; I wanted to try something slimmer with 7 shots instead of five.
Early in my search I was smitten by a Kahr P380 with night sights. Oh, man. That is an incredibly sweet little package, beautiful trigger and sight picture. (The 9mm Kahrs are favorite carry guns.) But I just couldn't swing the dough for the P380 -- especially since before shopping for my pocket pistol, I'd shelled out for several hundred rounds of scarce .380 ammo for practice and carry.
So I ended up going the other way with a plain-Jane Ruger LCP for around $330. My pistol is new production with the design changes Ruger implemented early in 2013. Most people know about these, right? The 2013 LCPs have a shorter trigger pull (you don't have to drag it back practically to the back of the trigger guard), higher and more prominent fixed sights, a stiffer magazine release button, and a few minor changes to the slide. All of the 2013 changes seem positive to me. Comparing new and "old" LCPs in the store I could definitely tell the difference in sights and trigger. Both new and old frames are wonderfully slick and rounded for concealment and a smooth draw. If you own a pre-2013 LCP and like it you might want to look at a new one, either to upgrade or just have a spare.
I've put something over 100 rounds through the LCP. Maybe 60 rounds of assorted factory ball, plus a mix of hollowpoints -- Gold Dot, Golden Saber, XTP. No malfunctions. I didn't lube or clean it either; just took it out of the box, visually inspected it, and went to work. At one point after firing about 50 rounds in rapid succession, the takedown pin on the slide was starting to back out. I cleared the gun, eased the slide back, tamped the pin back in with the butt of my SAK and continued shooting without incident. We'll see if that recurs.
Recoil isn't a problem with the standard power loads I've used. You can follow up your shots and do what you need to do. Palm tingles a bit after firing several magazines. I am going to steer clear of the "+P" .380 ammo from Buffalo Bore. I like Buffalo Bore, and see the purpose of those loads, but my overriding concern with this little gun is preserving my ability to deliver reasonable shot placement.
Accuracy so far exceeds my expectations. You can present this pistol and do a 2+1 failure to stop drill on a silhouette at 7 yards with precision hits, at decent speed. The pistol is spot on for windage. It shoots a hair low with my grip and sight picture, maybe 1" at 7 yds. The LCP placed the Hornady XTPs very accurately. No surprise; that has been my favorite handgun hollowpoint for accuracy for years. It also shot the other hollowpoints well, just a tick behind. Trigger feel is not the silky precision of a Kahr DAO, but it is totally usable. I wonder whether the longer pull of the pre-2013 LCP trigger might have caused me to pull some shots left. That hasn't happened at all with this gun. Not even in one-handed fast shooting, which the LCP handled well (in a realistic scenario for this gun).
For what the LCP is, I am very satisfied with its performance so far. I don't mean that in the evasive way that gun magazines use, as if you're not entitled to expect quality performance from a small gun. I mean that it comes across as a solid little piece, trustworthy and fairly priced, with some nice recent improvements to its shootability. I had some trigger time with a Kel-Tec P3AT years ago. Ruger may have taken Kel-Tec's design, but they have done a good job tweaking it, cleaning up the finish, and standardizing it as a truly mass production firearm. You can get some additional refinement over the LCP by picking the S&W Bodyguard or the Kahr, but I don't like the manual safety on the S&W and I found its integral laser setup a little weird. The Kahr P380 is the champagne choice; it is very alluring and I may have to get one $omeday. (Note that some users report reliability problems with the Kahr, while others seem to have good luck.) I looked briefly at the SIG P238; summary: handsome gun, great sights, it's all about whether you are comfortable with 1911 controls, I'm not.
With periodic practice I think the LCP will meet all reasonable expectations for this type of pistol, as long as its reliability remains excellent. (Might update in a few hundred rounds.)
Early in my search I was smitten by a Kahr P380 with night sights. Oh, man. That is an incredibly sweet little package, beautiful trigger and sight picture. (The 9mm Kahrs are favorite carry guns.) But I just couldn't swing the dough for the P380 -- especially since before shopping for my pocket pistol, I'd shelled out for several hundred rounds of scarce .380 ammo for practice and carry.
So I ended up going the other way with a plain-Jane Ruger LCP for around $330. My pistol is new production with the design changes Ruger implemented early in 2013. Most people know about these, right? The 2013 LCPs have a shorter trigger pull (you don't have to drag it back practically to the back of the trigger guard), higher and more prominent fixed sights, a stiffer magazine release button, and a few minor changes to the slide. All of the 2013 changes seem positive to me. Comparing new and "old" LCPs in the store I could definitely tell the difference in sights and trigger. Both new and old frames are wonderfully slick and rounded for concealment and a smooth draw. If you own a pre-2013 LCP and like it you might want to look at a new one, either to upgrade or just have a spare.
I've put something over 100 rounds through the LCP. Maybe 60 rounds of assorted factory ball, plus a mix of hollowpoints -- Gold Dot, Golden Saber, XTP. No malfunctions. I didn't lube or clean it either; just took it out of the box, visually inspected it, and went to work. At one point after firing about 50 rounds in rapid succession, the takedown pin on the slide was starting to back out. I cleared the gun, eased the slide back, tamped the pin back in with the butt of my SAK and continued shooting without incident. We'll see if that recurs.
Recoil isn't a problem with the standard power loads I've used. You can follow up your shots and do what you need to do. Palm tingles a bit after firing several magazines. I am going to steer clear of the "+P" .380 ammo from Buffalo Bore. I like Buffalo Bore, and see the purpose of those loads, but my overriding concern with this little gun is preserving my ability to deliver reasonable shot placement.
Accuracy so far exceeds my expectations. You can present this pistol and do a 2+1 failure to stop drill on a silhouette at 7 yards with precision hits, at decent speed. The pistol is spot on for windage. It shoots a hair low with my grip and sight picture, maybe 1" at 7 yds. The LCP placed the Hornady XTPs very accurately. No surprise; that has been my favorite handgun hollowpoint for accuracy for years. It also shot the other hollowpoints well, just a tick behind. Trigger feel is not the silky precision of a Kahr DAO, but it is totally usable. I wonder whether the longer pull of the pre-2013 LCP trigger might have caused me to pull some shots left. That hasn't happened at all with this gun. Not even in one-handed fast shooting, which the LCP handled well (in a realistic scenario for this gun).
For what the LCP is, I am very satisfied with its performance so far. I don't mean that in the evasive way that gun magazines use, as if you're not entitled to expect quality performance from a small gun. I mean that it comes across as a solid little piece, trustworthy and fairly priced, with some nice recent improvements to its shootability. I had some trigger time with a Kel-Tec P3AT years ago. Ruger may have taken Kel-Tec's design, but they have done a good job tweaking it, cleaning up the finish, and standardizing it as a truly mass production firearm. You can get some additional refinement over the LCP by picking the S&W Bodyguard or the Kahr, but I don't like the manual safety on the S&W and I found its integral laser setup a little weird. The Kahr P380 is the champagne choice; it is very alluring and I may have to get one $omeday. (Note that some users report reliability problems with the Kahr, while others seem to have good luck.) I looked briefly at the SIG P238; summary: handsome gun, great sights, it's all about whether you are comfortable with 1911 controls, I'm not.
With periodic practice I think the LCP will meet all reasonable expectations for this type of pistol, as long as its reliability remains excellent. (Might update in a few hundred rounds.)
Last edited: