The Ruger LC380 for this review was provide by The Kentucky Gun Co.
Have you ever owned something that seems really cool, that gradually starts to lose its appeal due to what initially seemed like a minor flaw? That’s how I’m starting to feel about the Ruger LC380. At first blush, the sleek ‘n sexy gun’s got what it takes: low recoil and perfect concealability (it hides underneath the tightest of Ed Hardy muscle tees). As the march of time has progressed, I’m starting to lose patience with . . . I don’t want to give away the full review. So I’ll just say this: the LC9 is a classic pistol. Chambering it in .380 ACP makes perfect sense; small is beautiful when it come to pocket pistols. But there is a point of diminishing returns. Has the Ruger LC380 reached that vanishing point, or is the point and shoot pistol a viable option for deep concealment and/or BUG status? Watch this space.
“You ever own something that at first seems really cool, but slowly starts to loose its appeal based on a seemingly minor flaw?”
I hate to be that guy, but it’s lose, not loose. /snark
I have a S&W Bodyguard .380 that also has a thumb safety. I would NEVER use this safety under any circumstance. I carry this gun in either a pocket holster or IWB holster (both of which fully protect the trigger). As this a DAO firearm, I am quite comfortable carrying in this manner.
If the safety on the Ruger is anything like my S&W, I can see why you’d complain.
The governments way of trying to tempt thugs into doing the gun grabbing for them. I wonder how many we’re stolen weapons?
I was just shooting my Ruger LCP. At first I thought this was the same gun, but now I realize that yours has a safety. My Ruger LCP (.380) does not have a safety. The Safety, in my opinion, in not necessary for a double action gun.
I like shooting my Ruger 380. It is a very good choice for a carry gun. I have a lot of experience with different 380’s. Bursa, Taurus and keltec all developed trigger problems. Sig has a nice 380, but it is single action only, and I don’t think a good choice for carry. The S&W Bodyguard is a good choice but costs about $120 more. Walther is over $500.
Ruger LCP / 380 is the best value for a reliable 380. I can shoot a 4 inch grouping at 40 feet. You have to learn to pick up the slack in the trigger for accurate shooting.
Do not feed steel case Tul Ammo .380. The gun will jam. Blazer aluminum is ok for practice, but will occasionally jam too. This is a common issue with many .380’s. The light recoil spring makes the gun very picky about ammo. I am not an ammo snob…. Tul Ammo works fine in other calibers and buy all the time for cheap shooting.
I have a small Keltec in 9mm, which is just a little bigger then this gun. 9mm is very punishing for people to shoot out of a gun this light, so .380 is a great choice for people who need a small gun.
Safety/magazine safety = small price to pay knowing that if (God forbid) somehow your kid picks it up, these may be the only things standing between them an an AD.
Phoenix is supposed to have a buyback sometime in the near future. I can’t wait because I have an ancient .22 that barely works ready to be turned in for way more than it’s worth.
The Court of Appeals IS the state supreme court in New York. A supreme court in New York is a court of first instance (i.e., the equivalent of a superior court in other states).
Yep, New York is completely crazy.
Nice
You missed your own finger? Dude, you suck at shooting….
ummm…AWB was 1994…
What a brilliant, inventive idea. The Republicans should have designated agents provocateurs to subtly egg her on to tack the AWB onto every bill they don’t like. Maybe somehow even get the bill tacked on to Obama’s cabinet and court nominations. Much better than a filibuster.
As far as CA pols – and NY pols, and Chicago Pols, etc. etc. ad naseum – they are trying to remove incentives for liberty-minded people to leave their collapsing little bailiwicks. Can’t run a totalitarian government without citizens to squeeze dry, can we?
Any pistol that will not go into battery with SAAMI spec ammo is automatically disqualified from defensive use. Just my opinion.
I want to get one of those GPS things for my glasses. I keep misplacing them.
I have a Taurus 24/7 G2 that has been absolutely reliable through many thousands of rounds of various types of ammunition. This is DA/SA striker fired pistol. It has a manual decocker that is integrated into the manual safety. Up for safety, middle for fire, down to decock. This pistol can also be manually placed into SA mode by racking the slide and holding the trigger. So, you could pop a round in the chamber, hold the trigger and release the slide then insert your magazine. Now, you’ve got a cocked gun in SA mode. Hit the decocker, and your now in DA mode. Click up the safety and you’re in safety-on mode. This firearm certainly gives you any of the modes you want to carry and all the safety features of a hammer-fired weapon in a striker-fired design. Oh, it also has a loaded chamber indicator and dual-strike capability should you encounter a reluctant primer. Anyway, options and choices exist and that’s a good thing for everybody. Cheers
It just goes to show you how little the gun-control folks understand the people who are interested in firearms. These people fail to grasp that the reason that the AR platform is so popular is because it is modular. In, without much technical savvy, one can build a full rifle from the ground up. Any grip containing such a device would just be removed and discarded, just like all of the locks that come with every new firearm…
I’m with you APTFan. Not only should the teachers be able to defend their young charges but there should be a couple of kids that could pick up the teacher’s pistol and finish the job at hand should she become disabled during the confrontation.
I write this hoping it will show up in the correct spot below APBTFan’s comments starting with: “A teacher with a gun stands a VERY good chance of saving more than one life.” However, I haven’t been seeing that happen lately with my posts.
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” – some of the best advice on tactical movement I ever received.
Nick,
I don’t mean to sound like a snarky a-hole, I mean to be constructive, but sometimes it is hard to convey through the filter of the internet.
#1 How is it that your belt doesn’t fit? It implies that you haven’t worn the belt for that month. How can you be practicing or training?
#2 Shotgun loading seems pretty slow. You are loading the shells one at a time. Have you seen the double and quad load methods? Two shells grabbed in a stack like a long cigar and loaded at the same time. Or two stacks of two shells grabbed and loaded two at a time. Saves tons of time.
#3 Charging handle on the left in the SCAR.
#4 Seems like you have your pistol trouble figured out, but maybe try the different backstraps to get a better natural point of aim.
#5 Something is up with the double feeds in the SCAR. Walk it through–improperly sized round fails to chamber completely, no fire, charging handle gets pulled back, ejects the round, new round feeds. How does the double happen? If it was an AR I’d say weak extractor tension is allowing the round to slip loose of the extractor before it gets ejected. I know the SCAR bolt looks similar to the AR’s bolt, but I don’t know if they really follow. Is the charging handle getting pulled back all the way? I can’t imagine that the handle would go back far enough to strip a round from the mag without ejecting the old round. Charging handle on the left would allow you to roll the SCAR over to drop loose rounds out. Still it wants for more investigation….
Finally, you are now a sponsored shooter, I appreciate the you are cutting down on the Bacon Burgers, but are you really putting in the training and practice time required?
Advice for spouses who are in fear for their life from their “intimate” others and are not willing or are unable to defend themselves:
DO NOT EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT YOU. THAT IS A DELUSION. PICK UP, GET OUT OF DODGE, AND HIDE.
In short, get off the X.
I have neuropathy and have been gradually been losing strength in my hands.
I think it may be time to put my old Walther PPK/S on the shelf and go with the LC380. Same ammunition, but just racking the slide on the Walther is getting difficult, and the recoil is pretty stout. But it’s small and fits nicely in an ankle holster. I am hoping the LC380 will fill this same need.
My larger handgun is a CZ P-07 Duty in .40 S&W
My two cents: I love my LC380! Love it! Is it perfect? Nope. Haven’t found a gun that is. But for our situation, and for a particular purpose, it works very well. It shoots like butter with very little perceived recoil, feels solid in the hand (especially with the Pachmayr Tactical Grip on it), and conceals reasonably well. Moreover, for us, it is something that both I AND my wife enjoy shooting at the range! That makes a ton of difference right there. My wife enjoys shooting the .22’s but this is something she can also enjoy whereas she will struggle to practice with the LC9 or other similar sized nines. Racking the slide is surprisingly easy on the PC380 too, which is nice. I never expected it to be much easier than other 380’s I have used. So, like virtually everything, it’s relative.
For the folks who say the 380 is the same as the 9 when it comes to handling and recoil, I can only guess that you have not actually fired the guns. Not just 380’s and 9’s, but the LC380. It shoots much better than any other similar sized 380 I have shot (not many, I admit) and it shoots MUCH more comfortably than the LC9 which I also have. Would a nine be a better defensive gun? Sure. And a .45 might be better than a nine. And something else might be better than a .45. And so on and so on. We all make compromises and draw the line based on personal preferences, abilities, etc. Especially for my wife, that line is right before the nine and that’s extremely fine by me. : )
Federal .380 HydraShok penetrates 10 inches of calibrated ballistic gel after passing through some thick denim material. Surely that qualifies it as at least a minimal defensive round if the shooter keeps ’em where they need to be on the bad guy.