Ruger LCP Generation 1

Caliber: .380 ACP or 9mm Kurtz for Europeans

Price: $180-$300

Bill Ruger is rolling in his grave from the shop I made specifically for this review. He was a fudd anyways and luckily his company did a complete 180 minutes after he passed away. Ruger is fine these days. They generally make budget minded gats that are reliable enough for most people. While they might not have the most original designs in the industry, they are not bad guns by any means. In this case, I’m going to be talking about the Ruger LCP, a pocket .380 ACP pistol that’s comparable to it’s inspiration (The Kel-Tec P-3AT) and more specifically a direct but deceased competition (The Taurus Spectrum).

Compared to the Taurus Spectrum I own, the Ruger LCP is smaller and thinner by a minor margin. I don’t have any tools for measurement but it’s certainly easier to pocket carry with the LCP than it is with the Taurus Spectrum. Build quality wise, it’s a little better than the Spectrum but you only get one 6 round magazine with your gun instead of the two offered by the Spectrum. One nice addition that comes with the Ruger LCP is a pocket holster. It’s slim, simple, and basically lets you carry your new gun from the get go without having to worry about looking for a holster. I don’t see any reason to buy a new holster for the LCP since the one that’s packaged with the gun is extremely ideal for pocket carry. I could carry this gun with basketball shorts. That’s how comfortable this holster is. Suck on that Taurus (but for real I really wish they didn’t canned the Spectrum).

Some LCP owners claim this gun isn’t very comfortable to shoot and works best as a kind of backup gun to your usual carry piece. I can see how that can be true if you have average-large size hands. Here’s the thing though, I got smol hand syndrome and I can hold my LCP just fine. As a matter of fact, during one range trip, I was able to hit a steel target at about 50 yards using the crude iron sights on the pistol. I can easily see the LCP being a reasonable primary carry piece for the summer season. The trigger pull is kind of heavy too though it didn’t really bother me that much. I certainly shot worse triggers in my experience. Recoil is rather manageable too. Not as soft as the Spectrum but almost on par with my Bersa Thunder 380.

Of course, you’d probably want to invest in some additional mags since 6+1 round capacity isn’t going to be ideal though it can get the job done. If only the mags weren’t so expensive for what they are. The 6 rounders are about $30 and the $7 round extended mags are $40. I think Promag makes a 10-15 round magazine and even a 32 round drum magazine (Why?!!!) if you need your LCP to be gangsta n sheeit though I do not trust Promag’s quality control. At the very least, the after market is there if you want to do some minor customization. Another important thing I should let you know is that as with most pocket pistols, you should probably stick with FMJ loads. I found that just like the Taurus Spectrum, the LCP seems to choke up with steel case ammo and JHP (jacketed hollow points), I know that generally most conceal carry experts will claim you should always carry with JHP rounds to obtain better stopping power and prevent over penetration but considering these pocket .380s are tiny with small barrel lengths, I don’t see that being an issue. FMJ are going to be serviceable for conceal carry. Stick with brass case FMJ and your LCP or Taurus or whatever should be reliable.

There are also newer models of the Ruger LCP out there if you want something more than a basic generation 1 LCP. There’s the LCP 2 which has the same capacity as the original but has some quality of life improvements like better sights and a nicer trigger. The one that really peaks my interest is the Ruger LCP max which has a doublestack 10 round magazine at the cost of being slightly thicker in width though still small enough to pocket carry. Both models are going to be slightly more expensive than the original LCP though and in my case, I was happy with the minimalist design of the first generation LCP.