Ruger LCP 238 experiences
Today I got to fire a Ruger LCP along with the LCR revolver. There seems to be a lot of breha when it comes to getting a .380 pistol these days. I don’t think I really ever felt the urge to go that small when it comes to calibers, but since CCW is actually more popular now than it was 10yrs ago, and people are finding that small compact semi-autos are far more reliable than previously, people will take the light weight over a larger caliber. The Ruger LCP can take laser grips from Crimson trace, and I highly suggest that you consider that. I was never a big fan of putting lasers on handguns until I started thinking about very small and compact firearms that had terrible small sights. The laser grips will help improve your hits and give confidence.
I have several Ruger factory gun magazines for my LCP, but I decided to pick up a few Promag magazines. Promag had a good reputation in the 1990s for magazines that weren’t as pricey as factory magazines, but were still considered reliable. I have several magazines for my Beretta 92FS, and although I did have a jam on one hollow point round, it has never jammed on ball ammo. I would consider these to be excellent range magazines, but I would do a lot of testing to make sure you are sure the gun feeds reliable with an defensive ammo. Some magazines may need to be tweaked a little and if you have problems be sure to call a factory rep. Most gun magazine manufacturers will replace a magazine if it does not work properly.
I first stepped into the world of tactical carbines after years of toting around an M16A2 for close to 10yrs. We basically had to clean and maintain our firearms daily when deployed and I often wondered what we might have been able to do during the day if we didn’t have such a high maintenance rifle. Looking back, I realized there wasn’t much else to do and this was something that we did to just occupy time. The M16A2 is not a very clean running firearm, but it can go for hundreds if not thousands of rounds without cleaning if it was lubed correctly from the beginning. In all of my years of service with the M16A2, and the years standing next to operators with AR15 rifles, I’d say 90% of malfunctions were bad magazines or improperly loaded, and bad ammo. The next was improper lubrication. It’s been a few years since I’ve been on the range during hunting season, but It was about 5yrs ago that I ran into an AR15 owner that said the key to running an AR15 reliable is to run it dry. Well, if you own an AR15 and you think this is true, I can’t help you.
I highly suggest that when people are carrying a firearm, even if they are not carying a backup firearm, should at the very least have atleast one other item on them that they could consider using in a defensive application. Some may sound funny, but if you were a bad guy, getting a set of car keys jammed in their face or having a belt buckle being used as a pair of brass knuckles or a whip is not something they would want to be hit with. If you are carrying a pocket gun, and don’t have the ability to comfortable carry mace or another less lethal weapon, try using a belt that has a slightly heavier than normal belt buckle and remember that you can always use it as a whip if need be.
Any experienced and well trainied CCW holder will tell you that it may be wise to change your holster or carry gun during the change in seasons. I’ve spotted more than a few CCW holders out in the open when it was pretty obvious that the machismo took the best of them and they just had to keep carrying that 1911 IWB at 5 o’clock in the summer months as they were 5’7″ and didn’t realize that when they were standing in line at the super market that I could see the T-shirt bunched up around the belt line.