Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger LCP failure

I was at the range a couple of days ago and beside me at the 25 yd line were an older couple firing a compact 380 pistol. I didn't pay too much attention to them until I heard the woman shriek. She had just fired the pistol and when I looked over at her she was holding onto the grip and the whole top was gone. It didn't explode, just came apart and went flying all over the place. Slide, barrel, springs the whole top half. It was a Ruger LCP and was almost brand new and they were shooting WWB. No one was injured but they were both dismayed. Has anyone else heard of this happening with LCPs?

Dayum, that could accelerate your heartbeat a little.

Earlier productions of this gun had several issues. The locking pin would work loose and fall out which is what this sounds like. There were also hammer issues and accidental firings when dropped. Some ejection issues with bad design of the frame in the ejection area. There had been at least one recall you can find if you google Ruger LCP recall. To my knowledge all those issues have been resolved in later production models.

I was just looking at this gun today for a possible carry weapon and ran into all this stuff.

Jim

Get the Kel Tec P3AT. I just saved you $100.00

I have an LCP that has over 300 rounds thru it with not as much as a burp. It is a post recall gun. It is easy to conceal, but not easy to hit with past 8 or 10 yrds. for me anyway. It would not have been much good in a theater. It is what it is; an up close and personal gun. Mine seems to be reliable.

The takedown pin probably fell out, allowing the slide assembly to go ballistic downrange.

The little retaining wire spring that retains this pin is easily damaged if the pin isn't inserted correctly. The head of this pin is also prone to shearing off if it's not fully seated.

Most - but certainly not all - of these issues are pilot error related.

That's the route I went. After some judicious internal polishing, and it's been a good little gun------------for what it is.

I'd love to know what sort of deal K-T and Ruger worked out. The LCP's "similarities" to the Kel-Tec are more than coincidental. Externally the LCP looks a little nicer, but not $100 nicer.

It's been said, and I agree with the statement, that the LCP is what the Kel-Tec should have been. While the KT influence is obvious, the two guns are different and similar in appearance only. If you look at them closely, you'll note that the LCP doesn't infringe on the KT patent design in any measurable way. Overall, the Ruger is a much better pistol IMO.

Well, I've never owned nor shot an LCP but I do own a P3AT. I don't find the P3AT a "fun" pistol to shoot but it certainly is concealable. On the other hand, it has never come apart on me while firing either. I only carry it when other options are off the table for one reason or other.

They have probably sold close to a million of those LCP's already, I suspect that's WAY more than the Keltec

Sounds like a law suit to Ruger to me "Well, Sir what damage did the gun cause you?"

"When the Mother [bleep] came apart, I lost 10 years off the life span of my heart!!"