So, these dimensions and specs clearly paint the picture of a sneaky little pocket gun which utilizes an impressive round, and which can clearly claim to be one of the most seriously usable and concealable firearms out there. Magazine – 6 rounds (standard), 7 rounds (extended).Even with the 60% increase in capacity, the profile and thickness of this pistol truly allow it to maintain its “pocket pistol” status, and be an excellent concealed carry pistol. The best thing the LCP MAX does is exactly what it’s intended to do: hide. I would like to see a little more crispness in it, but for the gun’s intended purpose, it’s not a bad trigger. The trigger on the Ruger LCP isn’t what I would call double-action, as it’s not cocking the hammer as you pull, but it has the feel of a two-stage rifle trigger, with a central safety lever, a soft, long take-up, and a shorter break. I was only able to fit my two middle fingers on the grip with the factory-shipped magazine, but with the available aftermarket 12-round mag, many shooters will also be able to fit their pinky. Even considering its small size, the pistol is very manageable to shoot quickly and accurately. I also went through some basic malfunction drills, as some of these small pistols can be a pain to manipulate in a hurry.ĭespite the short grip, it was quite comfortable to shoot, and although the recoil had a bit of a snappy feel, the gun was extremely stable, and it felt as if the sights never left the line of sight, still being in place on the target when the gun returned into battery with the next round. Multiple targets and varying ranges, target transitions, and starting from low ready, high ready, and concealed positions. I repeatedly ran through several drills while shooting this pistol to really get a feel for its handling and performance in practical applications. With normal ammunition, however, you have nothing to be concerned about.
The manual for this pistol does note that you’re not supposed to use high pressure or +p loads, likely because many of the components are minimalistic, including a paper-thin barrel and chamber. I also ran through a couple boxes of Barnes Tac-XPD 80-grain hollowpoints without issue. I used three different types of ammunition, hand-loaded 90 grain FMJ, loaded with mixed brand range-collected brass, as well as hand-loaded 90 grain hollowpoint ammunition. For this Ruger LCP review, I fired 300 rounds through the gun without cleaning it, and I didn’t have a single malfunction. Ruger is known for the dependability of their firearms, and I would have been disappointed if this pistol had given me problems. Tyler Freel Testing the Ruger LCP MAXīells, whistles, numbers, and compactness don’t do any good if a gun isn’t reliable-especially a self-defense gun. The Ruger LCP Max still makes for a compact package. Tiny semi-automatic handguns can sometimes be a little slippery and difficult to manipulate for users with larger hands, so this much purchase is a welcome sight.
The serrations are actually more like ribs than serrations, with wide grooves between them, which allows better skin contact to aid your grip than serrations that are tightly spaced. The alloy steel slide is machined down to pretty minimum dimensions, and features aggressive cocking serrations on the front and rear, with those “cocking ears” on the very back end of the slide. 380 on the market with the same capacity can beat it for compactness. It usually doesn’t make sense to get too hung up on the numbers (it’s not worth obsessing over thousandths-of-an-inch in thickness), but the engineering required to pack 11 rounds into a platform this tiny is impressive. 935 inches at its thickest point, which is less than many micro-compact single-stack 9mms. As expected, the fattest portion of the whole pistol is the grip, due to the larger capacity. 755 inches wide according to my calipers, which is virtually the same as the LCP II.
To be fair, that dimension is only at the rearmost cocking “ears.” Most of the slide is.