LCP II Question....

TripleO7

TripleO7

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
1,431
Location
The Special Hell That is Suburbia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ok, I got an LCP II after Academy failed to return my LCP (takedown pin fell out!)to Ruger in a timely manner. I called their CS and demanded a refund or a new gun. They had held it for a couple of months. The store manager calls me and offers me a refund or a new gun. I get there and they don't have an LCP, they have an LCP II though. So I took the LCP II. Score! Right?

UhUh. Couldn't hardly get through a couple of mags (LCP and LCP II) without a catastrophic failure. No tap and rack, casings seriously stuck partially out of the chamber. Drop mag, clear and then carry on. This always happened on the 5th round in the mag and the 6th would fire, no problem. Sounds crazy but true. An RSO at DD went out with a bunch of different ammo and fired it and sure as heck it happened to her as well. I had just asked if she had run across such a thing and she tried to help me even though I didn't buy the gun there. She saw me in the parking lot one day and came over to inquire about it. I don't know if she would want her name used here, but some of you know and appreciate her. A major shout out to her! Most RSO's would have shrugged their shoulders and said call Ruger.

I bit the bullet and did the return myself this time and have been at the house all day waiting. Just got the gun delivered by FedEx. The notes say that they replaced the barrel, and the mag they returned looks like a new one. They fired 24 rounds of WWB 100 grain FMJ with no malfunction.

Can anyone explain this to me? It may be something simple and obvious to those more experienced than I. Unfortunately it may be a few days before I can test fire it. I generally use 95 grain just in case that matters, but I don't think so.
 
Bad feed ramp?
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
This. Ball,Ball,Ball.
Click to expand...

Ball ammo was being used. I can't afford to shoot that much Hornady Critical Defense! The LCP and LCP II both don't like to go in to battery with hollow points but will cycle it. None of that malfunctioned. Like I said in the 9mm ammo thread, I am seriously considering just carrying ball ammo anyway.

Whats really got tweaked is the fact that it always happened on the fifth round! I know, it sounds crazy.
 
TripleO7 said:
Whats really got tweaked is the fact that it always happened on the fifth round! I know, it sounds crazy.
Click to expand...
How about filling the magazine but skipping the 5th round? :D
 
I have a LCP Gen 2 and I have over 300 rounds through it without any problems. I've been shooting Speer LE Gold Dot 90 grain rounds. One thing I never do with any my automatics is never put the extra round back in the magazine after loading it. So on my LCP I'm just carrying one in the chamber and 5 in the magazine. I forget who told me to do this and he said there are more malfunctions when you put that extra round in the magazine. Even though I have no studies to prove his theory it seems to work for me.
 
Jim1392 said:
I have a LCP Gen 2 and I have over 300 rounds through it without any problems. I've been shooting Speer LE Gold Dot 90 grain rounds. One thing I never do with any my automatics is never put the extra round back in the magazine after loading it. So on my LCP I'm just carrying one in the chamber and 5 in the magazine. I forget who told me to do this and he said there are more malfunctions when you put that extra round in the magazine. Even though I have no studies to prove his theory it seems to work for me.
Click to expand...

I always top off the mag. The LCP malfunctioned for the first time when the takedown pin came out on the range one day after countless rounds.

I am willing to give it a try though just to see if the LCP II still acts up. I'll report the results either way.
 
The wife's LCP II has to have at least 1000 through it. She shoots it faster than I can reload the 3 mags. It's MAYBE had 3 failures to feed with Tula steel (none with even the cheapest WalMart brass), and that was in the beginning of her shooting so I'm pretty sure it was shooter induced. So it's been basically perfect.

I thought about the previous post about not topping off the mag, but a mag doesn't give a crap if there's a round in the chamber in this gun or any other. Can't make sense of that.

Anyway, the fifth round thing is really strange.

Also my LCP, which I no longer have, was equally perfect in it's operation with whatever ammo I threw at it. I replaced it with an EC9s, which is also flawless. I love me a tiny Ruger pistol!
 
TripleO7 said:
(takedown pin fell out!)
Click to expand...

My LCP has enough rounds through it that now after every other mag I push the takedown and frame pins (not sure what they're called) back into place. I just don't think they were designed to be shot so much.
 
Jayne said:
My LCP has enough rounds through it that now after every other mag I push the takedown and frame pins (not sure what they're called) back into place. I just don't think they were designed to be shot so much.
Click to expand...

As I said above I only have around 300 rounds through mine. I really only shot it that much to feel confident to carry it knowing it was reliable. I agree this small guns like this seemed designed to be carried a lot and shot a little. I've also read that the problem you are having is not unusual . I think if you send it back to Ruger they will fix it for you.
 
Jayne said:
My LCP has enough rounds through it that now after every other mag I push the takedown and frame pins (not sure what they're called) back into place. I just don't think they were designed to be shot so much.
Click to expand...

I'm beginning wish I had decided to just live with it too! I did shoot the heck out of it, that's for sure. It ate everything I fed it. Never a malfunction til the day I had to get on my hands and knees to find the pin after it went click and the slide came off in my hand.

LCP II Range Report: 50 rounds SIG 100 grain FMJ. Perfect!

46 rounds Remington 95 grain FMJ A few malfunctions. Same crap, different day.

50 rounds Federal AE 95 grain FMJ. Fugettabout it! Jammity Jam Jam Jam!

I have to admit that three of the issues were me with the Remington and Federal. It's easy to get on the mag release if you get lazy with the grip, which I was because at that point I was just slingin lead to test for malfunction. I'm hoping that I was wrong and it is a matter of a heavier bullet. I'm going to buy more of the SIG and try to find some WWB 100 grain.
 
Jim1392 said:
I think if you send it back to Ruger they will fix it for you.
Click to expand...

It's been back once already to fix an extraction issue (I swapped out the obviously busted extractor but it still wasn't 100%). I'll live with the pins for now.

The comforting thing is that after carrying it around randomly for a few months I took it to the range, pulled it out with the carry ammo in it and it went BANG every time. Never had an issue with my carry ammo in it, and that's why I still carry it.
 
Just in case you wanted to spend the $12.99 for a fix. That of course if the little spring is still in place you should see when looking in the hole.

LCP take down pin from Tandemkross
  • These do NOT fit the New Custom Ruger LCP.
  • Has unique locking mechanism to prevent walking out
  • Hardened steel for increased durability
  • Indentation on the head of pin so you know it is secured

The standard LCP takedown pin has been known to walk out and shearing the head off.

This black-oxidized replacement Takedown Pin is crafted with high quality, hardened steel to ensure durability and prevent shearing. The pin features a unique locking mechanism slot to prevent the pin from walking out and causing damage to the pistol as well as an indentation on one half of the head to signify if it is in the locked position (if the indentation is down).

Fits Rugerâ„¢ LCP Pistols.

UPC:

091131144343

Brand:

Tandemkross

SKU:

LCPTDPIN
 
Last edited:
New twist in the plot!

After watching a video of a guy manually cycling live rounds and demonstrating the problem, I decided to keep cycling snap caps (because I'm not an idiot) to see if I could replicate the problem. It won't jam for me using B's snap caps, they are nickel plated, essentially dummy rounds, not cheap plastic.

I've noticed that as the mag empties, the snap caps don't fly out as strongly as when it is topped off, getting noticeably weaker at rounds 5,6, and 7, with the last round just barely popping out.

Since I am manipulating the slide and trying hard to be consistent, I am leaning towards mag issues of some sort? The one that I have is made in Italy, not the U.S.

Shouldn't every extraction be the same?
 
Last edited:
BatteryOaksBilly said:
You can't duplicate a firing cycle. Not consistently enough to get meaningful results.
Click to expand...

No, you can't. But I have spent enough on ammo to have taken a refund and bought a SIG or a Glock.

I was just spitballing and decided that possibly it was a matter of the gun getting hot and something expanding a tad. Then as I said, I watched a video of someone cycling rounds to show the problem he was experiencing.

That's when I decided to try just cycling rounds to see if I noticed anything that I would not notice live firing. Fast, slow, in between, hard, easy, the only thing that stood out was that rounds 5,6 and 7 seem to eject weaker most of the time.

I'm just frustrated with this thing. I have to call Ruger and find out if it was 100 grain bullets or plain 95 grain WWB. I've been out looking for 100 grain WWB that they said they tested it with 24 times, only to find that Winchester doesn't offer it! I've been using 100 grain SIG ammo.

If they say it was 95 grain WWB I'll buy some, shoot it and have Mrs. shoot video close up on the gun. If it jams I'll send them a video file if they'll accept it. At least they'll see that it does happen and when even if it doesn't really help diagnose the issue.

I've been thinking of getting rid of it but I have to consider the ethics of selling or trading a gun that I myself don't trust. I'm starting to feel as though they owe me a new gun.
 
I feel your pain Bro. The first of the old LCPs I had many years ago Would NOT Work. I took it on as a project to get it sorted out. NO GO. Now many years later I occasionally carry 2 LCPs that DO work. Ain't life strange?
 
I have an LCP II that so far has been reliable. I'll usually shoot one or two magazines through it nearly every Sunday to keep the pocket fuzz blown out of it.
 
Geezer said:
I have an LCP II that so far has been reliable. I'll usually shoot one or two magazines through it nearly every Sunday to keep the pocket fuzz blown out of it.
Click to expand...
Must be one helluva hole in that pocket by now. :eek:
 
Jim1392 said:
The pin features a unique locking mechanism slot to prevent the pin from walking out and causing damage to the pistol as well as an indentation on one half of the head to signify if it is in the locked position (if the indentation is down).
Click to expand...

Once you get past all the pop-ups on their web site, the pin itself looks pretty slick. Has a notch that the spring locks into and for disassembly you rotate the pin to move the notch up and push the retaining spring out of the way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom