Backpacker33
Member
We have an adult son who is professional military, home briefly after his fourth deployment to Iraq. He is proficient with a disturbing array of firearms I never heard of.
This time he brought with him a Ruger LCP. This is a kid “raised” on Sigs, Colt 1911’s, Ruger revolvers, Berettas, Glocks and S&W revolvers of all calibers. So DESPITE Ruger Redhawks, Blackhawks and Vaqueros, he brings home a Ruger baby-bullet-thrower!
Where did I go wrong?
He has CC permits in too many states to count, and often has to travel in unfriendly places. He drives a big, black SUV that has been, ahem, improved.
And, as he puts it, sometimes he just can’t conceal that big Glock he loves while wearing shorts or riding his mountain bike. Life is tough.
Sooo, we took the LCP to the range. He has added Crimson Trace Laser Grips. I have CTLGs on several of my guns, including my S&W 329PD, my primary backpacking gun, so I appreciate them and know how to use them. I thought.
First impression: The LCP is teeny. And throws a teeny bullet. Years ago I learned to loath the Walther PPK for the “railroad tracks” it left on the web of my hand, and the terrible discovery that I could not kill a bad guy on a roof top 75 feet away, at night, firing from the hip like James Bond (aka Sean Connery). In fact, had I known that my son wanted a 9mm Kurz, I’d have said “Take my Walther! Please!” But, the PPK is a chunk, and it makes most pockets sag. A sartorial negative.
There is no automatic slide lock on the LCP after the last round fires. I ran the slide back and forth several times thinking the magazine would catch it before my son, snickering, pointed out the nearly flush slide lock button. I had to use a finger nail to operate it. (see photos)
Oh, well, at least the magazine was easy to load. I used a box of Remington, followed by Winchester. Then, another silly shuffle trying to get the slide to drop until my son – again – pointed out the slide lock. ‘Nother application of a fingernail – good thing I irritate a guitar in my spare time – and the slide went home with a satisfying “TINK!” Er, “Thunk!” Whatever.
My son stood back behind me a little, but I could still see the sardonic smirk on his face. I eased the trigger back. And back. And back. WAAAY back! No “bang!” I thought maybe it was broken, or the trigger had not reset, so I jerked it hard to get the $&@#^ thing to move and “BANG!” Missed the entire target at 20 feet.
“Yeah,” says our articulate son, “I really hate that trigger . . ..”
I’m WITH ‘im, on that one.
I don’t really know how to describe it other than you just have to pull and pull and pull. The pull is so long I had to move my finger in the trigger guard mid-pull to get a shorter grip on it to finish the pull!
The first two rounds (actually #2 and 3) were, ahem, a bit wide. Then I clamped down on the LCP like I was choking a cougar that had its fangs in my neck, and the next three were about the length of the gun apart. (See photo.) Oh, and the target was waaay out there at a distant 7 yards . . ..
Couple magazines later, I was shooting better groups and learned an interesting thing. Getting tired of poking holes in paper at 21 feet, I took aim at a large steel popper out at 51 feet. (No reason for “51,” that’s just where we put it.) “DING” every time. Hmmm. Fired at another at 75 feet. “TING!” Of course, the steel popper didn’t even budge when hit by the fly-weight bullet, but I HIT IT! To be fair, the popper was set for IPSC.
Feeling my oats I then tried the LCP one-hand. SURPRISE! I can shoot it as well one hand as with two! I have no idea why. It is so tiny I get only two fingers around the grip, my little finger curled up all lonely below it, and the ring finger not happy with its job. See photos. BTW, in case it isn’t obvious, do NOT wear a ring on your shootin’ hand. Nuff sed.
About the time I was becoming jaded with four-inch groups at seven yards, my son says “I can see it’s hitting right on the laser dot.”
“Laser dot?” Forgot about that. He takes it, loads up with the Winchester rounds, holds it about chest level and puts all shots in a couple inches at seven yards, with three touching. (See photo) Ya feed a kid, clothe him, send him to college for a ‘spensive engineerin’ degree, beat him regularly and SEE how he humiliates his ole man? $&%@^$
He sez, as he points at the two-inch group, “I can usually cover them with a quarter when using the LaserGrips.” Well, what you see in the attached picture is the best *I* saw him shoot, and I didn’t even try to distract him while standing right behind him as he fired. Trust me.
The sights. What sights? Ya mean that truncated stump up front and that broken needle slot at the rear? One might as well just align the sides of the slide and pull the trigger. There is almost NO space visible on either side of the front blade in the rear sight notch for my triple-pane window-assisted eyes. That explains why making a tight group is so hard for me. That’s my story and I’m stikin’ with it.
But, remember those hits at 51 feet, one hand. Of course, velocity of the 9mm Kurz is so low at that distance I think I could have run down range after pulling the trigger and caught the bullet. James Bond my ass!
In summary:
I was in a local gun shop where I was shown a Walther and a Browning auto in .25 ACP. They were TEENIER than the LCP! Can’t imagine using one. It might make the shootee mad. So, compared to them the LCP isn’t so small. It is significantly smaller than the PPK and much lighter. Maybe not a bad choice for biking. We found we could reliably hit the round center of a large Pepper popper at 51 feet, and with the Crimson Trace dot we could group about the size of a quarter at 21 feet in moderately rapid fire.
After four or five magazines (six rounds each), my trigger finger was sore from being scraped inside the trigger guard. The recoil is not as punishing as the PPK. Don’t know why. Maybe the polymer gives more. Still, after about 50 rounds apiece we were done with it.
I’d say don’t expect to use if for self defense until you’ve become familiar with those teensy sights and that obnoxiously looong trigger pull. Then, expect to hit what you aim at, even out to at least 25 yards. Also, I have never seen a better candidate for the Crimson Trace Laser Grips.
-Backpacker
This time he brought with him a Ruger LCP. This is a kid “raised” on Sigs, Colt 1911’s, Ruger revolvers, Berettas, Glocks and S&W revolvers of all calibers. So DESPITE Ruger Redhawks, Blackhawks and Vaqueros, he brings home a Ruger baby-bullet-thrower!
Where did I go wrong?
He has CC permits in too many states to count, and often has to travel in unfriendly places. He drives a big, black SUV that has been, ahem, improved.
And, as he puts it, sometimes he just can’t conceal that big Glock he loves while wearing shorts or riding his mountain bike. Life is tough.
Sooo, we took the LCP to the range. He has added Crimson Trace Laser Grips. I have CTLGs on several of my guns, including my S&W 329PD, my primary backpacking gun, so I appreciate them and know how to use them. I thought.
First impression: The LCP is teeny. And throws a teeny bullet. Years ago I learned to loath the Walther PPK for the “railroad tracks” it left on the web of my hand, and the terrible discovery that I could not kill a bad guy on a roof top 75 feet away, at night, firing from the hip like James Bond (aka Sean Connery). In fact, had I known that my son wanted a 9mm Kurz, I’d have said “Take my Walther! Please!” But, the PPK is a chunk, and it makes most pockets sag. A sartorial negative.
There is no automatic slide lock on the LCP after the last round fires. I ran the slide back and forth several times thinking the magazine would catch it before my son, snickering, pointed out the nearly flush slide lock button. I had to use a finger nail to operate it. (see photos)
Oh, well, at least the magazine was easy to load. I used a box of Remington, followed by Winchester. Then, another silly shuffle trying to get the slide to drop until my son – again – pointed out the slide lock. ‘Nother application of a fingernail – good thing I irritate a guitar in my spare time – and the slide went home with a satisfying “TINK!” Er, “Thunk!” Whatever.
My son stood back behind me a little, but I could still see the sardonic smirk on his face. I eased the trigger back. And back. And back. WAAAY back! No “bang!” I thought maybe it was broken, or the trigger had not reset, so I jerked it hard to get the $&@#^ thing to move and “BANG!” Missed the entire target at 20 feet.
“Yeah,” says our articulate son, “I really hate that trigger . . ..”
I’m WITH ‘im, on that one.
I don’t really know how to describe it other than you just have to pull and pull and pull. The pull is so long I had to move my finger in the trigger guard mid-pull to get a shorter grip on it to finish the pull!
The first two rounds (actually #2 and 3) were, ahem, a bit wide. Then I clamped down on the LCP like I was choking a cougar that had its fangs in my neck, and the next three were about the length of the gun apart. (See photo.) Oh, and the target was waaay out there at a distant 7 yards . . ..
Couple magazines later, I was shooting better groups and learned an interesting thing. Getting tired of poking holes in paper at 21 feet, I took aim at a large steel popper out at 51 feet. (No reason for “51,” that’s just where we put it.) “DING” every time. Hmmm. Fired at another at 75 feet. “TING!” Of course, the steel popper didn’t even budge when hit by the fly-weight bullet, but I HIT IT! To be fair, the popper was set for IPSC.
Feeling my oats I then tried the LCP one-hand. SURPRISE! I can shoot it as well one hand as with two! I have no idea why. It is so tiny I get only two fingers around the grip, my little finger curled up all lonely below it, and the ring finger not happy with its job. See photos. BTW, in case it isn’t obvious, do NOT wear a ring on your shootin’ hand. Nuff sed.
About the time I was becoming jaded with four-inch groups at seven yards, my son says “I can see it’s hitting right on the laser dot.”
“Laser dot?” Forgot about that. He takes it, loads up with the Winchester rounds, holds it about chest level and puts all shots in a couple inches at seven yards, with three touching. (See photo) Ya feed a kid, clothe him, send him to college for a ‘spensive engineerin’ degree, beat him regularly and SEE how he humiliates his ole man? $&%@^$
He sez, as he points at the two-inch group, “I can usually cover them with a quarter when using the LaserGrips.” Well, what you see in the attached picture is the best *I* saw him shoot, and I didn’t even try to distract him while standing right behind him as he fired. Trust me.
The sights. What sights? Ya mean that truncated stump up front and that broken needle slot at the rear? One might as well just align the sides of the slide and pull the trigger. There is almost NO space visible on either side of the front blade in the rear sight notch for my triple-pane window-assisted eyes. That explains why making a tight group is so hard for me. That’s my story and I’m stikin’ with it.
But, remember those hits at 51 feet, one hand. Of course, velocity of the 9mm Kurz is so low at that distance I think I could have run down range after pulling the trigger and caught the bullet. James Bond my ass!
In summary:
I was in a local gun shop where I was shown a Walther and a Browning auto in .25 ACP. They were TEENIER than the LCP! Can’t imagine using one. It might make the shootee mad. So, compared to them the LCP isn’t so small. It is significantly smaller than the PPK and much lighter. Maybe not a bad choice for biking. We found we could reliably hit the round center of a large Pepper popper at 51 feet, and with the Crimson Trace dot we could group about the size of a quarter at 21 feet in moderately rapid fire.
After four or five magazines (six rounds each), my trigger finger was sore from being scraped inside the trigger guard. The recoil is not as punishing as the PPK. Don’t know why. Maybe the polymer gives more. Still, after about 50 rounds apiece we were done with it.
I’d say don’t expect to use if for self defense until you’ve become familiar with those teensy sights and that obnoxiously looong trigger pull. Then, expect to hit what you aim at, even out to at least 25 yards. Also, I have never seen a better candidate for the Crimson Trace Laser Grips.
-Backpacker
