LCP Max upgrades

[T-Bird]

I bought one of these a couple weeks ago. So far, I like it a lot. I've seen various aftermarket upgrades offered by several companies, the ones that have caught my attention are the 13# recoil spring and the stainless guide rod, also the heavy duty takedown pin. The spring/rod combo is supposed to reduce felt recoil as well as making the slide's return to battery more reliable. The only problem that I've seen with this gun is that when I load a new mag and release the slide, it doesn't return to battery completely without a "nudge". This hasn't been a problem when firing, but it makes me concerned that it could be (at a bad time). Any of you have this gun and what do you say about the upgrades? I've run about 100 rounds through it so far, I could shoot it more to see if the slide issue resolves I guess.

[Bigslug]

Release the slide buy pulling it all the way to the rear and releasing, rather than using the slide stop. This will likely give you 1/8" to 1/4" more spring compression and slide travel to overcome the drag of the mag lips, feed ramp, and extractor, and likely explains why the gun runs properly when firing. As you say, break in of both gun and mags may help. So may a good cleaning with little more lube on slide rails, barrel hood, barrel locking block ramp, and the vertical lockup with the slide at the front of the ejection port. So may a different choice in ammo.

Felt recoil: the LCP, along with most of the modern crop of .380's are tilt-barrel, recoil-operated systems that snap your hand a lot less than the blowbacks of old. There's not much there to reduce in the first place.

Guide rods: The gun already has a guide rod. Ditching the OEM for another won't change anything. Snake oil.

Heavy duty takedown pin??? It's a short steel rod braced on it's ends by the frame insert, only taking a hit from a little .380 ACP, and taking that hit spread out across much of it's length by the equally wide locking block cut on the barrel. Seems like more snake oil to me.

A slightly heavier recoil spring might help overcome the friction of the round on the mag and ramp with the forward motion starting from dropping the slide stop, but then, so may a clean, properly lubed, and broken in gun. The recoil spring has TWO jobs to do - you've got the feeding part of it right, but it also has to absorb the recoil, and there's a balancing act there - - the slide has to go back fast enough to allow the ejector to strike the empty case properly, and far enough to allow feeding of the next round. Little guns are generally more compromised in this regard because there's not much room for slide travel to build or dissipate momentum - and the lightweight slides don't have much mass to do the work. Therefore, the right spring rate plus a clean gun (regular pocket lint abatement sessions) are your best insurance.

This is all stuff that's easy and cheap enough that if it needed to be in the gun, Ruger would have put it there. Proceed with a clean, lube, and a couple hundred more rounds. If there's still a problem, ask Ruger.

[T-Bird]

Yea, kinda what I was thinking. What you said makes sense. I didn't think about the slide stop not compressing the spring enough either. I haven't owned semi auto pistols for very long, shot exclusively revolvers for a long time. As for as cleaning and oiling, that's covered. I'm not interested in blowing money if I don't need to. Thanks for the response. I am open to other views if there are any tho.

[35remington]

What Bigslug said.

Springs are a balance

Changing them unbalances the gun and makes it more likely to malfunction unless you change something else.

Since the gun has essentially zero slide runup, stay away from hot loadings. The hotter the ammo over standard lower velocities, the more likely it is to malfunction due to excessive slide speed outrunning the round next being fed or jarring it free of the pistol rather than feeding it.

[Mk42gunner]

Keep it clean, keep it lubed, make sure your magazines work in it. Shoot it.

Otherwise, I have to agree with what Bigslug wrote.

Robert

[contender1]

I too have to agree with Bigslug.

All too often people think they have to "fix" something,, when in actuality,, it's not broken. The very first thing I was going to say was "Pull the slide back to release it,, don't use the slide LOCK as a release."

Follow all the above advice.

[kerplode]

Yeah, what they said...

Take whatever money you were going to spend on springs, add $50 more, and use it to buy ammo. Then take the ammo and go shoot the piss out of the gun. Lube it well...Grip it tight. It'll settle in.

[T-Bird]

I'm lucky. I ordered some Hi-Tek coated cast 95 grain RN boolits from Bayou Bullets and it seems to love them (and they go into battery easier too). I may just order those. When I found that .380 costs $25-$30 a box, I saw this was going to be a handloading proposition so I procured some Lee dies. I'm not sure I want to cast for ANOTHER cal!

[Bigslug]

I'm lucky. I ordered some Hi-Tek coated cast 95 grain RN boolits from Bayou Bullets and it seems to love them (and they go into battery easier too). I may just order those. When I found that .380 costs $25-$30 a box, I saw this was going to be a handloading proposition so I procured some Lee dies. I'm not sure I want to cast for ANOTHER cal!

NOE TL358-100 / Accurate 35-098R / Lee TL-356-95 - The Ranch Dog design and pretty much the same profile as Winchester's Q4206 flat nose FMJ. Good functionality confirmed across Ruger, Walther, Glock, old FN and old Colt. I can't confirm as cast diameter of the Lee version, but the NOE goes about .358 and the Accurate will ship fast and drop at whatever you specify.

[FergusonTO35]

Love my LCP II .22 LR, would have a .380 version if they put a manual safety on it. I think the LCP Max is a step backwards. Fat grip and Ruger forums have reported numerous problems with it.

[Mk42gunner]

I haven't had any problems with mine, maybe I got lucky for a change. I'm not all that enamored with the fat grip; it can cause the pistol to rotate in your pocket, even with it in the Ruger provided pocket holster.

What I do really like about the MAX is the sights. I can actually see them well enough to shoot without glasses. If Ruger were to offer a version of the LCP II with the Max's sights, it would be the best of both worlds in my opinion. As long as you are willing to settle for .380 ACP ballistics.

Robert

[billmc2]

I have the LCP Max. When I first got it, I bought an extended 12 round mag. I was having trouble with it, so I called Ruger. I don't think I was on the phone with them longer than a minute when they said they would send me another mag no charge. I asked how to return the one I had, they said keep it. I had bought 300 rounds of the newly back in business Remington rounds. It turns out it was an ammo problem and not a mag problem. I've felt a little bad about not paying for the mag I received.

As for the grip size, I like it a lot. For me the grip size on the original LCP is just to narrow.

In the owner's manual for the LCP Max, they do tell you to sling shot the slide. To keep things simple/consistent I now sling shot all my slides.

[Lloyd Smale]

back in the day when i bought a new black gun i did all the upgrades even relaced barrels. what did i end up with a 800 dollar ccw or combat gun that didnt have a single real advantage in a gun fight over the 500 dollar factory gun . today i take them out of the box and put my money into components so i can practice more with them

[T-Bird]

Guess i got a good one too. The only "problem I was having wasn't a problem at all. Guess if I had read the owners manual, I wouldn't have had that. As for the grip width, I was looking at both the LCPII and the Max and I really preferred the Max grip. I haven't modified a gun that I bought either Lloyd, it was the tremendous amount "material" on the world wide wonder web that said that I could make this pistol "run" even better than it did (guess nobody "shoots" a gun anymore) that made me ask the question.