LC9 and LC9s/pro different magazines?

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Fatdaddy

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Dec 14, 2005
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I saw on another site where someone was selling some LC9 magazines that the seller stated will not fit the LC9s/pro model. He bought them for his LC9s but they wouldn't fit.
In all fairness they were Pro Mags so they could just be out of spec.
I would think the LC9 family of magazines would work across the platform....
What say the experts?
I'd like to know for when/if I run up on extra Ruger brand magazines in the future.
 

OldePhart

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Dec 12, 2014
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They were probably the 9 round extended mags. The base of the grip is just slightly different on the LC9 and LC9s so some tight-fitting extended mags or pinky extensions for the LC9 won't quite work on the LC9s. I've heard you can actually trim the plastic around the extension just a tiny fraction and they will then work.

Otherwise, LC9 and LC9s mags are interchangeable.
 

rugerguy211

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
401
I have an LC9 and an LC9s (not Pro).
I had a Ruger 9 round extended mag. It worked equally poorly in both guns, as it would disengage every 1 or 2 shots.
The 9 rounder was exchanged with Ruger for a 7 rounder.
 

rugerguy211

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Dec 15, 2013
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I have an LC9 and an LC9s (not Pro).
I had a Ruger 9 round extended mag. It worked equally poorly in both guns, as it would disengage every 1 or 2 shots.
The 9 rounder was exchanged with Ruger for a 7 rounder.
 

dlidster

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Dec 4, 2010
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184
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Central Iowa
OldePhart said:
They were probably the 9 round extended mags. The base of the grip is just slightly different on the LC9 and LC9s so some tight-fitting extended mags or pinky extensions for the LC9 won't quite work on the LC9s. I've heard you can actually trim the plastic around the extension just a tiny fraction and they will then work.

Otherwise, LC9 and LC9s mags are interchangeable.
Are you referring to the base of the grip on the 9-round extended magazines? I ask only because the first time I read this I thought you might have meant the base of the grip on the LC9 and the LC9s pistols themselves. I have both and by both observation and measurement they are identical.

I have eight 7-round magazines; four USA-Made, four Italian-made. And while the average thickness of my four Italian-made magazines is .0062" greater than the average thickness of my four USA-made magazines (less than the measured thickness of my fingernail), both have functioned perfectly for thousands of rounds in both pistols. (My LC9 was test fired May 6, 2011; my LC9s-Pro was test-fired February 2, 2015.)


 

OldePhart

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I was talking about trimming the grip extension on the magazines, not trimming the frame of the gun.

In your last picture you can see how the cutout for the magazine does not go quite as far back (even allowing for the very slight mismatch of the position of fronts of the grips) in the gun on the right. I.e. in that picture the front of the grip of the gun on the right is forward by a mm or a bit less, the rear of the cutout is forward by about three times that. Extended magazines that have a grip extension that tightly fits the gun on the left will not fully seat reliably in the gun on the left.

I don't think factory nine-round magazines were ever an issue, only some aftermarket nine-round mags that have an extension that fits almost seamlessly to the grip.

I never bought any 9-rounders for my LC9s when I had it, and even the baseplates with pinky extension on the factory 7-round mags didn't fit tightly against the grip so they wouldn't be an issue.
 

dlidster

Single-Sixer
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Dec 4, 2010
Messages
184
Location
Central Iowa
OldePhart said:
In your last picture you can see how the cutout for the magazine does not go quite as far back (even allowing for the very slight mismatch of the position of fronts of the grips) in the gun on the right.
Good observation. The gun on the right is an LC9 (not "s"). However, the difference is in the checkered area of the frame, not the cutout. I'd be happy to share photos of the two frames with the same magazine in place to illustrate what's actually going on.
 
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