I am a big fan of Pocket guns. Have thousands of rounds down range with many. I have belonged to a club of 380 shooters since the LCP first came out.I have owned many LCP's. Just not a fan of a gun that does not hold up very long. There are much better quality 380's out there. I am a Ruger Fan, but this new Max is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig. I hate to bash any gun, but Ruger could have done better. My last purchase was the LCP22. I use it and the LCR22 for training for the pocket guns, as my club has informal competition each month and have been for years. I hate the stupid trigger on the LCPll's. I would never carry one. I can shoot the LCR much better and the LCR is much better quality and seldom has any failures. The stupid safety of the LCP22 is obnoxious. Constantly pulling it down and then momentarily wondering why it failed. Ruger is not doing the 380 fans any favors. They are playing to the fad market of more rounds which sells to the newbie. Heck, I saw LCPll the other day at my LGS for $239. And IMO that is high for the quality you get. But a much better value for the money than the Max. Ruger must be making millions off of these cheap guns. I will give the points for that. And of course the LGS did NOT have any 380 ammo to sell. Go figure.
This is NOT the time to buy a 380! If you must get the LCP22 and start training and practicing with it and wait until prices come down on the Max, recalls have been done etc. Small Pistols require diligent training. They are NOT hard to shoot, but just have a longer learning curve. And you cannot do that without ammo.