Backstory
My wife has her P&RL but rarely carries. She's petite, and sort of likes my Kahr P9, but hates my Airweight J-Frame. She runs every day, 365, through semi-rural NH, and I worry about 2- and 4-legged predators. Recently she said: "My friend "C" has a little Ruger that fits right in the palm of her hand, and it has a
laser. I want one like that." Hmm. A little checking confirms this is an LCP, so I decide to keep my eyes open. Haven't shot one, but about a week later, Palmetto State Armory, the bane of my existence, puts the Ruger LCP w/ Viridian Green Laser on sale at $259. Figuring I can't get hurt too bad at that price, so for a total of $259.99 + $17 shipping + $15 xfer, this is in my hands:
This an "Enhanced" model (no dash in the serial number) with the modified trigger and improved the sights.
First impressions are positive. Very nice fit and finish; much better than I expected, and certainly better than the Keltec P3AT I saw, which this pistol supposedly largely copies. Gun comes with one 6-rd magazine, with two base plates: the flat one pictured above, and one with a small "finger extension." The extension didn't do much for me, so I left the flat-bottomed one on. This is definitely a small grip. My pinky-finger is just along for the ride, curled underneath. As you probably know, Ruger also makes a 7-round extended magazine, and we'll see that later.
Trigger is reasonable, about 8 pounds or so. The sights are small, but quite usable for what they're intended for, I guess. I'll get back to that in a moment.
You can get LCPs with a number of laser options, which I didn't know. Lasermax, Crimson Trace, Viridian, maybe more. I have the Viridian Reactor Instant-On Green Laser Sight. The "Reactor" part comes from the fact the laser comes on automatically when the gun is drawn from the included holster. They use a magnet (which you can get as an add-on for other holsters) to deactivate the laser when the gun is holstered. Sort of like you're refrigerator light. There's no fumbling for a switch with your support hand, etc. Draw, and the laser is on. Pretty neat, and it works well. Also, the laser itself fits the LCP so tightly it looks like an integral part of the gun. The gun comes with a "pocket holster," equipped with the magic magnet.
I was never a big fan of lasers, but I wondered how useable the green laser would be in the real world. Turns out, much better than I thought.
Here's the laser in my basement, which is pretty well-lit, but really not much of a challenge:
No surprise there, so I decided to go outside. It was a pretty bright day. Not zero clouds, but pretty light. Time is about 1300. Here the laser is against the granite wall at about 15 feet.
The spot is easily visible, and I added the arrow to show the spot. OK, this is a "close range" gun, as in "Get off of me" distance, but what about a little longer range? Here's the laser at almost 50 feet, again against a rock wall:
Again, easy for me to pick up immediately. Arrow added for clarity. I was quite surprised at how easy it was to spot the laser against the rock. I decided to move the laser against another backdrop, this time the propane tank "dome" to the right, and another 15 feet back.
Huh.
Very bright spot, immediately obvious to the eye. OK, so I can see the laser at much longer than normal "engagement" ranges, on a random day. Maybe this thing has some real-world utility.
But, I'm a "sights" guy, and although the sights were OK, I ran across Innovative Arms, and a sight mod they do for the LCP. They machine in a tritium "big dot" front sight, and a custom rear.
The mod looked intriguing, and since it was relatively cheap ($150) with a two-week turnaround, I decided to go for it. I like clear, visible sights, and these seemed like the ticket.
Customer service was good, turn-around was quick, and here she is wearing the new sights:
Very high quality work, and the sights transform the gun, IMO. Nice, big dot out there to draw the eye, with no distracting crap on the rear. Plus, the front of the rear sight is serrated for one-handed manipulation of the slide. Very nice. I'm quite happy.
About that same time, I received the Ruger 7-rd extended magazine. It adds some bulk at the bottom, but doesn't really impact the concealability at all. It adds some additional "grab surface," as well.
You're probably sick of reading this by now, but no firearm review is complete without some shots fired, so I snuck off to the range on Black Friday for a little hands-on.
I grabbed 100 rounds to try out.
The pistol side of our small range has two racks of 8" falling steel plates flanking a steel silhouette with a 8" "hostage taker" target.
The racks are 15 yards from the line, which is outside the "normal" range for this gun, but...look at the
snow. I wasn't going to stand in the snow almost to my knees just to shoot plates.
First, I want to point out I had NO failures of any kind over 100 rounds. At all. Although I didn't try any hollow-points yet, I was impressed with the gun's ability to handle the ammo, especially the steel-cased stuff.
Second, I could go 6-for-6 on the plates all day long if I did my part. The trigger was quite manageable, as was the recoil. No problems shooting or controlling the gun with the "shortie" magazine in place, and the extended one was even better.
So, I decided to try something you would never try with this gun: head shots on the hostage-taker target. No way would I take this shot at 15 yards with this gun, but I wanted to see if I could. Here's what I found:
I shanked the first shot (you can see is at left 7:00, right on the edge of the plate). The rest of the 6-rd mag is all there. I was quite surprised at how easy that was. It got me thinking about the laser. Up to this point, all the rounds were with the sights. I stuck the 7-rd extended magazine in, and decided to shoot the entire mag
from the hip, using only the laser, to see how that might work. Again, no f-ing way would I take a shot like this for real, but here's what I found:
What I found is I could go 7-for-7, from the hip, using the stupid laser, at 15 yards. Wow.
Another thing that surprised me was that I had no problems shooting the gun for 100 rounds. I kind of expected this to be one of those "not fun to shoot too much" guns, like an Airweight Smith can sometimes be. Nope. I had no problems at 100 rounds, and was looking for more. You could actually practice with this gun without it being punishment.
So, the bottom line of a long review: I really like this gun, far more than I thought I would. Yes, I added an set of enhanced sights, but they're just icing on the cake. I think the gun works well for its size and weight. The trigger is quite manageable, as is the recoil. It's a light, easily concealable package, and the laser adds far more functionality than I thought it would, at little or no compromise to weight or controllability.
The only problem is, I might want it for myself...
