Nomercy448

I carry an LCP daily, as does my wife. We have 2 Gen 1's, a Gen 2, a Gen 2 "Custom," and just picked up an LCP II (Gen 3). The ones on sale currently are Gen 2's.

For the sake of a better trigger and better sights, do NOT buy a Gen 1 original LCP. Nothing wrong with them, but the new Gen 2 trigger and sights are well worth it. The low price models running around now have all been Gen 2's, except for a few remnant FDE and stainless slide Gen 1's.

I'm a guy who catches the specific words people use, so I'll get this out of the way first. When a guy says a pistol is "not high quality," most people would read that to imply the pistol is rather low quality. While the Ruger LCP is, in fact, low cost, it's not low quality. It's a polymer frame, which is inexpensive, but it's as good of quality in manufacture as any Glock, S&W, or Sig polymer gun I've owned. I won't get drawn into a debate with someone who holds the belief all polymer guns are low quality, as such a position is just foolish, and only a fool will argue with one - which I am not.

The LCP Gen 2 has a much better trigger than the Gen 1, and much better sights. Firing timed fire, my wife prints under the palm of her hand at 10yrds, and when firing unlimited time slow fire, she'll ding our 50yrd 10" gong about 80% hit ratio. With my Gen 2 Custom (hideously tall dovetail sights on top and a galloway trigger), I shoot a little tighter group, but don't do as well as she on the 50yrd gong.

I tend to carry my Gen 1, simply because I carried it for a long time before the Gen 2 ever came out. I'm cutting a holster now to start carrying my LCP II (Gen 3).

Even when I carry something else, I carry my LCP as a BUG.

A lot of folks do poo-poo the .380acp, and I can't say they're completely wrong, but they're not right either. In college, I was foolhearty and wanted to make a point, so on a year when our hunting laws were in flux, I took a whitetail doe with a Walther PPK/s .380acp. Short shot, under 20yrds, and she ran AND I the bullet stopped at the inside edge of the far ribs, but she died, not so different tracking job than when bow hunting.

If there were a 9mm as small as an LCP, I'd carry that instead. But there isn't. I also have an LC9 and LC9s, which are about 3/4" taller and longer, as well as a Glock 43 which is an inch longer and a half inch taller. There just isn't a 9mm in the same size class. With the LCP, I can basically drop it into any clothes I could ever wear (I can even wear it while jogging in shorts with no shirt), whereas with the LC9 or G43, that LITTLE BIT of extra size does mean I have to change the way I dress to conceal them appropriately.

The Hogue Grip for the LCP is well worth it. It's a tiny pistol, and the concave sides of the grip are difficult to manage since I only really get about a finger and a half on the grip. Adding the grip sleeve really helps anchor it into my palm so fast fire is possible without it moving around and losing time re-establishing my grip.