[cavediver]

Disclaimer: I have owned Rugers since the mid 1970's and am a huge fan of their firearms. I currently own a long list of Ruger pistols, revolvers and rifles and this is not an anti-Ruger post.

I ordered a new LCP along with a spare Ruger magazine to replace my Kel-Tec P3AT that I had owned and carried for over 10 years. I bought it from Bud's and picked it up at local FFL on Thursday. I must say that the fit and finish is superior to my P3AT in every way. The function was where if vastly differed because the P3AT has never failed to load, fire or eject cleanly.

I cleaned and lubed it and was off to the range the next day (Friday). The first magazine fired fine, no issues. The third round of the second magazine ejected fine but the unfired round failed to feed fully (slide was about 1/8" short of returning to fully battery) and the live round was not fully seated in the chamber. Also, the trigger had not reset. It was locked up tight and it took several good whacks at the slide to finally seat the round. I disassembled it and looked for issuses and found none so I put it back together and loaded two more magazines. Once again the first magazine fired fine but the second round of the second magazine locked up the exact same way and it took several good whacks to dislodge it.

The magazines were both factory Ruger but one was made in USA and the other in Italy. I had one failure in each so it wasn't the magazines. The rounds were factory fresh Winchester White Box 95 grain FMJ target.

I immediately call Ruger and as usual the customer service was excellent. They emailed me a FedEx label and I had it on the way to Prescott within two hours where I'm sure they will get it running smooth. Interestingly, this is the very first function problem I've ever had with any of Rugers so maybe I was due.

I attached a few photos of it in the jammed condition and I also shared them with Ruger.

 

[cavediver]

Showing slide not fully returned.

 

[cavediver]

Live round not fully seated in chamber.

 

[petergunn]

What ammo?

 

[cavediver]

What ammo?

As I mentioned in my post, factory fresh Winchester White Box 95 grain FMJ.

 

[Owly]

I think I'd try another brand of ammo before condemning the gun. Two failures with WWB, although concerning, isn't then end of the world. It's pretty cheap ammo and the gun isn't even broken in yet.
If the problem persists after a couple boxes of another brand, then I'd send it in.

 

[cavediver]

I think I'd try another brand of ammo before condemning the gun. Two failures with WWB, although concerning, isn't then end of the world. It's pretty cheap ammo and the gun isn't even broken in yet.
If the problem persists after a couple boxes of another brand, then I'd send it in.

Please read my original post, I wasn't bashing Ruger or condemning the gun in any way. I praised the fit and finish. The second jam was so tight that I had a heck of a time getting that live round out, the gun was really locked up. I called Ruger from the range for some advice on how to get the round out and THEY said to get it back to them ASAP and they would get it sorted out. That is why I buy and own Rugers, great customer service and excellent firearms.

 

[ditto1958]

Hmmm... OP, it's your gun, and as such it's your call. Still, I do have to say with all due respect that I think you were a bit hasty in sending the gun back. I think I'd have cleaned it and fired a coupla hundred more rounds, making sure to use different ammo. It likely just needed to break in.

Ruger will likely either replace most of the innards of your gun, or send you a new one, but that will not be an indication that they found anything wrong with it.

 

[kwalter219]

I think, in this case,Cavediver is correct in following the manufacturers (Ruger) suggestion and send the firearm back. Not only is Ruger interested in keeping the customer happy, but may want to see if they have a flaw that they have not discovered yet, or something has changed without there knowledge in the manufacturing or assembly.

 

[cavediver]

Hmmm... OP, it's your gun, and as such it's your call. Still, I do have to say with all due respect that I think you were a bit hasty in sending the gun back. I think I'd have cleaned it and fired a coupla hundred more rounds, making sure to use different ammo. It likely just needed to break in.

Ruger will likely either replace most of the innards of your gun, or send you a new one, but that will not be an indication that they found anything wrong with it.

I appreciate your opinion but I had absolutely no desire to waste $100 + of .380 ammo and hope that would sort it out. I chose to take Rugers advice and send it back to get sorted out at zero cost to me. These weren't simple failure to ejects that take a moment to clear. The gun was LOCKED UP TIGHT and took a lot of effort to clear it both times.

 

[jic]

Cavediver, I think you did the right thing by sending it back to Ruger and letting
them take care of the problem.

I would have done the same.

jic

 

[Owly]

Please read my original post, I wasn't bashing Ruger or condemning the gun in any way. I praised the fit and finish. The second jam was so tight that I had a heck of a time getting that live round out, the gun was really locked up. I called Ruger from the range for some advice on how to get the round out and THEY said to get it back to them ASAP and they would get it sorted out. That is why I buy and own Rugers, great customer service and excellent firearms.

Ok
Still... how do you know it wasn't simply a fault with that particular lot of ammo? Personally, I'd have wanted to determine that and rule out problem ammo before going through the hassle of returning the firearm and submitting to another background check it they choose to replace it.

Each to their own I guess. It's still a free country.

 

[Phred]

Cavediver, I think you did the right thing by sending it back to Ruger and letting
them take care of the problem.

I would have done the same.

jic

+1

 

[moakes58]

Live round not fully seated in chamber.

It's not the ammo.
When our 3 year old LCP was new, we had the same issues & right of the bat it was throwing empty brass into the next zip code, so I went home & ordered an 11# Wolff recoil spring(about $10) & after about 1,000 rounds we have not had 1 issue with feeding, ejection(now a reasonable distance) or fully returning to battery.

It's like a different pistol. Also added the Hogue dedicated LCP grip(about $10) & it is a great back-up pistol.

I highly recommend these 2 simple mods.

 

[Owly]

It's not the ammo.

No one will ever know now.

I'm certainly not saying it was the ammo, just saying I would have ruled it out before proceeding. I've seen brand new factory loaded ammo from big name manufacturers (WWB, UMC) with buckled case mouths and other deformations in the brass. Finding two duds in one box is unlikely, but still, it's possible.

Of course, it's also possible it was a fault of the gun. The OP may never know.

 

[GONRA]

GONRA believes cavediver should be happy as a dog with 4 peckers
to have cleared the "partially chambered live round" jam "without incident".
This kinda stuff drives ya nuts.
Unfortunately, happens more than it should if yer shootin'
semiauto collector's items with yer Prize Winning Handloads.

cave diver should disassemble the pistol.
Check all remaining rounds for "free chambering".
Bitch to Ruger if the chamber seems messed up..

 

[ditto1958]

GONRA, the OP has already sent it back.

 

[Smee78]

I would of not sent it back until I at least tried 1 other brand of ammo but thats just me. I believe all guns need to be broken in before expecting 100% reliability. Also when you cleaned the gun prior to shooting it did you leave any oil in the chamber or was it dry? Either way I'm sure Ruger will take care of you.

 

[cavediver]

No one will ever know now.

I'm certainly not saying it was the ammo, just saying I would have ruled it out before proceeding. I've seen brand new factory loaded ammo from big name manufacturers (WWB, UMC) with buckled case mouths and other deformations in the brass. Finding two duds in one box is unlikely, but still, it's possible.

Of course, it's also possible it was a fault of the gun. The OP may never know.

Well, since some are blaming the ammo, I took the rest of the box in question in addition to the second box of it that I bought at the same time and ran it all through my Kel-Tec P3AT today just fine without any issues at all. That basically tells me the Winchester White Box that jammed in my LCP is not defective in any way. Besides that, none of my other Ruger semi-autos are or ever have been ammo sensitive in any way and that includes both of my KP95DC'c, my KP97DC or my SR9. I would expect the same of my LCP. FWIW, my Kel-Tec P3AT has no ammo sensitivities at all.

 

[Owly]

Well, since some are blaming the ammo, I took the rest of the box in question in addition to the second box of it that I bought at the same time and ran it all through my Kel-Tec P3AT today just fine without any issues at all. That basically tells me the Winchester White Box that jammed in my LCP is not defective in any way. Besides that, none of my other Ruger semi-autos are or ever have been ammo sensitive in any way and that includes both of my KP95DC'c, my KP97DC or my SR9. I would expect the same of my LCP. FWIW, my Kel-Tec P3AT has no ammo sensitivities at all.

Fair enough.

'Twas just a suggestion.

Trying to help...
not trying to get you fired up.