Is the Ruger LCP a ..25 acp "killer"?

H

Hal

New member
I hadn't paid much attention to the Ruger LCP - mainly because I felt little need or use for a .380.

That all changed on Friday.

I was looking at a S&W Shield and the dealer had three Ruger LCP's on the shelf.

While I was mulling over the S&W, I asked to see one of the LCP's.
He handed me the basic LCP, then a Custom, then a used LCPII.
I tired all the triggers out & the LCP II had an unusable trigger. Way too heavy. The gun was used & I could see why the owner got rid of it.

Ditto the trigger on the Custom Pro. Horrible. Both of them required you to shift position of your hand while trying to squeeze the trigger.

The plain LCP though - real sweet trigger.

Lesson learned here is - I doubt very much if I'll ever buy (a new gun) from an online place or anywhere else that I can't handle the gun first.

I kept turning the little gun over in my hand - marveling at it's small size and light weight.

Anyhow - -I had been thinking of using a .25 acp for a small pocket carry piece.
The small LCP eliminated that idea like right now.

Time will tell - - and a trip to the range with it to see how I like it also.... ;)
 
The LCP is very hard to beat for an ultra concealable pocket gun. I have no use for anything smaller. I think that gun is about as small as you can go and still retain shootability, reliability, and ballistic performance. It fits it's role very nicely.
 
The little .25 caliber is pretty much a waste to carry if you can get a .380 instead. Look up the muzzle energy on this little gun and you'll see why. I personally know a cop who was shot behind the ear with a .25 at very close range while working under cover in a drug sting. The slug penetrated about one inch and stopped without entering his skull. He returned fire with a .22lr and shot completely through the perp's neck and paralyzed him. I saw the cop the next day in a LGS and that's how I found out he'd been shot the day before. He had a large gauze pad taped to his neck/ear. He was in the process of buying a .380 for under cover use. I had a small Browning .25 at that time and I traded it in the same week for a more effective concealed carry gun. I have a Ruger LCP and it's never failed to fire or eject with any ammo I've tried in it to date. It's even "accurate" at the distances it's designed to be used at. I'd give it two thumbs up.
 
I've owned and carried the LCP since they first came out. I also have the LC9 and sometimes carry both. Both have performed well for me in range shooting.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
I thought the 25 ACP was already dead... OK I know it's not obsolete yet but it's pretty darn close. I can't remember the last time I saw a new or used 25 ACP for sale anywhere.
 
LOL, I think the .25 ACP has been dead for a while. This is coming from someone who still has 5 of 'em in their collection and I never carry them or even take 'em to the range anymore.

Outside of nostalgia and sentimental value, there's no functional value to them when there are P32's, P3AT's, & LCP's available. The P32 has an equal amount of recoil than any straight blow back 25 ACP.

With that said, if a company would come out with a +P load that brought the cartridge to 1,000 fps in a 2.5" barrel in a double stacked 25 ACP, that might bring about a revival.
 
The .25 ACP died the day Beretta dropped production of the 950 Jetfire. Yeah, I know they're still available used and Beretta has the 21A Bobcat, but the 950 and its 8 rd magazine and SAO trigger were better.

The .25 ACP's only saving grave is that it's the smallest centerfire cartridge out there and if you don't trust a .22, but you want the smallest thing with the lowest recoil, then .25 fills that role. The LCP and .380 is no soft shooter; you are going to feel it when you shoot that pistol.

I think what might bring the .25 ACP back off life support isn't if someone made a +P load to shoot 1000 fps, but an 8 shot J frame/LCR revolver or a slightly bigger NAA Black Widow.

Other than that, I don't have a use for a .25. Sure, I do own a Raven .25, but that was more to own a Raven than to own a .25
 
What is killing 25acp is the ridulous price for the ammo.
Click to expand...

When you have to retool a line for only a day or two to produce a year's supply and then back again to something else, that ammo becomes expensive per round to produce. Size-wise, my little Colt is a lot smaller, but being made of forged steel and not plastic, it is as heavy, if not heavier than the LCP. Weight is not your friend when wearing beach/gym type shorts where all you have for a "belt" is a drawstring.
 
There's probably a reason Ruger doesn't make the LCP in .25 ACP, nor S&W make a M&P Bodyguard in .25 ACP. ;)

According to industry info during the last few years, the .380 ACP has been the strongest selling caliber on the commercial market. That's helped drive the introduction of newer, smaller, lighter and better .380 pistols.

The LCP was the first .380 that made me reconsider carrying a .380, after close to 25+ years of having rid myself of a Beretta M84 many years ago.

I liked my first blued LCP so well (first model, but made after the recall for the upgrade hammer revision), that I ordered one of the new stainless slide versions ("improved" trigger and sights), and it's been even better.

I didn't get the S&W Bodyguard because I didn't want an integral laser, and the BG was just enough larger that it didn't seem as small as the LCP, which matter to me because I carry the LCP in some tight jeans pockets.

Congrats on the new LCP.

I use either a Hogue handall Jr (trimmed to fit the LCP grip) and another brand of rightly sized tube sleeve on my LCP's. Not thick enough to affect the overall size, but enough to make shooting the little .380's something more easily done, especially during rapid shot strings.

I found that shooting the new stainless LCP model, in particular, to surprisingly be even easier than when shooting my favored assortment of J-frames, using them for the same 3-15yd qual courses-of-fire and drills. (Out at 30-50yds, the J's are still a bit easier to use for getting hits on silhouettes and steel, but those distances are just done to check & assess basic skills under difficult conditions for itty bitty pocket guns. ;) )

I can't try the new LCPII because I no longer have a full-time or DL1 reserve peace officer badge, so off-roster handguns are no longer available to me.

The LCP's I have are very nice little .380's, though.
 
I personally know a cop who was shot behind the ear with a .25 at very close range while working under cover in a drug sting. The slug penetrated about one inch and stopped without entering his skull.
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It's probably worth pointing out that the bones around the ear can be very dense. This probably represents a sort of worst-case scenario.

That said, I do think it's true that in all but the most extreme cases, there are such small/light autopistols available in more potent calibers that it's hard to justify the .25ACP these days.
 
Everyone thinks bigger is better, but that's not necessarily so. It's just the way Americans think.

The pocket .380s like the LCP and P3AT are not pleasant to shoot.
The Keltec P32 is actually scaled to the .32 cartridge, as is the P3AT.
Ruger, in a bit of marketing genius, directly copied the P3AT-but they made it slightly bigger and heavier. They also did a slicker job of moulding the plastic grip frame. (Yes, "moulding" is correct. "Molding" means covered with mold.)
People buy the name and the weight when they buy a Ruger LCP.

You can not make a .380 the same size as a .25-if both are built around the cartridge. If Keltec built a P 25 around the cartridge it would be tiny!

You hear many stories about the .25 bouncing off of people. Maybe they are true-if the gun had a rusted out oversize bore. But, from a quality gun like a Browning or Beretta, the .25 has adequate penetration for self defense.

And remember- caliber is not a substitute for marksmanship.
 
an 8 shot J frame/LCR revolver
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My 'wish list' gun for many years has been for a j-frame 3" with adj. sights in .25acp.
The cartridge is very accurate one and it would be a great plinker.
Economical to load for as well.
if a company would come out with a +P load that brought the cartridge to 1,000 fps in a 2.5" barrel
Click to expand...
if someone made a +P load to shoot 1000 fps
Click to expand...
Doubt that will happen with today's brass case technology, but it is no big chore to get those
velocities out of a .25 using the 50gr. FMJ by reloading.
The only problem is case life. Speed costs money.
To obtain the 1000+ fps, you blow out the primer pocket every time.
Section a .25acp case. Looking at the thin unsupported extractor groove/ primer pocket area
you'll see why pressures are kept under that of a .22LR.

A swedged in steel primer adapter similar to what Freedom Arms brought in the early days of
the production Casull revolvers, but made for SP primers down to a smaller size
(for a new smaller diameter small pistol primer) would be just the ticket for reviving the .25 (albeit at a higher price per round)
The .25 ACP's only saving grave is that it's the smallest centerfire cartridge out there and if you don't trust a .22,
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You hit the nail on the head with that one.
Way back when FN, Colt, and Walther (to name a few quality makers) were bringing their .25acp guns to market,
NONE of them chose to make a version in .22LR for a reason. Reliability.

JT
 
So let me get this straight....


The LCPII and Custom LCP triggers are awful, and the first Gen LCP's trigger is awesome?
 
Hal, your assessment of the LCP triggers seems to be the opposite of the online consensus. Many complained about the trigger on the original LCP, and the Custom was introduced as an improvement, which most agreed it was. The LCP II is an SA with a very light pull - some feel too light for pocket carry without a manual safety.

I have the LCP II and love the trigger.

TomNJVA
 
I'm thinking what near-killed the 25 acp originally might have been the Seecamp 32 acp. Identical form factor across the product line - 25, 32, 380. Which of course means that there is a 380 in the size of a 25, but blowback operation and very expensive.

The LCP took the venerable Kel-Tec P3AT design and made it somewhat better - if you agree that better is slightly heavier, slightly larger, and perhaps more reliable across the tremendous number sold. But what the LCP really did was popularize the lightweight pocket 380 - in locked-breech form - by having it sold and backed by Ruger.

I myself have a post recall gen-1 LCP which I will never get rid of. It is reliable, and eminently pocket-able. But I also have a Kel-Tec P32 which brings reliable 7+1 32 acp and even lighter weight and much lower recoil to the table.

25 ACP? It's not dead, even for defensive use: One of my favorite pawn/gun shops has a middle-aged woman behind the counter, and in her back pocket is what looks like a 950 stuffed into one of those remora or sticky type holsters. I also have one and it shoots fast and accurate. But she is backed by others who are armed with more substantial weapons. So I would say that 25 acp has a much smaller base of defense customers than it used to, because of the abundance of cheap, reliable and current production 32 and 380 pocket pistols.
 
The "point two five" auto has excellent stopping power... when you hit the target.

Most experts agree there is ZERO real world difference between .25 ACP up to .50 AE if you can't hit the target. Shots to the criticals count. Misses don't. And a .25 is better than the .380 you left at home any day of the week, and all else being equal (and it almost never is) and it's all enough until it's not and FOCUS ON THE FRONT SIGHT!!!!
 
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