Ruger LCP vs Beretta 950

Which one for EDC pocket carry?

  • Beretta 950

    Votes: 10 20.4%

  • Ruger LCP

    Votes: 39 79.6%
  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .
I replaced my PSP Baby Browning clone with a Ruger LCP, although the LCP is bigger, it's actually thinner in the grip area and as light. I can carry it anywhere I can carry the .25.
 
If I had to carry a gun like that, it would be one that I think all the rest have to be jusdged against, and try and beat, the Seecamp LWS32.

Ive had Berettas (21A's), and currently have a LCP, as well as a couple of Seecamps, and have had a number of others, and the Seecamps ARE the one to beat.

As Im not a "pocket" carrier, these are the last two ways I carried mine....

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ry%3D400
 
It is smaller, about 7/8" shorter in length, and a 1/2" in height. Width is about the same.

It weighs a tad more, but its a slight difference. I dont have an actual weight on the two. Was just judging by feel.
 
I am in the market for a sub-compact pocket pistol, and have narrowed it down to the Beretta 950 in .25 ACP (8+1) or the Ruger LCP in .380 ACP (6+1). What are the pros and cons (to you) of each? I found a website with these two guns compared:

http://guns.gearsuite.com/compare/16...ndard-380-Auto
Click to expand...

First, ignore your link, as it's utterly useless.

I think pocket pistols are smaller than subcompacts, a size class of their own. I regard both the Beretta 950 and Ruger LCP to be true pocket pistols.

I'm wary of any pocket pistol chambered in .380 Auto or a more powerful round. Pocket pistols in these calibers are uncomfortable to shoot, and that may well translate into less practice time with the gun. I think the best calibers for pocket pistols are .32 Auto and .25 Auto, both of which will attain FBI-required minimum penetration out of a pocket pistol if FMJs are used. Personally, I'd opt for .32 Auto, so I'd recommend looking at the Beretta 3032, and the Kel-Tec mentioned above, as analogs to your 950 and LCP.
 
LCP every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

25 is not a SD caliber. 380 is respectable.

My KT is pretty much identical to the LCP and it is my most-carried handgun. It isn't super fun to shoot, but not terrible either.
 
Just to reference the idea that the .380 is too powerful to shoot comfortably out of a pocket gun.

I own the LCP and it's my primary carry during the summer although it sticks with me during the winter some to. It is a handy little gun, goes bang when you pull the trigger, and if you can get used to the sights is accurate.

I practice with it a fair amount. Its not the gun I take to the range for a fun afternoon of shooting but it is in no way hard on my hands. Having handled many small .380's and small 9's I feel that many of the small 9's are snappier than the LCP but also very manageable.

My point is recoil is going to be wildly subjective. I can shoot my LCP through multiple shooting drills and be OK yet a S&W Bodyguard hits me at just the right place to cause pain around the ball of the thumb. This goes back to the old advice (if possible) try shooting what you're thinking of buying. Painful and snappy to one person is going to be sedate and manageable for someone else.
 
No way I'd carry a .25 ACP if I could carry a similarly sized .380 ACP.

I've got a .25 in the bottom of my safe from when I bought one as a young cop more than 30 years ago. I think I stopped shooting it within the first year of owning it.

I own a couple of LCP's ... a 2012 vintage blued one and a 2014 vintage stainless one. Surprising handling and practical accuracy (with an assortment of JHP's I've tried) for such a diminutive pistol in a baseline defensive caliber.

I see the .32 ACP's as being sort of a "between" diminutive pocket pistol caliber.

The LSW32 is still being made, but by someone other than the original company (with their blessing, though, and probably to better tolerances and with better support ... read here: http://seecamp.com/Announcement.pdf )

It seems the current quality of ammunition has improved so that more than just .32 STHP is recommended for the LWS32, too. http://seecamp.com/ammunition.htm

One other thing that I've seen happen to a handful of Beretta owners (both .25's & .22's) is that they've somehow managed to hit the lever that releases the tip up barrel. This has happened on the firing line. The location and arc of the lever makes it convenient to use, but also puts it pretty close to where a right-handed shooter's thumb might be pressed/shoved under stress, or perhaps when drawing from a tight pocket mouth and pocket holster.

Felt recoil and controllability is, as was mentioned, going to be pretty subjective to each individual. A 50-100 round range session probably isn't going to be considered "pleasant" to some folks. The upward recoil/snap of the little LCP lets the trigger guard rise and hammer the bottom part of the distal knuckle of my index finger (much like my various Airweight J-frames).

The LCP's small size can make it a bit difficult for folks with large hands to manipulate and use, too. I usually recommend any of the cops considering adding one to the off-duty pocket-carry battery try one before buying it. (I just got off the phone with a friend of mine, discussing the same thing, and I offered to bring one of mine to our range for him to try.)
 
The Ruger LCP is a copy of the Keltec P3AT. Ruger made it slightly bigger, and heavier than the Keltec because people equate heavier with more "quality."
The Keltec P32 is actually a little smaller and lighter than the P3AT, so there is a definite difference between the LCP and the P 32.
As I have said at least a hundred times: NO pistol caliber is a death ray, and NO pistol can be counted on for immediate stops unless there is a central nervous system hit-in which case the .25 would work as well as a .44 magnum.
I'm not saying that bigger isn't better. I'm saying that bigger isn't much better.
Though I carry a P32, I would not feel undergunned with a Beretta 950. The pocket .380s are a handful. The P32 is very pleasant. The 950 is a joy to shoot, and you can dump 9 rounds in an instant.
 
When I chose just after the first of the year, I considered the LCP but not the Baretta because I think 380 is the minimum I wanted to carry. I chose the Taurus TCP 738 over the LCP because it has a last shot hold open and it is far more comfortable to shoot. It was also much cheaper at $200. I recently chose a Ruger Mark III over a Baretta Neos because felt like a better quality product.
 
.380 for me

I carry the TCP every day and it's about identical in size to the LCP. Some people don't like shooting .380 from a pistol this small but it hasn't bothered me much. I've never found anything so comfortable to carry and, while the .380 isn't the most powerful round in the world, it seems like a good balance between power and "concealability" in a gun this size.
 
which is better for somebody trying to mug me at knife point or which is better for shooting back if under attack in a parking lot?
 
I own both and voted LCP. Leaving the caliber difference aside (give me the .380 anyday) I like the LCP because it is double action only. In a high stress situation I want to stay DAO to avoid an accidental discharge in SA mode YMMV. I highly recommend that you get the magazine extension for the LCP as it makes controlling the gun and getting a consistent hold much easier. Again IMHO.
 
The Ruger LCP is a copy of the Keltec P3AT. Ruger made it slightly bigger, and heavier than the Keltec because people equate heavier with more "quality."
Click to expand...

They didn't copy the cheezy screwed on stamped extractor.

I have a LCP, Beretta 21a and a Colt vest pocket the LCP gets carried quite a bit, haven't carried the Colt in years, do carry the 21A occasionally in the woods but it's usually not the only gun I have on me.
 
I recently chose a Ruger Mark III over a Baretta Neos because felt like a better quality product.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the Ruger looks like a real pistol.

25 is not a SD caliber. 380 is respectable.
Click to expand...

Quick, jump in your time machine and travel back 1.1 centuries ago and tell John Browning that. He designed the .25 Auto to be exterior ballistically equivalent from a pocket-sized pistol to the .22 LR while achieving more reliable ignition with a centerfire configuration and feeding in a semiauto platform. He chose a case that holds a 0.251-inch diameter bullet, because that was the smallest size he could fit onto the base a primer pocket.

He clearly saw it as a specialty round, as he only designed tiny vest pocket pistols for it. And, he wouldn't have bothered designing the .380 Auto three years later if he considered the .25 Auto the end all and be all of cartridges on the lower end of the power spectrum.

While by no means a SD application, the .25 Auto holds the ignoble distinction of being the execution tool of choice by the world's most prolific executioner, the Soviet Union's Vasily Blokhin. Blokhin personally killed 7,000 Polish PoWs in 1940 using his private stash of Walther Model 2s. He killed 300 a night for a month. I can see a couple of benefits of using a .25 Auto for heavy wet work: (1) low recoil makes a heavy workload more tolerable, and (2) a smaller wound allows for faster cleanup of the abattoir between victims, which were dispatched at 3-minute intervals. The .25 Auto was obviously instantly lethal, as anything less would have slowed down the "production" rate. Again, this was not a DGU, as the victims were restrained and never saw Blokhin (he approached from behind to dispatch them), the shootings were done in a soundproof room (thus not alerting the awaiting victims of their impending doom), any mess associated with a given execution was immediately cleaned up before the next victim was escorted in, and all work was done at night so as to allow transport and burial of the day's workload to be done out of sight of the prisoners and local populace.
 
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