Seecamp "mouse" guns . . . anyone?

P

Prof Young

New member
At GS today saw two great looking Seecamp mouse guns. One in 32 acp and one in 380. Clerk said they are all "hand made." 32 was $529 and 380 was $800. Turns out those are both below MSRP. These guns are seriously small but the 380 still holds six plus one.

Anyone have experience with these guns?

So many guns, so little $$$.

Life is good.

Prof Young
 
Historically they have been top shelf pocket pistols. However, within maybe the past two years (or so) the owner of the company (and son of the founder and designer), Larry Seecamp, retired and sold the business. It's my understanding that the new owners moved production out of Seecamp's facility in Milford, Connecticut, and set up shop elsewhere.

IMHO, then, any new Seecamp is an unproven firearm at this time.
 
"Any new Seecamp is an unproven firearm" may be a little bit of a stretch. The Whalleys have been running their machine shop for decades and I understand that Larry stayed involved while they got up and running; it's not like they bought the tooling, left Larry on his doorstep, and set out to learn the trade from first principles.

I've heard nothing but good things about the new guns (though, admittedly, there's not a lot of word out one way or the other - Seecamp has always been a tiny little brand), and I'm planning to get one myself. I'd consider it no more (and no less) unproven than any other reputable new gun - it should be fine, but run a few boxes through to make sure.
 
I have a first year .32 Seecamp. Bought it new for $250... it was a heck of a deal. Buddy had a friend who was an ffl and got a bunch of them in. He said "You should buy one, they're cool!"

I've carried that little gun, on and off, for about thirty years. It's THE gun to carry when you can't really carry a gun for whatever reason. Gotta find the right ammo for reliability though. Either Silvertips or Gold Dots in mine. Ball won't work.

I just picked up a new production .25 Seecamp. It's everything the original is. And, not ammo specific. I've shot a couple hundred rounds of whatever crap .25 I could find. I can shoot it like a little sewing machine.

Never tried the .380. Looks like it would exceed the envelope of what I actually want to shoot.
 
Didn't the first Seecomp .32s come with a magazine padded in front, for use with Silvertips only or something like that? I had a friend who always had one in his pocket with a custom serial #, IIRC. That was 30 years ago or so...
 
It was designed around the .32 Silvertip. That OAL was the the only round that was reliable in it.

I think you're right. They had a sheet metal spacer in the back to keep the HP rounds from rim locking.
 
I recall years ago there was a two year waiting list for a Seecamp & they were selling for twice the MSRP!
 
Adrian said:
"Any new Seecamp is an unproven firearm" may be a little bit of a stretch. The Whalleys have been running their machine shop for decades and I understand that Larry stayed involved while they got up and running; it's not like they bought the tooling, left Larry on his doorstep, and set out to learn the trade from first principles.
Click to expand...
Maybe. It's my understanding that he didn't stay involved very long, and he now has no involvement at all. Running a machine shop is not, by itself, enough to understand the intricasies of a small firearm in which everything has to work "just so." As far as I'm concerned, the new owners are regarded as a start-up, and the cirrent guns have no track record.

YMMV.
 
Great info found at the Seecamp Forum website;
http://www.seecamp.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Carried an early LWS32 for many years. It was always reliable. I loaded it with all brands of ammo, Winchester, Gold Dots, Hornady, Fiocchi, Cor Bon and such, all of which fed and fired. The Seecamp is very small and thin making it an ideal pocket gun. I carried it in several holsters, the best of which was a beautiful R.J. Headley.

My favorite holster.


The early mags did have a soft compound in the front. These mags worked but are no where near as high in quality as the current mags, which are a work of art. Later mags used a spacer in the rear to eliminate rimlock which I never experience with this gun. I did have rimlock in other .32 caliber pistols with poorly designed mags.

I had a friend who always had one in his pocket with a custom serial #, IIRC. That was 30 years ago or so...
Click to expand...

Custom serial numbers came later,maybe later than 2005 even.

Clerk said they are all "hand made."
Click to expand...

If CNC machines qualify as "hand made" then maybe they are. CNC production began some time after 2005 as well. Prior to that lots of shop/hand tools used. Older Pistols were in effect more hand made as there was a lot of hand fitting.

A change in the strength of the stainless steel used, about serial number 30,000, saw the introduction of the .380 caliber. A true feat of engineering and gun making genius IMHO.

I carried my little Seecamp with great confidence and only stopped recently when a family member trying to find her perfect carry gun asked me for it. I miss my tiny jewel.

Here's a pic of my 1986 "C" serial numbered LWS32 with a PPK/S for a good size comparison.


Here's a comparison of two .380s, a Kel Tec and Seecamp. Show just how small it really is.
 
Last edited:
I understand the .380 uses an old trick, an annular groove behind the headspace shoulder that the expanding case expands into, and which slows extraction, a very slick and simple locking mechanism, or retarding one anyway.
Did I read that the brass isn't reloadable because of that?
 
HisSoldier said:
I understand the .380 uses an old trick, an annular groove behind the headspace shoulder that the expanding case expands into, and which slows extraction, a very slick and simple locking mechanism, or retarding one anyway.
Did I read that the brass isn't reloadable because of that?
Click to expand...

My 32 seecamp does that. The brass looks a little odd but I reload them. My problem is finding the brass. It throws the brass every direction so when I shoot it outside I'm not sure where to look.
 
I bought then sold a .32 Seecamp in the early 2000's , it was a very well built, quality piece, carried it in a F.I.S.T kydex pocket holster, it was an easy carry, but one day I was shooting at a 5 gallon plastic container and it went in one side and the bullets were found in the bottom of the bucket, I decided to move to .38 Special. At that time the .380's were kind of scarce.
 
Dirtbag said:
I bought then sold a .32 Seecamp in the early 2000's , it was a very well built, quality piece, carried it in a F.I.S.T kydex pocket holster, it was an easy carry, but one day I was shooting at a 5 gallon plastic container and it went in one side and the bullets were found in the bottom of the bucket, I decided to move to .38 Special. At that time the .380's were kind of scarce.
Click to expand...
A 5 gal. bucket is about torso size, so not too bad. Do other rounds go through? At least no one ever complained about over penetration.
 
Never owned one but I knew lots of cops who carried them in ankle holsters because they were great little guns. Don't know about the new ones
 
PSP said:
A 5 gal. bucket is about torso size, so not too bad. Do other rounds go through? At least no one ever complained about over penetration.
Click to expand...
To be fair, this wasn't an average 5 gallon bucket, as I remember it was quite a bit thicker, can't recall shooting anything else at it, but I can tell you I wouldn't want to get grazed by one of those little silver tips! I found the point-n-shoot Seecamp fairly accurate for having no sights and a short barrel!
 
....but I can tell you I wouldn't want to get grazed by one of those little silver tips!
Click to expand...

I think that's a very fair way of looking at it. I would never carry a Seecamp and believe I'm spooled up for a gunfight.

But....if it's THE only thing I can carry at a particular moment, it's pretty reassuring.

A very good friend of mine is 96. He was big in the gun and Police business for 70 years. He knew Ludwig Seecamp personally and got one of the first Seecamp produced. He's carried it every day for over 30 years. I'm sure getting a face full of .32's from a 96 year old man would be most disconcerting to some idiot who tried to rob him.

Ya know...I should start carrying mine for the next 40 years...worked for him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top