LCP magazine failure to seat

[OlongJohnson]

I picked up an LCP Custom for $199.99 shipped from Kentucky Gun Co. a few weeks back. Finally got around to initial inspection/cleaning/lube.

At one point, believing I had fully seated the magazine, I found it not latched in place. I messed with it a bit. Found that when the base of the magazine was pulled forward during seating, it would latch in easily every time, but when the base of the magazine was pushed rearward (which is highly likely during a reload), it would fail to latch 100 percent of the time. The top of the base plate was running into the bottom of the grip when it was pushed toward the rear.

Fortunately, there is a decent amount of material, a little over 1/8 inch, between the slots that retain the base plate to the mag body and the top of the base plate. Did a little bit of filing and sanding on the upper sides of the base plate to make clearance, and it now locks in reliably no matter how it's rocked in the grip when seating.

Something anyone carrying one of these should check, and an easy fix if you find a problem.

[OlongJohnson]

Quick follow-up. As delivered, the magazine was very difficult to insert. Had to either thumb the button or really smack it hard to get the top of the mag body past the catch.

The mag catch can only be removed from the grip after removing the rail assembly from the grip module, but I smoothed the angled part of the mag catch and put a smooth chamfer on the corner of the mag body. The mag now inserts past the catch with gentle thumb pressure. The surfaces that engage to retain the magazine aren't touched, so there's no alteration of retention. Another worthwhile tuneup detail.

[willie]

I've owned two of the older version and currently have one. I remember that when they first came out, some had issues with the mag catch. I urge you to contact Ruger. My two had no issues of any type. Ruger will fix the problem.

[GJM]

My wife and I each have one and have not noticed this issue.

[Clusterfrack]

Quick follow-up. As delivered, the magazine was very difficult to insert. Had to either thumb the button or really smack it hard to get the top of the mag body past the catch.

The mag catch can only be removed from the grip after removing the rail assembly from the grip module, but I smoothed the angled part of the mag catch and put a smooth chamfer on the corner of the mag body. The mag now inserts past the catch with gentle thumb pressure. The surfaces that engage to retain the magazine aren't touched, so there's no alteration of retention. Another worthwhile tuneup detail.

Can you upload pictures of this? Thanks.

[OlongJohnson]

19565

It's pretty minimal work on the mag body, just breaking the sharp corner and giving it a smooth, rounded edge to rub against the ramped surface of the catch when inserting. I can't see them with my naked eye, but the green arrows point to what seem obviously in the photo to be witness marks from contacting the catch, so you can see where it interacts. I use the Norton white Arkansas stones for finish-smooth, and probably hit this with 320 and then 600 grit wet or dry just to make sure there was some roundness on all edges. The stones are good for leaving a nice, flat surface, but they don't do curves very well. No felt or Dremels.

The catch itself is installed in the pistol. Dragged out a tripod and was able to take a picture of a black cat in the dark. The LED lighting shows up the imperfect blackness of the cold blue pen on MIM. I smoothed the rounded corner, indicated by the lower arrow in the photo below, which contacts the area indicated by the right-hand arrow above. You can see the second witness mark on the straight portion of the catch, indicated by the upper arrow in the photo below and the left-hand arrow above. I didn't notice any contact marks there when I had it apart, so didn't actually do any work in that area.

19568

Since I had the camera out, here's the magazine inserted in the forward position that it tends to be in by spring pressure:

19566

And here it is pushed up and toward the rear. You can see that the upper edge of the base plate approximately matches the curvature of the bottom of the grip, and there's a relatively consistent gap. With the base plate as it came, the upper edge was flat and contacted the "belly" in the middle part of the bottom of the grip, preventing full insertion.

19567

[OlongJohnson]

I've owned two of the older version and currently have one. I remember that when they first came out, some had issues with the mag catch. I urge you to contact Ruger. My two had no issues of any type. Ruger will fix the problem.

On my GP100, the trigger housing was fit excessively tightly to the frame and the retaining plunger couldn't be released with any reasonable amount of force. They sent a shipping label and refit it, no problem. There were still many big, schnarly burrs on various parts, as well as what appeared to be abrasive material in places inside where it could migrate to bad places. I did a detail strip and thorough cleaning and deburring when it came back before I could consider it squared away. In the case of this LCP, I just didn't see any reason to get them involved when the solutions were so simple.