[DesertPunisher425]

First, I have to mail it off to have the recall done; I'll make a final decision after the pistol is returned on if or what I want to do and have done.  I'm looking for some thoughts though... Not so much on cost to value trade-off, more so on usefulness.  or even some additional ideas I've not thought of.
-When the pistol comes back, I'll polish the ramp, throat and breach face- cost: Free

-Considering the sight install from Innovative Arms [size=8pt](http://elsiepeaforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=828.0).  However, I have two concerns: #1, he dovetails the slide, is there TRUILY enough metal there to be dovetailing?  #2, those sights seem a bit tall; it's possible I could have them milled down a touch so they are still an improvement, but not ridiculous in size.- Cost: $110 (no finishing: see below)

-Send the LCP to Robar for some work... which would include some of, or all of:
          -Stipple top of slide- Cost: $50
          -NP3 coat all metal parts and pieces- Cost: $170
          -NP3 coat 3 mags- Cost: $60 total
          -Texture Grip- Cost: $75

-Find a local machine shop capable of making me an aluminum or even steel mag release- Cost: $50-$100[/size]



Those are the main options I'd like some thoughts on... again, not cost to value or anything like that... but usefulness.  Some info to be aware of:
-NP3 is a nickel and Teflon coating that carries a lifetime guarantee and is extremely durable.

-NP3 is somewhat slick and can make getting a good grasp on the slide a little more difficult (reason for stippling top; could even have the cocking serrations done over with stippling too).

-I have problems keeping a good squeeze on the LCP so it doesn't bounce around... my hand needs more traction.  I'm not sure how I feel about the various grip add-on's available.  Which is why I'm looking at grip texture.

-Although generally against visible lasers, I will likely get one for the LCP, if for nothing more than it's training value when it comes to technique.

-The sights shown on that page about Innovative Arms just seem to damn tall; if unable to have them milled down a touch, I think I would not be happy with them.



So, there we have it... now lets hear some input: Does any of this sound like attractive ideas to you (again, ignore the cost; pretend someone else is going to pay... I only put it up there so if anyone is interested in getting it done, they know the numbers)?  Do you have any ideas I didn't mention that you feel would be a good improvement to the LCP (I'm not talking caliber change or anything crazy)?

 

[ragu1macrider]

Nothing that your wanting to do is condusive to the type of gun the LCP is made to be.
Sights...Why? It's a belly gun.Get a CT Laser for it if you want practicle sights.
Metal treatment...Why? Get a silicone cloth and wipe it down.
Metal texturing...Why? Won't need it if you don't get the treatment done.
The gun will be in a holster most of the time, so nobody is going to see it.
Save your geetus (60s talk for money) and buy another gun or more ammo with it.
My 2¢ worth.

 

[jocko]

Desert punisher: All that sounds great to me, but just remember one thing, if something fgoes worng with the slide after allthat work, Ruger will more than likely not warranty one part of it and at best will replace you back with just a slde and you loose allthe mods.

the dovetails sites to me are totally unnecessary, IMO you won't be that much more accurate to mean a hill of beans , but that is just my opinion.

the finish work, go for it, lots of great finishers out there. Try Mike at Accurate-Iron.com, he can do a job on your lcp that will blow you mind and alot less than the Robar finish and you won't ever wear his finish out either.

Their ain't much to these lcp slides, and the more metal you take off the better your chances are for feeding issues. that slide needs to have allthe weight init thatit can to operate correctly. they are very very lite now.

but heh, if you love it and want to spend the bucks, GO FOR IT. Ihave more (alot more) in my kahr PM9 mods, than I paid for the whole gun, but it is my 24/7 carry and I am proud of it so what the hell

 

[Ooben]

Well, I'm going to buck the trend here and say I agree with most of what you want to do, DP. It's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to get those sights on my LCP. I have the CT on mine which is pretty much what I need for low light, but the laser is worthless in the daylight. As far as point shooting I just don't feel comfortable doing that much past 4 or 5 yards, for me the hit ratio is unacceptable at 7 yards. So if I won't point shoot, and I can't see the laser, what options are open? Yep, those totally unseeable sights. If the target is more than 7 yards away I won't take a shot without seeing the front sight on target, which is hard to do when you can't see the sight. Do you see a pattern here? To me, in my opinion, the taller sights are a no-brainer, got to have them.
I agree with you about the LCP squirming around in the hand, I would love to see a new frame with a double stack mag with an 8 round capacity....ok, back to reality. I put a Houge grip on mine because it has a bit of a palm swell. I increased that by putting a couple pieces of double sticky tape on each side of the grip frame and on the back strap as well. The tape also helps the grip stay in place. With that and the pinky extension I can empty the mag without my grip changing any.
Here's a couple of freebies for you. When I got my LCP I was having problems inserting the mag, once it got started it was ok. So I broke out my handy little needle file and I beveled the bottom edge of the mag well, now I can pretend to be Todd Jarret! This next one is only worth it if you reload...I was noticing that the case mouth was getting flattened, and I could see a bit of brass on the ejection port where the case was whacking it so out came my needle file again. I was thinking about lowering the port a little, but I ended up just rounding the edge some. I still get a ding in the case but I don't have to use an expanding die to make it round before I resize it.
Anyway, there's my 2 cents worth, you probably over paid me for it....
Mike

 

[jocko]

Well, I'm going to buck the trend here and say I agree with most of what you want to do, DP. It's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to get those sights on my LCP. I have the CT on mine which is pretty much what I need for low light, but the laser is worthless in the daylight. As far as point shooting I just don't feel comfortable doing that much past 4 or 5 yards, for me the hit ratio is unacceptable at 7 yards. So if I won't point shoot, and I can't see the laser, what options are open? Yep, those totally unseeable sights. If the target is more than 7 yards away I won't take a shot without seeing the front sight on target, which is hard to do when you can't see the sight. Do you see a pattern here? To me, in my opinion, the taller sights are a no-brainer, got to have them.
I agree with you about the LCP squirming around in the hand, I would love to see a new frame with a double stack mag with an 8 round capacity....ok, back to reality. I put a Houge grip on mine because it has a bit of a palm swell. I increased that by putting a couple pieces of double sticky tape on each side of the grip frame and on the back strap as well. The tape also helps the grip stay in place. With that and the pinky extension I can empty the mag without my grip changing any.
Here's a couple of freebies for you. When I got my LCP I was having problems inserting the mag, once it got started it was ok. So I broke out my handy little needle file and I beveled the bottom edge of the mag well, now I can pretend to be Todd Jarret! This next one is only worth it if you reload...I was noticing that the case mouth was getting flattened, and I could see a bit of brass on the ejection port where the case was whacking it so out came my needle file again. I was thinking about lowering the port a little, but I ended up just rounding the edge some. I still get a ding in the case but I don't have to use an expanding die to make it round before I resize it.
Anyway, there's my 2 cents worth, you probably over paid me for it....
Mike

not alot of room for that ejection port to be any bigger. I am sure that reloading of 380 brass was not something Ruger thought about either in their design. Just a small gun. Hell my kahr PM9 damages the brass somewhat also. Not sure one cal eliminate brass damage...

 

[DesertPunisher425]

Hmm... getting some good input!

This next one is only worth it if you reload...I was noticing that the case mouth was getting flattened, and I could see a bit of brass on the ejection port where the case was whacking it so out came my needle file again. I was thinking about lowering the port a little, but I ended up just rounding the edge some. I still get a ding in the case but I don't have to use an expanding die to make it round before I re-size it.

I reload, but as of now, I don't reload .380. I've not even looked at my brass to see what kind of shape it's in after shooting. I THINK it's pretty well intact.

Here's a couple of freebies for you. When I got my LCP I was having problems inserting the mag, once it got started it was ok. So I broke out my handy little needle file and I beveled the bottom edge of the mag well, now I can pretend to be Todd Jarret!

Good point on the mag well... it could use a bit of beveling even though there isn't that much room for it, I could see it helping a touch.

I agree with you about the LCP squirming around in the hand, I would love to see a new frame with a double stack mag with an 8 round capacity....ok, back to reality. I put a Houge grip on mine because it has a bit of a palm swell. I increased that by putting a couple pieces of double sticky tape on each side of the grip frame and on the back strap as well. The tape also helps the grip stay in place. With that and the pinky extension I can empty the mag without my grip changing any.

Some good ideas, but some not for me. I know that if the grip were thicker, I would have the squirming problem, but at the same time I don't want a thicker grip because it will make the pistol more noticeable. So my thoughts were, if I can have the grip modified so it was almost painfully sticky... well then my problem might be solved. Brooks A-Grip gets great reviews but I'd prefer something more permanent and not so "stuck-on" looking. And I hate extensions so that one is out of the running.

Well, I'm going to buck the trend here and say I agree with most of what you want to do, DP. It's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to get those sights on my LCP. I have the CT on mine which is pretty much what I need for low light, but the laser is worthless in the daylight. As far as point shooting I just don't feel comfortable doing that much past 4 or 5 yards, for me the hit ratio is unacceptable at 7 yards. So if I won't point shoot, and I can't see the laser, what options are open? Yep, those totally unseeable sights. If the target is more than 7 yards away I won't take a shot without seeing the front sight on target, which is hard to do when you can't see the sight. Do you see a pattern here? To me, in my opinion, the taller sights are a no-brainer, got to have them.

Their ain't much to these lcp slides, and the more metal you take off the better your chances are for feeding issues. that slide needs to have all the weight in it that it can to operate correctly. they are very very lite now.

Both bring up some good points! Which is why I'm so torn on the sights. I don't want irreversible damage done. I'm afraid the dovetailing would offer up spots for cracks to show up in the slide because they are so light as it is. I'd hope reliability doesn't suffer, but there haven't been that many LCPs with this done to tell. At the same time, to say I would only ever use this as a belly gun at a very very short range is counting on too many variables going in one direction. This is my "when I can carry nothing else" gun... I don't feel a need to have a BUG when I carry my glock which has given me only one problem in thousands of rounds (guide rod coming apart). So if I'm carrying the LCP because I simply CAN NOT carry anything else, who's to say a shot wouldn't have to be taken at 15yrds or more? I am truly undecided on this.

Desert punisher: All that sounds great to me, but just remember one thing, if something goes wrong with the slide after all that work, Ruger will more than likely not warranty one part of it and at best will replace you back with just a slide and you loose all the mods.

I've thought about this... it seems that if your LCP shoots through 300-500 rds well, it's going to be pretty reliable. Sort of working the kinks out... if there are any. So once it returns from recall, I'll dump a few hundred more rounds through it; if it functions without problems then I won't be too worried about warranty.

All in all, the finish work I'm pretty sure I'll have done. I've wanted to try out NP3 for a LONG time, but I've been hesitant to send in my glock of sig ($550 retail and $850 retail respectively). If it doesn't turn out the way I had thought it would... well that's a size-able chunk of change. Now my $275 LCP... if that doesn't really end up so great; I'm out a lot less. Not that I think the quality will be poor, but I may end up hating the look. Anyhow, I've looked at accurate-iron; good prices and it looks like he does good work. I just want a metal-based coating instead of a paint/epoxy based finish. And I like the idea of being able to carry a pistol totally dry; a trait only seen with NP3 (which I will test... another reason I don't want to do it with a more expensive gun; if it doesn't really perform dry, I don't want to destroy a sig or glock!).

 

[MEJETSKI2000]

I'm kinda mixed on your proposed mods, DP, but I understand why you want them.When my slide gets worn I'm sending it to Robar for either NP3 or Roguard, still trying to decide which. I'm leery of the slide mods since the metal is pretty thin at least IMO. I did the Nitesiter front dot which helps me see the front sight better. I can see how a small chamfer (on a SMALL gun) in the magwell could be nice to have if I didn't have to pay for it. I think clearing the ejection port makes ALOT of sense on a gun that has no second strike capability so you can get the gun back up fast if need be (and save expensive brass nice also).

I have small hands and using the factory grip extensions I can hang on pretty good, but the gun prints more in my jeans pockets unless I use a flat-based mag (Desantis Nemesis). HOPEFULLY I'll get some warning before the mag release calls it a day so I'll hold on that point for now.

It's your dime and gun so have at it, and post pics when she's done !

 

[yankee2500]

I will probably have the slide and barrel done with some type of coating but don't have any plans to do much beyond that, bu you need to do what feels good to you. John

 

[jocko]

I will probably have the slide and barrel done with some type of coating but don't have any plans to do much beyond that, bu you need to do what feels good to you. John

check out accurate-Iron.com Mike does awesome work and his refinish work is IMO as good as Robar or any other and he guarantees it for life. and oh yes he is alot more reasonable and his turn around time is super. and oh yes I think he has sleep at a Holiday Inn lately to.