Well, I found out the hard way last night while familiarizing myself with my new LCP - while the magazine doesn't cause the slide to hold open on the last round - inserting a magazine certainly WILL cause it to snap shut. Had mine open last night and pressed in the magazine and ended up with one mighty bloody pinch on my finger
.
Oh well. So far the gun looks nice though. Still tracking down some ammo for the thing (there's a gunshow tomorrow but I'm afraid of what a box or two of .380 will cost there), but from a visual inspection it looks good. Doesn't feel to be quite in the same league as Ruger's full-size pieces though. The polymer feels cheaper compared to what they used on my P95 (the P95 is a softer "rubbery" feeling plastic, while the LCP is harder "dollar store" feeling plastic
), and the slide isn't quite as smooth. Feels solid enough though. I also found it kinda neat that it's a locked breach/short recoil action. To me .380 almost always meant blowback
.
I also found the gun more comfortable to hold than I though. I have small hands so that's definitely a factor, but the little thumb groove is right where it needs to be for me. With the flat base-plate I can comfortably fit two fingers on the grip (the pinky sits right beneath the mag and helps to steady the gun). The Ruger mag extension was useless to me - wasn't long enough to get the third finger on the grip, and didn't make the grip anymore comfortable. I also bought some of the longer Pearce extensions though and they are long enough to slip the pinky finger onto the grip. Not comfortably, but I can still get it on there. Since I have two mags I basically just setup one with the flat plate and one with the Pearce extension.
As to a negative though - definitely the sights. To even see them indoors I have to place them in front of a white or bright colored surface. Anything dark and the sights aren't even big enough to distinguish. In a self defense scenario at night I think you're going to be stuck raising this pistol and just gauging the shot from the top of the slide in general rather than using any sights.
