G19 Gen 4 & Ruger LCP range report

[Merad]

Went this morning to apply for my CHL and on the way back stopped at the gun store and got a Ruger LCP and Glock 19 Gen 4. Also did my good deed for the day. I had to haggle a little bit on price because this particular store is a little hefty with their markups... Didn't get the price I wanted but got them to shave some off - the alternative was driving across town, dealing with a guy who's kind of an ass, and waiting for him to order the Glock. When I checked out I thought the total seem low, but didn't question it. Took a glance at my receipt at the first stoplight and realized that the guy had entered the Glock in the register as $3xx instead of $5xx... $200 discount. So I pondered it a few seconds then drove back and told him his mistake. Halfway hoped he'd knock off a few more bucks for honesty, but of course not. Oh well, I hope lady karma was paying attention at least.

So first up, "Glock Perfection":

G19 Gen4, according to the bag with the proof case born on 1/19/12. Comes with 2 changeable backstraps and 3 15 round mags. Field strip and cleaning are easy, although I did make the mistake of disassembling and cleaning the mags. Good lord. Glock does a lot of things awesomely right, but magazine design wasn't one of them - they're a massive pain to get apart.

Off to the range, where I shot about 275 rounds through it, a mix of 115gr FMJ, 124gr JHP and 147gr JHP. I know there were some teething issues with the Gen 4's, but I had zero problems today. The gun did occasionally toss brass back towards my head, but about 95% of it went over my right shoulder. The Glock armor at our range claims that's not unusual even for Gen 2 & 3 Glocks, and I'm not worried about it. I went shooting with the medium backstrap, which is supposed to give the same size grip as the G19 Gen 3. Shot well enough, but in the future I'm switching to the stock grip sans backstrap, as my hand was working its way up on the grip and got a few kisses from the slide (I have big, beefy hands...).

After a couple hundred rounds of having fun and getting used to it I shot this target, 50 rounds of Federal 147gr JHP at 10 yards:

Next up, the Elsie Pea (LCP), Ruger's pocket rocket:

According to the proof bag, born on 10/19/2011. Only comes with 1 mag (seriously Ruger?) but does include a soft case. Again pretty easy to strip and clean, just pop a pin out of the side.

Shooting the LCP... well, there's really no way to put it other than saying that this gun isn't fun to shoot unless you limit yourself to a few dozen rounds at a time. I went through about 120 rounds total, mix of 100gr RNFP and 92gr JHP (and my hand is still slightly sore, lol). There was a noticeable difference in recoil between the 100gr and 92gr rounds. Also, I was shooting with the stock baseplate on the magazines. *Hopefully* switching to the extended baseplates will help keep a better grip on it in the future, but even so that small thin frame batters your hand with recoil. The trigger pull doesn't seem very heavy, but it's looooooooooooong. Between that, and the nearly non-existent sights, my accuracy with the gun was pretty crappy to put it mildly.

It'll serve its purpose as a small gun to drop in a pocket or etc, but I don't think it's going to be one that I take to the range for fun very often.

A mix of target ammo and hollow points at 7 yards:

 

[JohnKSa]

Very interesting. You're the third person I know who has purchased that gun combination in the last few weeks/months.

I took my sister to the range last weekend with her G19G4 and her new LCP and got her up to speed. They were her first autopistols.

We shot the Glock first to get her warmed up. She shot it well and when I shot it later, I was happy with it. I cranked off a 10 round group at 25 yards that went maybe 3-4". No malfunctions with the Glock in maybe 100-150 rounds.

The LCP was more of a handful. At 5-7 yards it would make 2" groups if you held carefully and really concentrated on the sights. Shooting faster, it wasn't hard to keep the shots in an 8" circle. I think we shot about 50 rounds. In the first couple of magazines, there was one round that failed to feed completely--it balked when the nose hit the feedramp--but bumping the slide lightly caused the feeding cycle to complete. This was with my sister shooting and we were still working on her grip at that point.

Both guns seem to be pretty solid. I think you made good choices.

Be sure to get a pocket holster for the LCP if you intend to pocket carry.

 

[LockedBreech]

Don't worry about them not appreciating you catching the $200 error. It is cliche but true, honesty is its own reward. It pays dividends in sound sleep

Great choices! The G4 G19 is a very comfortable gun, and my trusty Elsie has been riding in my right front jeans pocket with a spare magazine in the coin pocket for ~ 700-800 rounds

 

[Kreyzhorse]

I agree that the LCP can be a handful. With a little practice though, it can be very accurate out to seven yards. Even as a quick fire up close and personal SD gun, it will certainly get the job done.

 

[Dashunde]

The worst part of shooting my LCP is the ammo price!
I think the little thing is kind of fun to shoot, entertaining anyway, and a challenge to get tight groups with, but its doable and satisfying.
To stay in practice I mostly do draw and rapid fire at a paper plate with mine.

 

[KyJim]

I couldn't agree more with the assessment of the LCP. Great for what it is -- a lightweight, small pistol when you can't carry something else. I've never had a bobble out of mine but I don't shoot it a lot, just enough to keep my familiarity with it.

Never shot a Gen4 Glock but am interested. I thought I would wait until all the bugs were worked out. The only thing I ever had against the Glock was the blocky grip frame.