Ruger has a .380

[ohioleadslinger]

Quote:
the only problem I have with this little gem is the total lack of ambidextrous mag release. Seems like that could have been an improvement as well as widening your customer base.

No one cares about left handed freaks. Do they even have jobs to pay for a gun?

Yep, we do have jobs.

We try and round up Demigods that have time to post 4,000 some odd comments that are mostly pretentious, and that think they are are gods gift to the gun world and we hope to put them in the booby hatch before they become a full blown megalomaniac! I think I may be too late on that...

[Dave85]

Good looking little gun. If I were in the market for a little .380, I would absolutely look strongly at it. Good for Ruger for adding it to their line. It's good to see them expanding the company's product lines. It's about time.

For all those clamoring for a compact SR9, or an SR40, or whatever, give them time. It looks like they might be taking this diversification thing seriously.

[Mosin44az]

As someone above noted, this is a major change for Ruger, which has always seemed leery of, or even hostile to, people overtly carrying guns for self-defense. They never built anything smaller than an SP or a P95.

Ruger himself said no decent person needed more than 10 rounds capacity, and sure enough, the newer pistol designs that followed, the P97 and P345, had less than that. And they won't sell hi-caps for the Mini-14.

I have moaned several times before here about Kel-tec's awful quality control, and how they needed competition from a better gun-maker. Finally!

I am a little scared that the design is so close to the junky P3AT (yes I owned one), but am more relieved that it has apparently been beefed up.

I will likely buy one if the reviews and early reports are any good.

[patrol]

Has anyone ever shot one? Before everyone condems this pistol it might be worth shooting it first. Ruger is a quality company afterall. I personally never liked their semi-autos but their revolvers are sturdy good shooters.

[CraigC]

Regardless of what Bill Ruger may or may not have believed about magazine capacity, he does not deserve such animosity. He did more for the gun industry and our sport as a whole than any other individual in the last century.

And they won't sell hi-caps for the Mini-14.

That all changed at the SHOT Show this past weekend. Look here 3/4 of the way down.

http://www.gunblast.com/SHOT_2008_3.htm

[paul s]

Saw one at the Ruger booth at the shot show, looks good, I ordered 3, asked a lady at the keltek booth and she turned red and changed the subject!

[IdahoG36]

Looks pretty interesting. I think I'll hold out and see how they do before I'd buy one.

[NCHornet]

Called my local gun shop. he has 6 on order from 2 different suppliers. They aren't suppose to ship until end of March or early April. I have dibs on the first one. I figure if it isn't reliable I can still sell it in all the hype of the new gun. Although I would be surprised if Ruger will put out a unreliable pistol like the P3AT. I will give y'all a range report and photos when I get the call to come and get it.
NCH

[Yellowfin]

Regardless of what Bill Ruger may or may not have believed about magazine capacity, he does not deserve such animosity. He did more for the gun industry and our sport as a whole than any other individual in the last century.

By publicly telling the antis that they're right? Sorry, my vision of a hero in that would be someone telling them to go to Cuba or Venezuela or somewhere they belong instead of our country.

[CraigC]

Is he not entitled to his opinion? He was an old man when he made those statements and came from a time long before drive by shootings and school massacres. His Mini-14 had been used in several high profile crimes during that time period. Some believe it was actually a tactic to draw attention away from the guns themselves. Regardless of his opinion of high capacity magazines, he is still the most prolific designer of sporting firearms since John Browning and has been far more diverse. He has done more for the shooting sports in the last century than any other individual. He single handedly resurrected the single action revolver and Colt probably owes fifty years of sales to Bill Ruger's work. He came from nothing and built a company that has earned a profit every single year. No other firearms manufacturer and few other companies can make such a claim.

If you believe differently, maybe you need to pick up a book or two. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[YukonKid]

+1 to what CraigC said

I dont like it, but who knows. You people need to respect Mr. Ruger. He restarted the SAA market after WWII, gave us the MkI/II and GP100. It is your opinion though, and we need to respect that.

[jon_in_wv]

While the execution of Kelgren's designs at Keltec may leave something to be desired, the designs are really ingenious. I really excited about the new Ruger LCP. I told my dealer I want one, sight unseen. I WILL have the first one she can get her hands on! I guarantee it will spend a LOT of time n my pocket. Ruger is going to sell a bajillion of these!!

[Yellowfin]

I don't disagree one tiny bit with that Mr. Ruger very closely paralleled J.M. Browning in firearms design and contributing greatly to shooting as a whole. However he also did irreparable damage by taking agreement with the anti gun people and feeding them material which they have exploited time and time again. I take none too kindly to that because although his positive contributions are indeed great the negative contributions have potential to not only wipe out everything he did but everything everyone else has given us as well. Reviving the single action market is great but not at the risk of killing the whole pistol market. If someone gives you a new engine for your car that lets go 50 mph faster and get better gas mileage but it can cause your car to blow up, have they really helped you?

[Playboypenguin]

I posted some comparison over-lays of the Kel-Tec P3AT and the Ruger LCP if anyone is interested.

See the pics here.

[Bullet94]

alamo
I read the comments of a KT employee who handled one at the SHOT Show and went over the parts diagram. He said it has the same trigger axis, trigger bar, trigger block and hammer. He thought it likely the grips would swap out. He described it as a functional copy of the P-3AT.

He described it as a functional copy of the P-3AT.
I believe FUNCTIONAL is the key word here.

Coltdriver
Any of you can say anything you want to. Ruger is a top notch company with world class customer service.

I agree with you about Ruger. If these new Ruger 380’s work I’ll buy one.

[tplumeri]

He described it as a functional copy of the P-3AT

Looks like theyre almost identical.
didnt like the keltec so dont think ill like the ruger.
Kahr PM9 is about the smallest i want to go.

[TexasSeaRay]

However he also did irreparable damage by taking agreement with the anti gun people and feeding them material which they have exploited time and time again. I take none too kindly to that because although his positive contributions are indeed great the negative contributions have potential to not only wipe out everything he did but everything everyone else has given us as well.

Do you own a Colt product? A Smith & Wesson product? An HK? A Taurus? Ever shot Federal ammo? Remington ammo?

Virtually every major company that is embedded in the firearms industry has stepped on their crank while wearing golf shoes.

I swore off Colt when they went "gov't (military) and LE" only. But, I didn't swear them off enough to sell my Colt AR 15 or any of my Colt 1911's including my beloved Gold Cup.

I love no revolver more than Smith & Wesson. I am presently lusting after a S&W 1911. Yet when S&W made their deal with the devil, I raised nine kinds of hell with them. I won many a statewide and regional LE match shooting S&W guns and had plenty of apparel from S&W they gave me to wear during such matches. I boxed every damn bit of it up and UPS'd it to them with a long, profane letter describing what they could do with it and where they could do it. Told them what I used to do for the NRA, how many speeches I continued to write for LaPierre, Heston, Selleck, et al--and that I was by-God DONE with Smith & Wesson. (I do have a bit of a Texas-sized temper that fires up easier than any hair-trigger you've ever fired.)

I got a phone call from the PRESIDENT of S&W. And by the time we were done talking, I was flabbergasted at what S&W had to say an do literally to stay in existence. I'll wager 99% of all gun-owners have no clue what S&W had to do and say just to keep their doors open during that particular time.

I never met Bill Ruger. I'm only so-so on a lot of Ruger products. The ones I own (some single-action pistols, a beautiful MkII with a 10 5/8's bull barrel and German Walnet target grips), my Mini-14 . . . well, I'm pretty crazy about them. Finest 25-06 I ever shot was a an early M77 MkI with a two-digit serial number, circa 1969.

I was working for the NRA's ad agency when Bill Ruger made his remarks and took his turn walking out on the high-dive over the pool of insanity. Don't know the whole story why he did what he did.

What I do know is we had the most dangerous president in history and her husband sitting in the Oval Office, and both houses were controlled not by just liberal Democrats, but many of whom were rabidly anti-gun liberal.

Anyone remember Howard Metzenbaum? Patsy Schroeder?

Ilk like that kept me up night after night working on startegies to defeat them. Ilk like that were aiming straight at Ruger because Ruger only had one model of "assault weapon" and that was their Mini (14/30). Colt was getting absolute hell at the time.

Maybe Bill Ruger saw the writing on the wall. Maybe he knew the best defense was a good offense. Maybe he figured he could offer a premptive strike or sacrifice that would buy him, his company, the NRA and every single gun-owner in America enough time to figure out either how to beat these alpha hotels or at least hold out long enough for 1994 election-time (which was epic and Bill Ruger gave a LOT of his own money to NRA-ILA to help make it happen).

I'm with CraigC. Bill Ruger did a helluva lot more good for the firearms industry and gun owners everywhere than he did harm. He gave absolutely and unselfishly to a lot of causes, but especially the NRA in defense of our rights, as well as for the cause of education.

Often times, there is a lot more to "the story" than what gets communicated.

Jeff

[predecessor]

Do you own a Colt product?

I know this is about the Ruger LCP, but all this talk about it makes me wish Colt would bring back the .380 Government, Mustang, and Pony lines.

Sniff.

[Hagar the Republican]

Amen! I loved the Mustang.

[Wildalaska]

Six pages to talk about a Kel Tec copy?

WildhaveyouheldyourNAAguardiantodayAlaska TM

[hoytinak]

Amen! I loved the Mustang.

+100, one of my top regrets was getting rid of my Mustang several years ago.

[Bill DeShivs]

"Six pages to talk about a Kel Tec copy?"

........But, it's a RUGER!
Strange that so many people talk bad about the Keltec, but when Ruger makes a blatant copy of it, people get excited.

[hoytinak]

I love my Kel-Tec and I'm also a Ruger fan so I'll prolly pick one up after the bugs are worked out....if there is any, after all it is a Ruger.

[Bullet94]

Bill DeShivs
Strange that so many people talk bad about the Keltec, but when Ruger makes a blatant copy of it, people get excited.

I thought about buying a Keltec but after reading threads where people have had trouble with them I decided against buying. I want my gun to function all the time. I believe this is why people are getting excited about the Ruger because they hope that the Rugers will function properly. I also noticed lots of people remarked how good the service was on their Keltec, but I don’t want to have to return a new gun for service. Maybe Ruger won’t have this problem.

[Steelman]

I just sent mine back to Ruger for the 2nd time. Worse when it came back the last time than it was before I sent it back. Double smileys and jams feeding and extrating. Would feed Hornady and Golden Sabers till they worked on it. Now nothing will feed.