Replacing a Recoil Spring

[Leveraction44]

How many standard 380 acp rounds do you think a Ruger LCP Max is designed to withstand - ie. it's designed life span?

I would say at least 10's of thousands.

I bet most owners don't put even 1000 rounds through it the entire time they own one.

What design margin do you think Ruger has for that pistol?
I would say a minimum of 2. That is the pistol is designed to handle loads twice as hot as the max pressure spec for the caliber.

Given the above, I would expect the pistol to handle a few hundred rounds of Underwood +P with no failures to the gun.

 

[Boot71]

TOO MUCH recoil spring can definitely cause reliability issues.

Indeed. Wolff makes them in 9, 11, 12, and 13lb.
It's been a good minute since I researched my LCP II options, I believe factory spring force is 9lb. I had to look back through my Midwayusa orders to remember which weight I ordered, which was the 11lb spring. (Not the 12 I mentioned earlier) In my LCP II, the 11lb spring worked well. I usually ran 95 or 100gr fmj, or the Hornady c/d out of it. After the pistol was "broken in" I put the heavier springs in, and had no problems.
Never used any +p in the Ruger, but the wolff extra power recoil spring absolutely made an instant and noticeable improvement in the "felt" recoil.

 

[StuP]

How many standard 380 acp rounds do you think a Ruger LCP Max is designed to withstand - ie. it's designed life span?

I would say at least 10's of thousands.

I bet most owners don't put even 1000 rounds through it the entire time they own one.

What design margin do you think Ruger has for that pistol?
I would say a minimum of 2. That is the pistol is designed to handle loads twice as hot as the max pressure spec for the caliber.

Given the above, I would expect the pistol to handle a few hundred rounds of Underwood +P with no failures to the gun.

I think you've convinced yourself, not so much everyone else in the thread.

Your gun, your body, your choice.

 

[Boot71]

How many standard 380 acp rounds do you think a Ruger LCP Max is designed to withstand - ie. it's designed life span?

I would say at least 10's of thousands.

I bet most owners don't put even 1000 rounds through it the entire time they own one.

What design margin do you think Ruger has for that pistol?
I would say a minimum of 2. That is the pistol is designed to handle loads twice as hot as the max pressure spec for the caliber.

Given the above, I would expect the pistol to handle a few hundred rounds of Underwood +P with no failures to the gun.

I'd be super careful about that math....
The 380 shows max psi at 21,500.
"Estimating" Ruger can double that safely isn't a safe bet.
Notice the 44mag is spec'd at 36,000 psi.

All jokes aside, there are tons of videos on YouTube that show people shooting +p in the LCP line of pistols. There are also tons of videos that show people setting themselves on fire, and winning all manner of darwin awards.......
I love the 380, I think it gets alot of crap due to internet jargon, and gun reviewer bravado. But I accept the 380 for what it is. If you need 9mm power, it will require a 9mm handgun. If you need something with twice the chamber pressure of the 380, perhaps you should look into a 454 Casull?
IMHO, the 380 is capable. Practice and placement is key with ANY handgun. Pick some quality ammo that won't beat your gun up, and won't be so unpleasant to shoot that you won't practice. Enjoy...rinse....repeat.

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

How many standard 380 acp rounds do you think a Ruger LCP Max is designed to withstand - ie. it's designed life span?

I would say at least 10's of thousands.

I bet most owners don't put even 1000 rounds through it the entire time they own one.

What design margin do you think Ruger has for that pistol?
I would say a minimum of 2. That is the pistol is designed to handle loads twice as hot as the max pressure spec for the caliber.

Given the above, I would expect the pistol to handle a few hundred rounds of Underwood +P with no failures to the gun.

Do people really fudd this hard for ruger?

Dumb question. It's ruger. So clearly

 

[Leveraction44]

View attachment 5789877

I'd be super careful about that math....
The 380 shows max psi at 21,500.
"Estimating" Ruger can double that safely isn't a safe bet.
Notice the 44mag is spec'd at 36,000 psi.

All jokes aside, there are tons of videos on YouTube that show people shooting +p in the LCP line of pistols. There are also tons of videos that show people setting themselves on fire, and winning all manner of darwin awards.......
I love the 380, I think it gets alot of crap due to internet jargon, and gun reviewer bravado. But I accept the 380 for what it is. If you need 9mm power, it will require a 9mm handgun. If you need something with twice the chamber pressure of the 380, perhaps you should look into a 454 Casull?
IMHO, the 380 is capable. Practice and placement is key with ANY handgun. Pick some quality ammo that won't beat your gun up, and won't be so unpleasant to shoot that you won't practice. Enjoy...rinse....repeat.

From your table, it looks like a +P is roughly a 10% increase in pressure over the standard round. A 10% increase for a 380 acp puts it at about the same pressure as a 25 auto.

 

[glocker]

And Lcp's have enough cracking/splitting/detonating in hand issues with weak range ammo.

I have not come across any of this, but I definitely will research now. I have also noticed that their barrels seem paper thin. Good insight.

 

[glocker]

I have owned 2 ruger lcp and 1 taurus lcp ( that tcp was hands down the most reliable) I always just kept range ammo in them . I figured that if I needed to defend myself against a m—fer, it was going to do what a 380 CAN do. Sometimes you need a bigger gun, a pocket 380— is still a pocket 380, that’s all it will ever be no matter what super duper black ops load you can find for it. It’s not like we are talking about a 10 mm and it’s wide range of performance that can be enhanced by Buffalo bore, underwood, and other hot ammo. I did watch a video of a dude running Buffalo bore out of his 380 and it malfunction on every shot ( failure to extract and stove pipes). Either way keep us posted on your journey!

 

[Twitch2120]

From your table, it looks like a +P is roughly a 10% increase in pressure over the standard round. A 10% increase for a 380 acp puts it at about the same pressure as a 25 auto.

With 10x the gas volume. Pressure isn't the only part of the equation. Without a SAMMI +p spec anything you shoot out of that gun at best voids your warranty and at worst, voids your fingers. Live your life how you want. Good luck, God Speed.

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

Love odt for threads like this. OP asks question. OP didn't get the answer he wanted. OP gets defensive.

OP could just get a 9mm, get nearly 50% the effectiveness without running into danger. But, nah. Gotta fudd it up.