For reasons that are not important, I've found that I'm having to pocket carry for more frequently than before; some weeks it's 40% of my time outside the house. The compromise pistol I've been using for the last 5 or so years for this was an OG style LCP.
The LCP isn't ideal, it's low capacity with no real sights and a heavy trigger. I have two of them, both were unreliable out of the box and had to go back to Ruger before they would work even with FMJ. Still, my 'favorite' of the two runs well enough after 800 rounds and hasn't had issues with Hornady Critical Defense so that's what I've been carrying. You just have to push the frame pins back in after every few magazines worth... it's literally falling apart.
After much research and time comparing sizes on handgun hero, I gave in and got an LCP MAX. The cheapest version at the LGS was the 75th anniversary edition and while I'm luke warm at best on the two tone look, my other LCPs have rusted so stainless seemed like a good idea.
It's really hard to describe how the profile of the OG vs the MAX is, when you lay the OG over the MAX you get this...
You can see it behind it, just barely. They're very close. Width wise the slides are close but the frames are night and day. The MAX is fat:
All that extra ammo has to got to go somewhere after all, it's not magic. The cool part is that the MAX fits right into the holster I was using with the LCP:
You can see the rear sight just gets covered by the material. I suspect that's going to fray and wear quickly, but maybe I'm wrong. I suspect these holsters are cheap to replace if they are, and I have no interest in trying others since my review a few months back. The OEM Ruger one is comfy and works well for me compared to the others so no reason to change that up.
As far as shooting, the MAX looks to have a fully cocked hammer in there vs. the half cocked of the OG so the trigger is shorter and lighter. It's noticeably easier to control. There is a problem though...
My dad wanted a MAX as well but the LGS was out of the stainless so he got the regular black version. He wanted the stainless version, and after I found a 2nd stainless one at the not-LGS I offered to trade him my 2nd stainless for his black. I don't care what color the practice gun really is. When dad was shooting under stress we found the flaw. For some reason with the wider metal trigger on the 75th anniversary version dad is able to pull the trigger without disengaging the trigger dingus, so the trigger won't move. We didn't see this when he was just plinking but getting him on the clock and making him work fast under stress and every time he tried one handed fire, the trigger wouldn't go. I was able to reproduce it if I tried, but never happened to me in normal use.
A trigger press more from the 'side' gets the trigger to move rearward and the dingus to block it, as seen here with the arrow showing that the dingus is still engaged and the trigger is stuck like that until I release and re-press:
With the black version with the thinner plastic trigger it doesn't happen for him, so for reliability reasons he stuck with the black one. He was kinda pissed after running a box and half of critical defense through my 2nd stainless one to verify function. Ah well, at least I know both mine work with it.
The MAX has real sights, and I like them. Easy to see tritium front, blacked out U notch rear. Nothing to complain about there.
Shooting the two is night and day. I'm totally fine with the 'dangling pinky' grip, but the extra width of the MAX keeps it from battering my hand so much. I'm confident I could fire 100s of rounds through the MAX and still be able to use my hand, can't say that about the LCP. I don't know about mechanical accuracy, but the sights/trigger make shooting the MAX appear more accurate. Irons were on well enough for the intented purpose; we didn't adjust any of the 3 guns.
Carrying the MAX for a while I do find that the extra thickness is noticeable at times. Not the weight, but it does print in some pants/shorts. Not sure how obvious it is, but it's there and if you're going into a sensitive area where being discovered is bad it's definitely a drawback for 'deep concealment'.
Oh, and with the fully cocked hammer you have to pull the slide aalllll the way back to get it to reset. Makes dryfire a pain because the snap cap comes out before the hammer resets. Not the end of the world, but it is a drawback vs. the OG.
That said, if something goes down and I need a pistol I feel confident that the MAX would get the job done, whereas the LCP... not as confident. The extra bulk makes it a viable fighting pistol at more than contact distance. I'm not a riverboat gambler, I don't want to engage 'across the table'.
Summary:
Overall pretty happy, and confident enough it's going to work that I traded off my 2nd OG LCP. I'll keep the 1st LCP just as a size comparison to the MAX, plus the trade-in value of a worn LCP that falls apart is abysmally low.
One for carry, one for dry fire/range use. Or... in case I find myself in a John Woo movie....
The LCP isn't ideal, it's low capacity with no real sights and a heavy trigger. I have two of them, both were unreliable out of the box and had to go back to Ruger before they would work even with FMJ. Still, my 'favorite' of the two runs well enough after 800 rounds and hasn't had issues with Hornady Critical Defense so that's what I've been carrying. You just have to push the frame pins back in after every few magazines worth... it's literally falling apart.
After much research and time comparing sizes on handgun hero, I gave in and got an LCP MAX. The cheapest version at the LGS was the 75th anniversary edition and while I'm luke warm at best on the two tone look, my other LCPs have rusted so stainless seemed like a good idea.
It's really hard to describe how the profile of the OG vs the MAX is, when you lay the OG over the MAX you get this...
You can see it behind it, just barely. They're very close. Width wise the slides are close but the frames are night and day. The MAX is fat:
All that extra ammo has to got to go somewhere after all, it's not magic. The cool part is that the MAX fits right into the holster I was using with the LCP:
You can see the rear sight just gets covered by the material. I suspect that's going to fray and wear quickly, but maybe I'm wrong. I suspect these holsters are cheap to replace if they are, and I have no interest in trying others since my review a few months back. The OEM Ruger one is comfy and works well for me compared to the others so no reason to change that up.
As far as shooting, the MAX looks to have a fully cocked hammer in there vs. the half cocked of the OG so the trigger is shorter and lighter. It's noticeably easier to control. There is a problem though...
My dad wanted a MAX as well but the LGS was out of the stainless so he got the regular black version. He wanted the stainless version, and after I found a 2nd stainless one at the not-LGS I offered to trade him my 2nd stainless for his black. I don't care what color the practice gun really is. When dad was shooting under stress we found the flaw. For some reason with the wider metal trigger on the 75th anniversary version dad is able to pull the trigger without disengaging the trigger dingus, so the trigger won't move. We didn't see this when he was just plinking but getting him on the clock and making him work fast under stress and every time he tried one handed fire, the trigger wouldn't go. I was able to reproduce it if I tried, but never happened to me in normal use.
A trigger press more from the 'side' gets the trigger to move rearward and the dingus to block it, as seen here with the arrow showing that the dingus is still engaged and the trigger is stuck like that until I release and re-press:
With the black version with the thinner plastic trigger it doesn't happen for him, so for reliability reasons he stuck with the black one. He was kinda pissed after running a box and half of critical defense through my 2nd stainless one to verify function. Ah well, at least I know both mine work with it.
The MAX has real sights, and I like them. Easy to see tritium front, blacked out U notch rear. Nothing to complain about there.
Shooting the two is night and day. I'm totally fine with the 'dangling pinky' grip, but the extra width of the MAX keeps it from battering my hand so much. I'm confident I could fire 100s of rounds through the MAX and still be able to use my hand, can't say that about the LCP. I don't know about mechanical accuracy, but the sights/trigger make shooting the MAX appear more accurate. Irons were on well enough for the intented purpose; we didn't adjust any of the 3 guns.
Carrying the MAX for a while I do find that the extra thickness is noticeable at times. Not the weight, but it does print in some pants/shorts. Not sure how obvious it is, but it's there and if you're going into a sensitive area where being discovered is bad it's definitely a drawback for 'deep concealment'.
Oh, and with the fully cocked hammer you have to pull the slide aalllll the way back to get it to reset. Makes dryfire a pain because the snap cap comes out before the hammer resets. Not the end of the world, but it is a drawback vs. the OG.
That said, if something goes down and I need a pistol I feel confident that the MAX would get the job done, whereas the LCP... not as confident. The extra bulk makes it a viable fighting pistol at more than contact distance. I'm not a riverboat gambler, I don't want to engage 'across the table'.
Summary:
Overall pretty happy, and confident enough it's going to work that I traded off my 2nd OG LCP. I'll keep the 1st LCP just as a size comparison to the MAX, plus the trade-in value of a worn LCP that falls apart is abysmally low.
One for carry, one for dry fire/range use. Or... in case I find myself in a John Woo movie....
