One, Ruger ships the LCP with a separate magazine floor plate that has a finger groove. Nonetheless, the Ruger feels better to shoot, I think because of two factors. You’ll be hard pressed to get more than a hundred rounds through either gun in a single range session. The slide doesn’t lock back empty on either gun, however.Īny pocket pistol is going to be fairly brutal to shoot, even with. Being able to lock back a slide is a basic safety indicator, as far as I’m concerned, so I like having that ability on a gun. One other design change that I find quite welcome is the ability to lock back the slide on the LCP, something that the Kel-Tec lacks.
#KEL TEC P 11 REVIEW FULL#
The Kel-Tec P3AT has a slightly lighter trigger pull than the LCP, which seems to be a full two pounds heavier by my measure. Ruger altered this to be a more conventional extractor with force provided by an internally housed coil spring. For one, Ruger redesigned the extractor.The P3AT has a flat spring bolted to the face of the slide which provides tension for the extractor. One difference of note is that Ruger does put round indicator holes on both sides of the magazine, whereas Kel-Tec only has them on one side.Īs I mentioned, there are slight design changes between the P3AT and the LCP. Both magazine bodies appear to be made by the same Italian manufacturer. From Ruger’s point of view, this was probably the whole point. This prevents the Kel-Tec magazine from working in the Ruger, forcing me to order another spare Ruger factory mag. For all practical purposes, they are identical, except for the catch on the LCP magazine being a few millimeters lower. One disappointment between the two guns is that the magazines aren’t interchangeable, though they could have easily been made so. This has made rusting a real issue with the Kel-Tec, which is partly what prompted me to try the LCP. The Kel-Tec slide is just a fairly standard blue, which has all but worn off the top part of my pistol because of carry.
Ruger’s finish looks like it will be a bit more durable. While Kel-Tec replaced it, no questioned asked, the Ruger came ready to shoot out of the box. When I bought my Kel-Tec, I couldn’t shoot it for a month because the gun I bought had a defective barrel. With the Ruger you also get their quality control. While both the frames of the Ruger and the Kel-Tec are injection molded, on the Ruger it’s hardly noticeable, whereas on the Kel-Tec, the seams are apparent. It’s no surprise that the Ruger easily takes the prize in terms of fit and finish. In my opinion, the differences probably add up to being enough to justify the extra cost of the Ruger over the Kel-Tec. But are they the same gun? Same design, largely, but there are differences. So it would seem odd that I’d decide to do a comparison of what are essentially, the same gun. But there won’t be any lawsuit, because we later found out that Ruger had licensed the design. They are, for all practical purposes, the same gun. Anyone with two eyes can see they look astonishingly similar. When the Ruger LCP was first launched on the market, web searches for “Kel-Tec sues Ruger” suddenly took an upward turn.