Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

Lorcin L380

Comments

8 comments

  • Emmett Dunham
    can anyone tell me how to disasemble
    a L380
    i am having problems
    i just cant figure it out
    thanks
    Docsgunsmithing@aol.com

    doc
    0
  • cbxjeff
    A friend of mine in CO showed me hers' a couple of years ago on my way to Sturgis. She too had polished the ramp and fed ball ammo though it & would feed reasonably well. You obviously know the limitations of this piece & the # of rounds through it is a big deal. The materials just can't take a hard pounding. With all due respect, please don't give it to a close family member.
    0
  • beantownshootah
    Comment?

    You know what they say about polishing a turd.

    In general, these guns have a reputation for unreliability.

    Can you find one that works? Yeah, I've heard that *SOME* of them will work reliably for a time, at least.

    And yeah, you can probably improve their reliability if you know what you are doing, and are willing to put in the time and work tweaking and polishing. But ultimately, you'll have to test the gun to determine its reliability, and with .380 ammo costing literally $30+ a box right now, how much does it make sense to do that for a $50-80 gun (let alone needing to try different types of ammo to find one that works)?

    Also, no matter what you do, potentially serious and not fixable problems with these guns include: poor metallurgy, poor durability, and lack of drop safety.

    The Lorcin gun manual advises against carrying this gun with a loaded chamber. That says something (and not something good).

    I can't give you personal experience in firing these with ball ammo, since I refuse to even pick one up. Lack of a drop safety is a deal-breaker for me with these.

    I also wouldn't give one to someone I liked, unless I knew that they were highly firearms savvy and knew better than to trust their life to something like this. Needless to say, a drop-unsafe gun prone to jamming and breakage is NOT a good first gun for a novice!

    Considering how many good-quality guns are available at the $200 price point, its just hard to make a case for owning one of these, even for a low price.
    0
  • Dean Cascio
    Even by SNS standards not the best.
    Try
    Bryco-Jennings-Jimenezarms.com
    Dean
    0
  • gunnut505
    Friend of mine gave me his to see if I could make it into something that might save his life someday. We took it out to the mesa to see if it was worth doing anything to it. We managed to hit a washing machine at 12 paces, but the pattern was huge. We tried different manipulation, sighting, and 3 brands of ammo to see if we had any improvement. After spending almost 2 weeks stoning this, and tweaking that,I plugged the barrel with a lead rod, removed the spring for the firing pin, drilled a hole for a slide lock pin, and after removing the pretty pink grip panels; I placed the whole shebang in a Dickies Sport sock and sewed the end shut.
    Now he's got something small and concealable for a last-ditch defensive encounter.

    Yo Beanie, It's in such a place as to never chamber, fire, or eject any more expensive ammo, ever again.
    I didn't just screw it up a little; I plugged the bore with a lead rod and beat the last 2" into the muzzle. I removed the spring that would have made the firing pin useful, and drilled a hole all the way through the slide and frame and inserted a welding rod, and then "blobbed" the ends of the rod. I still have the pretty pink grip panels, though.
    BONUS-the mag fits my P63 Makarov(with a little work)!
    I'm pretty sure it would qualify as a "non-gun" by anyone's measure at this point.
    0
  • b0400879
    An entertaining read, gunnut505 - from POS pistol to homemade sap. [^]
    0
  • gary wray
    EmmettDunham...comment? Why are you wasting your time with boat anchor junk? Who in the world would you give this POS to? Certainly not a friend, I hope. I took one in one time with a trade and immediately saw that it was below low quality and could be a danger to shoot or drop. Got rid of it safely and quick. Don't waste your valuable time.
    0
  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by gunnut505
    Friend of mine gave me his to see if I could make it into something that might save his life someday. We took it out to the mesa to see if it was worth doing anything to it. We managed to hit a washing machine at 12 paces, but the pattern was huge. We tried different manipulation, sighting, and 3 brands of ammo to see if we had any improvement. After spending almost 2 weeks stoning this, and tweaking that,I plugged the barrel with a lead rod, removed the spring for the firing pin, drilled a hole for a slide lock pin, and after removing the pretty pink grip panels; I placed the whole shebang in a Dickies Sport sock and sewed the end shut.
    Now he's got something small and concealable for a last-ditch defensive encounter.

    LorcinL380.jpg
    Funny.

    I get the joke but just to be serious for a second, a "slung shot" (and I think your deactivated gun in a sock would qualify), is illegal just about everywhere. Also, a deactivated gun is not a good thing to have on your person for any number of other reasons.

    I *do* think deactivating the gun and using it for cosmetic purposes or as a prop somewhere is probably the "right" approach to this.

    I'm not really sure what you'd have to do to legally deactivate the gun, but I'm pretty sure that it would entail permanently altering it so that it could never (or not easily) be made to shoot again. In other words, just plugging the barrel and removing a few parts might not be enough. You'd likely have to cut/modify the receiver. Welding the slide to the frame and then the entire gun onto a solid piece of metal would be my personal method of choice!

    If you are really handy, I suppose you could try converting it into a lighter or squirt pistol.

    Back on the POS Lorcin, if you can smoothly and consistently cycle rounds through the gun manually (with muzzle pointed in safe direction only!), there is a better chance that it will do that when actually firing.

    But again, if you really want to know how reliable it is (or more likely isn't) the *ONLY* way to know for sure is to test it by firing it.

    Personally, I wouldn't waste the time or ammo trying it, but instead I'd either sell the gun outright, or use it as a trade-in to get a discount on something better.
    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity