My wife is getting an LC380 because she has difficulty pulling back the slides of most other centerfire pistols and she is very recoil sensitive. She probably will not carry it concealed. When I saw that extended 9-round magazines are available for the LC9, I hoped similar ones would be available for the LC380, but it doesn't look like they are (at least not yet).
Since having a longer grip isn't an issue for her use (primarily, a home-defense pistol), I'm thinking that it might be pretty easy to: (1) buy an extended LC9 magazine, (2) remove the baseplate, spring, and follower, (3) cut a strip or two (as needed) of aluminum or steel bar to duplicate the filler-piece in the LC380 magazines, (4) epoxy/JB Weld this into the back of extended magazine, (5) Insert the LC380 follower into the LC9 extended magazine, followed by the longer LC9 spring and extended baseplate. I think this would create a 9-round magazine for the LC380.
I just took apart both an LC9 and an LC380 standard magazines (I don't have an extended one available yet). The springs are, surprisingly, quite a bit different - the LC9 has a significantly longer and wider (front-to-back) spring - even though the magazines are the same length). The LC9 spring doesn't fit into the recess in the shorter LC380 follower, so it would probably have to be modified (bent a little) to fit properly. The little metal piece at the bottom of the spring with the button that protrudes into the baseplate will have to be switched (it just snaps out). The wider LC9 spring seems to work fine in the LC380 magazine body. So, it looks to me like this will work and be fairly easy to do - though I'd want to test it thoroughly to be sure it doesn't impact reliability. This may seem like a lot of effort to get two additional rounds of capacity, but if my wife needs to use it, I'd rather she have as many shots as possible. Any thoughts on this or issues I'm missing? I'll probably just get it done and Ruger will come out with an LC380 extended magazine
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Since having a longer grip isn't an issue for her use (primarily, a home-defense pistol), I'm thinking that it might be pretty easy to: (1) buy an extended LC9 magazine, (2) remove the baseplate, spring, and follower, (3) cut a strip or two (as needed) of aluminum or steel bar to duplicate the filler-piece in the LC380 magazines, (4) epoxy/JB Weld this into the back of extended magazine, (5) Insert the LC380 follower into the LC9 extended magazine, followed by the longer LC9 spring and extended baseplate. I think this would create a 9-round magazine for the LC380.
I just took apart both an LC9 and an LC380 standard magazines (I don't have an extended one available yet). The springs are, surprisingly, quite a bit different - the LC9 has a significantly longer and wider (front-to-back) spring - even though the magazines are the same length). The LC9 spring doesn't fit into the recess in the shorter LC380 follower, so it would probably have to be modified (bent a little) to fit properly. The little metal piece at the bottom of the spring with the button that protrudes into the baseplate will have to be switched (it just snaps out). The wider LC9 spring seems to work fine in the LC380 magazine body. So, it looks to me like this will work and be fairly easy to do - though I'd want to test it thoroughly to be sure it doesn't impact reliability. This may seem like a lot of effort to get two additional rounds of capacity, but if my wife needs to use it, I'd rather she have as many shots as possible. Any thoughts on this or issues I'm missing? I'll probably just get it done and Ruger will come out with an LC380 extended magazine
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