I have loved pistol-caliber carbines since I bought my first PCC over 10 years ago. They’re accurate, fun to shoot, have little recoil and aren’t as loud as shooting rifle rounds through a carbine. I’ve owned three or four since then and still find them to be welcome additions to my range time. I recently reviewed the Smith & Wesson PCC for this publication and found it to exhibit all of those characteristics, plus it folded into a small size for easy storage.
When I heard that Ruger was introducing a PCC called the LC Carbine at SHOT Show 2024, I wasn’t all that intrigued; after all, how many PCCs does one man need? (Don’t answer that.) Then, I heard it had a folding stock, which piqued my interest. And when I heard it was chambered in the venerable .45 ACP cartridge, I knew I needed to get one in my hands and out to the range.
The LC Carbine was available in both .45 ACP and 5.7x28 mm; it is also now available in 10 mm. While the 5.7 is undoubtedly a blast to shoot, I opted to test the .45 since ammo is cheaper and generally somewhat easier to find. Plus, as a 1911 fan, I’ve always loved the .45 ACP cartridge. The LC Carbine is also rated for +P for those who want to get a little more oomph out of it. It comes with one 13-round magazine but accepts Glock-pattern .45 magazines, so it’s easy to stock up on a few more.
The gun features an aluminum alloy receiver and a 16.25-inch steel alloy barrel that is threaded for the muzzle device of the shooter’s choice. It comes with an end cap in place, and that’s what I used during testing. The CNC-milled handguard is made of Type III hard-coat anodized for maximum durability and features M-Lok slots on seven sides. Multiple QD sling sockets allow for maximum versatility, and the gun ships with an M-Lok QD sling socket and hex wrenches for disassembly.
For sights, the gun features Ruger Rapid Deploy folding sights on both the front and rear. They’re adjustable and very easy to fold up and down. For those who prefer a red-dot or other optic, a full-length Picatinny rail leaves plenty of room for mounting an optic of choice.
The folding stock—one of the cooler features of the gun—is easy to unfold with the push of a button and locks into place with no wiggle. It is adjustable for length of pull, attaches via a Picatinny rail and can easily be replaced with an AR-pattern stock if desired.
The trigger was short and smooth, with a positive reset. My trigger gauge measured it right at six pounds. Like Ruger handguns, it has a trigger safety to ensure it doesn’t fire without the trigger being pulled. It also has a 1911-style ambidextrous manual safety that is easy to operate.
The reversible charging handle is forward on the left side and was super easy to use once I got the hang of it being there. The magazine loads into the pistol grip and drops free easily with a push of the magazine release. While it took me a while to learn where all the controls were, a couple more trips to the range would almost certainly make them familiar enough to operate with no hesitation.
I usually like to test PCCs with a red-dot since I figure that’s what I’ll probably use on the gun, but 50-yard shooting with a red-dot isn’t exactly conducive to accuracy; instead, I pulled a low-power optic off my backup 3-gun rifle to see if I could get a better idea of how the LC Carbine shoots. The scope was a compact Pentax Lightseeker 1-4x, which certainly isn’t a long-range riflescope but worked well for this test.
Range day was sunny and warm, starting at about 80 degrees when I arrived and climbing to 86 by the time I left. A light breeze from the north was perfect for staying cool but not enough to affect accuracy at 50 yards.
I used a Lead Sled rest off a bench and set the targets at 50 yards. For testing, I ran one practice load and two self-defense loads through the gun. The FMJ load was Federal’s American Eagle 230-grain. Hollow points included Fiocchi’s 200-grain Defense Dynamic HP and Federal Punch’s 230-grain hollow- point bullet.
We all know how individual guns tend to “like” different types of ammunition, so I had no preconceived notions going into testing which would be the most accurate. Fortunately for those who want to purchase this gun for self-defense purposes, the Federal Punch had both the smallest group and the smallest average group size at 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches, respectively. While a 2.5-inch group might not seem that impressive, with .45 ACP at 50 yards, it’s not too shabby. Also, consider that two .45 slugs touching make nearly a 1-inch group, so getting tiny groups is more difficult than with a .22 caliber.
The LC Carbine also shot the American Eagle fairly accurately. The best group was 2.2 inches and the group average was 2.7 inches, only 0.2 inches larger than with the Punch. The Fiocchi apparently wasn’t the carbine’s favorite fodder, but still exhibited a respectable 2.4-inch group and 3.4-inch average.
Incidentally, the gun exhibited the recoil I would expect for a 7-pound PCC, meaning very little. It also fed all three of the tested rounds flawlessly and ejected them with equal aplomb, as one might expect from Ruger.
So, what’s the LC Carbine good for? I’d say just about anything you want to do with it. It would be great for plinking fun at the range, even for younger kids who might be recoil-sensitive. It would also make a great home-defense gun stashed in a bedside safe. It also has applications as a truck gun, since it can be stashed out of the way when folded, then put into use quickly.
The MSRP of the LC Carbine is $1,009, which isn’t cheap in the PCC world. But with the quality of Ruger firearms, plus the fact it can likely be found for a little less at retail, I’m betting there will be a lot of shooters willing to pay that price for a folding .45 PCC with so many possible applications.
