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Ruger LCP & Keltec made by same company?

bixbyshooterbixbyshooter Member Posts: 4 ✭✭
edited January 2009 in Ask the Experts
Dear Experts out there. Does anyone know for sure if the new Ruger LCP and the Keltec are manufactured by the same company and just slightly altered for each firm? I was told they are by one of those "Experts" at a local gun show. Thanks for any accurate info.
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Comments

  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,491 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ask that expert to take each apart in front of you. You will notice which one is far the better of the two. Believe me it is very evident. They are not made at the same company.
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  • Wehrmacht_45Wehrmacht_45 Member Posts: 3,377
    edited November -1
    Nope not made by the same people. The Ruger sure looks like a Kel Tec rip off externally.
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  • soopsoop Member Posts: 4,633
    edited November -1
    Ruger makes Ruger and Keltec makes Keltec,just like GM made the Vega and Ford made the Pinto.
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  • fastcarsgofastfastcarsgofast Member Posts: 7,179
    edited November -1
    NO!!!!
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  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ruger LCP is a knockoff of the Kel-Tec 3AT/p32, but they are NOT made by the same company.

    Parts will NOT interchange, either,

    I've heard that there is some "issue" with Kel-Tec's patent, allowing Ruger to get away with the cloning.
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  • 32 Magnum32 Magnum Member Posts: 820 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've had a Kel-Tec and a Ruger apart, side by side, in the gun shop where I work. From what I can see, the only real differences are in the external polymer frame and some of the sculpting on the slide. Internally the vast majority of the parts are virtually identical - EXCEPT - Ruger didn't copy the sear shape exactly and skimped a bit on the sear spring on their original offering - and that was the reason that the LCP had "disengagement" problems and the Kel-Tec did not. If Ruger had copied every internal part, identical to the Kel-Tec, they wouldn't have had the recall problem.
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  • Wehrmacht_45Wehrmacht_45 Member Posts: 3,377
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah

    I've heard that there is some "issue" with Kel-Tec's patent, allowing Ruger to get away with the cloning.



    Probably the fact that Ruger might have more lawyers on retainer than Kel Tec has staff.

    Although Glock was able to kill S&W's original Sigma for patent infringement.

    Either way. I will take one of the new Walther PPS guns in 9mm over the Ruger(all of the new centerfire pistols suck) or a Kel Tec any day.
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  • 511pe511pe Member Posts: 258 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wouldn't appear to be the first Kel-Tec look-a-like. Ever see Kel-Tec's P11 9MM and Skyy Industries CPX-1 9MM? I don't think that Kel-Tec makes gun parts for other gun manufacturers. There are other gun manufactures who machine slides, frames, and barrels for some new companys starting out. Kimber has raised questions regarding who makes their parts in the past. Mr.Soopershot ever see a Suzuki Swift, Geo Metro, and Chevy Metro? Where do they all come from?
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  • 32 Magnum32 Magnum Member Posts: 820 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Skyy Industries was started by several Kel-Tec ex-employees. They started their own business just down the road and took quite a bit of the "intellectual" property with them - made just a few changes - such as the ambi safety.
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  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,491 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 32 Magnum
    I've had a Kel-Tec and a Ruger apart, side by side, in the gun shop where I work. From what I can see, the only real differences are in the external polymer frame and some of the sculpting on the slide. Internally the vast majority of the parts are virtually identical - EXCEPT - Ruger didn't copy the sear shape exactly and skimped a bit on the sear spring on their original offering - and that was the reason that the LCP had "disengagement" problems and the Kel-Tec did not. If Ruger had copied every internal part, identical to the Kel-Tec, they wouldn't have had the recall problem.


    Look at the paperwork on each. I don't believe any parts will interchange unless a spring was modified. I even tried slipping the slide off the keltec on the ruger. NO go..
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