Originally Posted by BC38

I see that now - didn't see it before I posted though.

I will be sending my LC9 back to the mothership, but first I want to confirm what I think happened.

I believe my LC9 fired while about 3/32" out of battery. The ammo I was using was Speer Lawman 115gr and the case had a separation that starts just above the top edge of the extractor groove and extends about 1/4 of the way around the case and down into the extractor groove. The separation happened at the unsupported area of the feed ramp. The case is bulged right at the feed ramp - you can clearly see the line on the side of the case where the unsupported area of the feed ramp meets the chamber. When the case is inserted into the chamber of the barrel it stops just a little more than 1/16" from seating all the way - and it is the bulged feed ramp area that keeps it from seating.

So, it appears to me that it fired when it was still about 1-16" ro 3/32" out of battery and the case bulged and started to have a head separation at the unsupported area of the feed ramp. This blew the extractor off, along with the piece that retains it and the extractor spring, as well as bending the loaded chamber indicator to where it sticks up all the time - whether there is a round in the chamber or not.

So far I have confirmed that you can hold the slide slightly out of battery and pull the trigger and it will release the hammer. I want to do this with an empty primed case to confirm that the firing pin will hit the primer with enough force to ignite it. If it does, that will confirm that firing out of battery is what caused the damage.

In order to get it to fire the primer I'll probably have to point it straight up into the air and insert a pencil or dowel into the barrel to hold the empty primed case against the breechface - since the extractor isn't there to do it.

But that is what I plan on doing to confirm my suspicions before sending it in to Ruger. I plan to make a video of my experiments as confirmation and evidence to send to Ruger when I contact them by email to notify them of the problem.