9mm LCR - are loose bullet issues real and any reliable brands

I suggest using the approved ammunition list for Boberg/Bond autoloaders, which face similar issues.
http://community.bobergarms.com/forum/topics/boberg-compatible-ammunition

Blaser brass has setback issues. Haven't seen it on any other. Edit the Bobergs are far harder on ammo than any revolver, they work like ww1 belt (fabric) fed machine guns. Its a good starting point, but don't be afraid of something on the list R-P (remington) has very good neck tension on reloads.

At this time, my notes on the OP topic are misplaced. All testing from my LCR-9mm. I do remember that Winchester Silver-tip 115 gr. cartridge did the best, only gained .005" after 4 firings. Federal value pack of 115 gr. was the worse. 5th round was pulled out of case after 4 firings. IIRC, some R-P 115 gr. did okay. My reloads fared well, with bullets only gaining approx. .015" after 4 firings. Ran out of WWB 115 gr. before I did my testing.

Good neck tension is what the bullet needs. For defense, I would test quality nickel plated cased.

The biggest downside I see are the Moonclips

Can’t extract quickly without them. You need to poke the shells out from the front

They are a pain, IMHO, hard to carry and can bend

A 38 can extract easy and you can carry extra ammo in a speed loader, speed strip or loose in your pocket

Not to venture too far off topic but have you taken a look at a 327 LCR? Energy lands between 38+P and 357 plus you get an extra round in the cylinder. If you don't reload I'm not sure I can 100% recommend it as practice will be expensive but just something else to muddy the waters.

Wanderling said:

That’s one of the reasons I was hesitant to carry a revolver in first place, I’d rather carry 8 rounds of .380 vs 5 rounds of any other caliber.

Click to expand...

But, as somethingbenign suggests, the .327 Magnum is a viable alternative when it comes to power and compact revolver ammunition capacity, though I'd be the first to concede that it's not the "most easy and common to find round".

Just use a good 38 special round and you don't have to worry about it. I have 9mm and 45acp revolvers for fun, but for EDC I use revolvers with rimmed revolver rounds that were designed for that kind of handgun.

Then again, maybe it's an easy thing to overanalyze.

9mm is on average marginally more powerful than 38 special and costs a few cents less per round. NBD.

I've fired many hundreds of rounds of 9mm and (especially) 45acp through revolvers with nary a problem. Perhaps "jumping crimp" is a very rare thing. Quite possibly also NBD.

For me the Federal "Champion" 115 grain jumped. After firing two rounds, the remaining three bullets had slid out 1/8 of an inch. After firing three, the remaining two bullets were out of the cases and powder had spilled out.

OTOH, I also tested Winchester White box and Fiocchi (both 115 grain) with no issues. No visible movement after firing 4 rounds. (I did not measure before and after, just eyeballed.


It's been awhile since I played with this. I also tested others that worked fine, but don't recall which.

Moon clips dominate competitions for a reason: reloads are faster with them. However, carrying them around is a problem in daily life. They have to be in their holders, else they bend. The situation is worse for 9mm than for .45 ACP. The old school S&W clips for .45 can be sturdy. Also, you can buy better clips from TK Custom. But it was too frustrating for me.

Reloading a clipless revolver from a magazine can be as fast as loading from speed strips. But it's not as fast as reloading an autoloader, or using a speedloader. At least my shoulder harness always is a conversation starter: folks seeing it for the first time think that I'm confused, having 1911 magazine holders together with a revolver.

zaitcev said:

Reloading a clipless revolver from a magazine can be as fast as loading from speed strips. But it's not as fast as reloading an autoloader, or using a speedloader. At least my shoulder harness always is a conversation starter: folks seeing it for the first time think that I'm confused, having 1911 magazine holders together with a revolver.

Click to expand...

I have often wondered about how this would work. Do you modify the mags at all to help things along?

somethingbenign said:

I have often wondered about how this would work. Do you modify the mags at all to help things along?

Click to expand...

I don't modify them, because then I lose the compatibility. Here's a video (you can skip the unnecessarily long explanation to offset 03:18 where he actually loads the gun):

The bullet pull issue is real, and something to be paid attention to. But FWIW, I can recall having at least 5 9mm revolvers. I never ran into an issue with bullet pull affecting normal operation with any of them. But the LCR is lighter than any 9mm revolver I've owned. And the lighter the revolver, the more likely an issue with bullet pull. Having seen this issue discussed several times, I did a very informal test at the range. I used my lightest 9mm revolver, a S&W 940, 23 oz. loaded. With Federal 124+P HST, after 8 rounds fired, one round left unfired pulled .050". Winchester and IMI 124 grain NATO tested in the same manner only displayed ~.002" bullet pull. Very brief, informal test, but it confirmed for me that the issue is real. But as I said, bullet pull has never actually affected normal operation of the 5 and 6 shot 9mm revolvers I've owned........ymmv

One thought I will add; I have meant to test the 147 gr. from various makers and mine.
The longer bearing surface in the case, should reduce the pull effect considerably. Of course, I could be wrong, as the 9mm Luger case has more of a taper than most straight-walled cartidges.

I have an lcrx 9mm. Blazer brass has come completely out of the case and dumped powder all over the place.

SD ammo like hornady no problem.

Love the gun, though. Look at the link from post #2. That’s your key.