Ruger LCR opinions

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.950jdj

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I am looking to get my first revolver. I love Ruger and was planning on getting a Blackhawk in .357, however, I do not have a lot of money and would like the next gun I get to fill as many roles as possible. Those include:
-Easy and comfortable to carry while hiking
-Concealable for every day carry
-Fun to plink with
-Reliable for many years to come
Which lead me to look at the LCR. I like the price of it and have read good reviews, as for the size I have large hands and worry I may not be able to get a good grip on it, any others with large hands care to chime in on that? I also like the idea of training with a snubbie as I have heard if I can master that, any other handgun will be easy.

Any info to help me make an informed purchase helps, Thanks!
 
I have shot the LCR a few times. IMHO, the LCR is not fun to plink with. Shooting it is like hi-fiving a sledgehammer. It's not a fun gun, it's a tool that is designed to fit a very special role in the light and concealable category.

Will it be reliable for many years to come? I think so, but mainly because you won't ever shoot it. You'll put a box or two through it when you get it and then maybe a box every few months when you practice. I don't think you'll ever hand an LCR down to your kids like you would an SP101, but the difference is clear when you carry the LCR all day.

It's not a plinking gun it's a "CRAP HE'S ATTACKING ME! Get away from me" Gun. DAO. Internal hammer. Business only. It will go Bang when you need it to go bang. But you won't be going to the range with it every week. You do not need to hit a can at 50 yards. You need to hit the bad guy 3 feet in front of you.

Your large hands should fit it as well as any other small-framed revolver.

You live in a free state and can carry. Buy it if you can find it at a good price.

If you want a more multi-role gun of the same caliber, look into the 2" SP101. It's heavier, but you still conceal it with a good holster and it's a bit tamer to shoot.

One more edit. If you want an LCR for plinking, look into the .22LR or .22 Magnum version. I would not advise .22LR as a carry option, but rule #1 of a gunfight is to bring a gun. I'd rather have a .22LR in my hand than an SP101 that I left at home because it was too heavy to carry.
 
I have big hands and the Hogue grip suits me ok. I enjoy shooting my LCR in .38 though I will say the first time I shot +Ps it had noticeably more recoil and I wouldn't want to shoot those that often. As for low powered .38s I find it enjoyable to shoot. I can't get my pinky on the grip but its a thickish grip and I guess that makes it feel comfortable. Get it in .357; its about 4 ounces heavier and you can still use .38 ammo.
 
I have it in 357 and I love it. I find it fun to shoot. Everybody makes it out to be worse than it is in the recoil department.
 
FWIW, I just bought my wife one of the .22 LCRs for carrying around the hunting property. Man, that thing is an absolute RIOT to shoot! And it is dead nuts accurate, surprisingly, at the 10 yds. distance we were breaking it in at last week. But I can't imagine shooting the .357 mag with full-house loads, I don't think that would be too enjoyable.
 
.950,
My LCR meets your requirements in .357 except for plinking practice.
With a mild .38 Special target round, I have no problem shooting 50 rounds comfortably.

Plinking with .38 becomes expensive, so I usually get a .22 version of the .357 revolver.

In the .22 and .22 Mag LCR models, Ruger replaced the superb trigger found in .38 and .357 models with a action so stiff that my trigger finger hurts after 10 rounds.

Because of this, I carry the LCR, but plink with S&W revolvers or Ruger pistols.
MQP
 
Wife and I iove ours.
Got the laser grip, fun to shoot but it let's you know it's there when it goes bang.
Buffalo Bore has some nice .38sp loads for it.
 
I have the .357 version, which I can get through a box of (but typically do not). 38sp is a pussycat in this gun though. People make a deal about the recoil, but I wonder if they had the boot or CT grips on it. With the tamer my 93lb wife will shoot up every .38 I bring to the range including +p. Her 1 day record so far is 350rds. Even reloading it is expensive to take her to the range.
 
i had a chance to shoot one in .357 a while back and i loved it. shooting .38s was downright FUN! very good shooting gun, very good trigger, and very light. i did not find the recoil objectionable....until we loaded some full-on magnum rounds. i could still manage the recoil, but i did not enjoy it. as for the grip size; i wear a size L/XL glove and although the grip did not fill my hand, there was more than enough of it for me to maintain total control without adjusting my grip between shots. i would suggest that you look for the .357 version over the .38 though. with this you get nearly four extra ounces to help absorb recoil as well as the option to use .357 magnum loads should you ever choose to do so.
 
If you are new to handguns, I would not get an LCR. I would learn on something else. To the uninitiated, the recoil from a lightweight snubnose revolver is harsh. I tried a couple of them when I was a new handgun shooter - it was very unpleasant. Now, although I still wouldn't call the .38 LCR fun, I can manage its recoil, and I'm thinking of getting my own. But it's been a few years and a lot of rounds since I started.

For a general purpose Ruger revolver, you might do better to look at the SP101 or GP100.
 
With very mild wadcutter loads I find the LCR fun to plink with. Standard .38s and +P especially are not quite as much fun.
 
+1 for the SP101 with a 2-3" barrel. There's more gun there to hang on to, and the longer sight radius will make it more fun to shoot accurately. Many instructors will also tell you that if you are new to handguns, the little snubbies are one of the worst choices you can make because they are really loud, recoil can be an issue, and the short sight radius makes them hard to shoot accurately.

Without knowing more about your size, experience with handguns, how you dress, where you hike, etc the SP101 will probably be fine, although the very small LCR would conceal better. Also, not sure how recoil-sensitive you are, but that should be taken into account.
 
With very mild wadcutter loads I find the LCR fun to plink with. Standard .38s and +P especially are not quite as much fun.
Click to expand...

I have to agree. After a couple hundred rounds out of mine I have decided that mild wadcutters is the way to go for practice/plinking. I can shoot a bunch more of these before I cry "UNCLE"! Little gun = sharp recoil! The first 50 rounds of 158 gr LRN's pretty much convinced me. :what: I kept reading how others did not have any issues with it. So I tried to man up and tough it out. Well that just caused me to put the gun further back in the safe and it got shot very little. Well now I freely admit I am not macho enough to shoot it with a steady diet of full power stuff. :rolleyes: I am going to feed mine a diet of mild wadcutters. Only use full power stuff when necessary. I don't really want to buy another one in 22lr either.

KeithET
 
First of all, I agree that the LCR recoil is overstated very often. With that being said, mine is a .357 with the standard Hogue rubber grip, and I certainly wouldn't want to do much plinking with full house .357s. About ten rounds of .357 is all I can manage before the web of my hand starts to hurt.
I have very large hands and don't find it uncomfortable at all, though I certainly can't get my pinky onto the grip.

Is it fun to plink with? YMMV, but I think so. If you've never shot a gun similar to the LCR, you may see if you can rent or try one before buying, since short barreled revolvers are often a very different experience for someone that hasn't fired one before.
 
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