IMO, the sights swap out
too easily--nearly shot my sight off once when it came partially unlocked after catching on a holster
TRR8 was my first pistol, and still my favorite. Both rails are removable, making the gun smaller and lighter than the R8. It can also fit in the Galco Phoenix and Bianchi X15 holsters. Both rails are steel, so they are more durable should you choose to use them. The TRR8 has standard rifling unlike the polygonal of the R8, so cast bullets are a complete non-issue (if they even are in the R8). The Hogue grip is big enough that neither light/fast nor big/heavy rounds I've shot were felt anywhere other than my wrist (I've shot 126-180gr; the manual states 110gr are not to be used since their increased cylinder gap blast will erode the frame faster)
The gun weighs as much as a steel J-frame (if they came w/ 5" barrels), looks twice as mean, and has three more in the chamber. The trigger is good quality (not that I'm a connoisseur), the sights clear (the brass/gold dot is very nice to shoot with). It is cut for and comes with moonclips, which are easily loaded even by hand, and which are inexpensive compared to magazines (especially Coonan magazines
). Moon clip holders are a thing that does exist, so the whole "moons get bent in my pockets" thing makes as much sense as complaining about a gun in a pants pocket filling with lint because it's never cleaned. With rounded or pointed ammunition, the clips load extremely fast compared to strips or even speedloaders (the only speedloader --5 star--I've messed with isn't appreciably faster, allows more cartridge wobble, and sounds like a tinkerbell when you pick it up. It can also dump rounds by accident much more easily than a tight moonclip). For me, there is much less fine motor skill stuff involved with slapping a clip into place than manipulating individual rounds.
The only thing I think the gun lacks from the factory is a cut in the grip on the left side, so moons and speedloaders are a little easier to slip in from the rear. I'd also love it if someone could find a way for half-moon clips to work; those would be so easy to carry/conceal but still very fast to load--a perfect combo.
To my knowledge, no carry holster exists that accommodates the mounted rails, let along stuff on the rails--the latter is probably true for all guns, though
TCB
