Ruger LCR .357, anyone use one?

[rholmes69]

My smarter and better half wanted to get into shooting a while back. Last christmas I took her shopping and she ended up with a Bersa Thunder 380. After bringing it home and firing it, she hated it.

Soooooooo,, now she wants a wheel gun. Found a deal on a LCR .357. I have handled the LCR in 38 form, can't imagine a 357 would be fun to shoot. Of course the beauty is she can fire 38's from it. So, does anyone have any word on them? Deal could go down quickly (tomorrow). Any feedback is appreciated.

[tv_racin_fan]

I have no experience with that sir. I convinced my wife to get a handgun for carry again. She decided on a Kahr CW9, I had tried to show her all sorts and thought she would like a revolver. ANYHOO not so long ago we were at a local gun shop and she overheard the saleman talking to another lady about some revolvers. She told me she liked what he was saying, so a couple weeks ago I picked up an SP101. So far she likes it, she hasn't said anything about carrying it and she isn't interested in me buying another so we both can carry them... but one day.

Moral of the story is have her hold and shoot a SP101 if it is at all possible. She might not like the weight until she understands how much it cuts the recoil.

[dusty10]

I handled one in the store a while back. It was very light weight and easy to conceal in a pocket. Alot of guys on the ruger forum rave about them. Shooting .357 thru it is probably not fun but for the wife, I'd start her on .38 wad cutters anyhow since they are quiet and have little recoil. My wife loves her "J" frame smith and keeps it loaded with hollow base wad cutters. The LCR is considerably lighter than a J frame. Hope that helps some.

[sonofodin]

My last shooting session with a snubbie magnum was years ago. As I recall, it was unpleasent

[rholmes69]

I think it may just be a turn'em and burn'em deal. Found some guy wanting to trade his LCR with 60 rds through it for a like new Bersa thunder 380. She says she wants a wheel gun, but only if it has a hammer. I could try to talk her out of it, or else trade my bersa worth 275 to a guy who has a $400 and make her happy. Sigh...

[jocko]

no more wheel guns for this ol man. I stillhave my late 60"s era Model 60 but just hard to outshoot my PM9 wiht my wheel guns. I don't shoot my PM9 great either, so you can imagine how bad I was with my little J frames. Neat guns no doubt..

[dusty10]

I think it may just be a turn'em and burn'em deal. Found some guy wanting to trade his LCR with 60 rds through it for a like new Bersa thunder 380. She says she wants a wheel gun, but only if it has a hammer. I could try to talk her out of it, or else trade my bersa worth 275 to a guy who has a $400 and make her happy. Sigh...

get her what she wants.

[mr surveyor]

I've carried wheel guns daily for years "in the field" so that I can have the option of snake shot and/or hard ball, depending on the project site. I've carried everything from small .22 cal revo's to 4" .357 Ruger Security Six, and several different J-frames. The last J-frame was a S&W 637 (.38 +p), and carried extremely well in a very concealable high ride pancake holster, but I never could shoot the darned thing well. I'm not recoil sensitive, but I can say that with +p rounds it had some smack to it, and I would think the weight of the LCR would make it pretty close to the same. I recently ran across a LNIB 3" Stainless SP101 in .357 mag for $400, sold a perfectly good S&W 637 for $350, and never looked back. The hot .357 loads in the SP101 seem to produce about the same felt recoil of +p rounds in the 637 Airweight, and standard pressure .38 spl in the 101 are about as tame as most any .22 cal revolver. I could have shopped out a LNIB 101 with 2-1/4" barrel, but to me the performance of the 3" is totally worth the extra hassle of covering another inch of barrel. And, yep, it's much heavier than the Airweight or the LCR, but again (my opinion inserted), performance is worth the extra weight.

For a lady, I strongly suggest an all steel revolver, unless that lady has extensive experience with a wide variety of handguns. If she shoots a lightweight at the range that beats her up, she will not want to practice with, carry, or run to "her" gun in time of need. The only "lightweight" handgun my wife will willingly shoot at the range is her KT P32 I bought her 6 years ago. Normally, I'm lucky if I can get her to shoot an entire magazine (or cylinder load of a wheelie) on anything but "her" P32 or a .22 cal, but she did shoot 2 consecutive magazines through my CW9 last year.

Often times the extra weight of an all steel handgun can instill a bit more confidence and comfort to the person holding it. The lightweights can come later, if they choose.

Just my blathering opinions.


surv

[jlottmc]

I carry a snub nosed 357 and stoke it with full house loads, it's fun to shoot. As to the LCR, it's one of the next guns I'll buy. I have this rule in my house, goes like this, why buy a 38 and limit my ammo types, when I can buy a 357 and not worry about it. It works with 41, 44 and 500 as well. Those are on my list as well.

[rholmes69]

Well it is a done deal. I don't think I will own the LCR for long, but I think I am getting the better end of the deal. A used bersa is in the 220-250 range (mine retailed for 275), not including shipping. I am throwing in 240 rds of ammo and getting his prisitine LCR 357. His retailed for 575 and sells used on Gunbroker for about $400.

My hope is to trade it towards something she wants. Now I have a little more "money" in the bargaining power end of it. Tought to get your money back on ammo.

[Jeremiah/Az]

I bought my girlfriend the S & W 637 airweight
.38, that she picked out. I load light wadcutters for her & she loves the gun. She is a new shooter & the autos are a little too much for her now, safety wise.

[mr surveyor]

Well it is a done deal. I don't think I will own the LCR for long, but I think I am getting the better end of the deal. A used bersa is in the 220-250 range (mine retailed for 275), not including shipping. I am throwing in 240 rds of ammo and getting his prisitine LCR 357. His retailed for 575 and sells used on Gunbroker for about $400.

My hope is to trade it towards something she wants. Now I have a little more "money" in the bargaining power end of it. Tought to get your money back on ammo.



you definately traded up. If your wife decides she just doesn't like the feel of the LCR you now probably do have $400+/- in street value for future negotiations. I hope you post a "report" of your wife's impressions of shooting the LCR.

surv

[BroncoAZ]

My woman carries a .38 LCR. She is small but shoots it well. .38 spl ammo is no problem, the +p are no fun. I found some Federal hydrashocks that are not +p that work great. The trigger is actually not too dissimilar to the Kahr, I like it.

I actually want to get her a .357 LCR. The .357 weighs a little more (look at the difference in the cylinder, the .357 is thicker) which would help with recoil.

Ask the wife to be open minded and shoot it with .38 spl ammo to see if she likes it before you trade it off.

[rholmes69]

Well we picked it up yesterday. Really happy with the transaction (via a local guntrader website) and I sorta feel like I stole it. I easily came out $100 ahead on the deal, I guess the guy just was done with it. Only had 60 rds per his count and the complete contents of a new pistol, box and all. Hasn't been registered either for warranty.

Most reports I read are that the extra weight over the standard LCR really help negate recoil on 38sp rounds. My wife grabbed a hold of it when we got home and her attitude changed abruptly. Even though she picked the Bersa out herself, she grew to hate the grips. And she said after taking her courses that she felt more comfortable with the revolver then the automatics (she previously stated in casual shooting she liked the automatics more).

She said she loves the weight and the feel and enjoys the cushion of the grip. I plan to start her out on wadcutters and move to some more potent stuff, probably won't hit +p's, we shall see.

I have no experience with the 38 round, so can any one suggest what bullet weight to start out with? It seems like after wadcutters, the standard fare of ammo ranges from 110g to 158gr and everywhere in between. What would be the most comfortable round to shoot for a lady.

Thanks in advance, and of course, an obligatory pic of the new firearm resides below!!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l256/rholmes69/Kahr/RugerLCR357.jpg

[Steve-$]

These are what I trust my life with when carrying my S&W 340sc, and are designed specifically for short barrel pistols.

Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel Ammunition 38 Special +P 135 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Box of 20 - MidwayUSA (http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=738035)

Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel Ammunition 357 Magnum 135 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Box of 20 - MidwayUSA (http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=121256)


:)

[Bawanna]

I have no experience with the rounds that Steve carries but I suspect they would be a handful although I could be wrong.

I have loaded lots of 38 special and have recipes that I loaded for freinds and co workers wifes. They really found them pleasant and guys found them rather boring. In other words a perfect range practice ammo. It was rather embarassing but not my fault, one guy, actually he was a manager that I had loaded several boxes for, some for him, and some for his wife. He asked me to load a couple more and I just assumed they were for him, fire breathing hot loads, flames out the barrel stuff. Turns out they were for his wife, she wasn't the least bit happy with me for awhile. Learned a good lesson on that one. I loaded her 6 boxes of the light stuff she liked for free. No good deed goes unpunished....................

In the factory world (is it me or is it dang hard to find standard velocity 38 anymore?) I'm not sure what would be a pleasant light load.

I was always fond of the 125 grain in jacketed bullets but quite often used 158 grain also.

I do suspect those rubber grips would soak up alot of the bite.

[Jeremiah/Az]

rholmes, I'm sure that you already know this, but recoil is a matter of physics. The heavier the bullet & the higher the velocity, the more recoil, but with lighter & slower, you sacrifice penetration. You may want to let her try light & work up to see what she is comfortable with.

[rholmes69]

I gather from some research online that the 357 loads will earn me a night on the couch at the very least. I figured I would start with the wadcutters so she could pop off 50-100 rounds and be comfortable with the mechanics of and the loading process and not be tired of it. Only then could we work to find a load she could handle 5 rounds of.

The last thing I want is for her to be in the situation where she is questioning whether that BG really needs another round their way and has to "talk" herself into pulling the trigger again. I also don't want to end up with 10 different boxes of PD rounds and all the money associated with it if I could narrow it down to a few that seem to be popular with other gals.

Thanks for the insight folks!!

[Jeremiah/Az]

My GF is a small woman with small hands. In the Airweight .38, about the same weight as the LCR, the 148 grn. wadcutters, a target load, is about all that she can handle. Not the best personal defense round by our standards, but I sure wouldn't want to get hit by one. There is always a compromise about gun weight, that we will carry, & the ammo ( recoil) we can tolerate. The standard 125 grn. ( not +P) is a good self defense round, but it does bite a little in these light guns.

[rholmes69]

Perfect info, thanks!