Ruger LCR in ,357 Magnum... My First Impressions

So I have been very skeptical of purchasing a lightweight .357 ever since I fired the Smith scandium air weight family and I am also completely skeptical of buying a weapon until it has had at least a year under it's belt to work out issues, but I also know a deal when I see one.

I was gun shop hopping yesterday and went to a new shop with a lot of promise, inside was a Ruger LCR in .38 with a price tag of 530 dollars. I picked it up and fondled it and was completely impressed with the trigger and light weight. The store clerk told me he could get the .357 for 30 bucks more..... 560 bucks. I knew Buds had the LCR in 38 for 400 and was expected to have the .357 for 50 bucks more at 450 + a 30 dollar FFL fee would get me the .38 for 430 and .357 for 480.

I decided to pop in at another shop I have bought from before and he had a .38 LCR under the counter for 399.... Bud's gun shop prices and I jokingly and half seriously said that if it was in .357 I would buy it right now. The owner, who I know, looked at me and smiled and said I have one in .357 and will sell it to you for that price..... and went in the back. BUSTED! A man of my word I went and got the cash and 434 dollars later I was the proud owner of a new LCR in .357

I went to big five and grabbed up a few boxes of ammo. 130Gr 38 special UMC FMJ, 125 grain JSP UMC in .357 and a big box of golden saber 125gr JHP.

My impressions:

First off the "polymer" on the .357 LCR is just like a glock, polymer frame but the meat of the weapon is stainless steel, just the grip area is polymer and at 17 oz this thing is light and easy to carry.

Firing it even with full house .357 loads was more manageable than the 25 oz Taurus 651 and way more manageable than the 13 oz Smith M&P 340. The trigger is hands down the BEST DA revolver trigger I have ever fired. bar none. I won't even accept any debates about it. It also has an extra large trigger guard which is excellent for gloves or large fingers.

It was accurate, easy to fire and a dream to carry. Bonus: It fit into both my high noon mr softy and desantis nemesis holster I bought for the j frames so no new holster will be needed. The safariland comp I speedloader will not work in it because it requires the front latch to hit the cylinder and it hits the grip going in and can only go half way but I can utilize the HKS with it as it goes far enough in to drop the rounds in reliably before it catches on the grip. Even though I use and train with speed strips it is nice to know that the HKS will work reliably

I can also carry this in the mr softy clipped to a pair of board shorts with no belt and it is light enough it doesnt flip over or sag so I can carry around the house in leisure clothes like sweats or shorts without having to belt up.

Bottom line: Much better recoil management than the scandium smiths, the best most enjoyable trigger I have ever squeezed on a DA revolver, and lightweight. I love it..... the only question is long term durability. That can only be answered with time.

Two VERY BIG Thumbs up.

Congrats and thanks for the write-up. Sounds like you made a good purchase!

Congrats on the new gun! Thanks for the info, sounds like she's a keeper!

congrats

As much as I prefer non-plastic guns, this one is worthy of consideration, IMHO.

If I was in the market for a new Revolver, the LCR in either caliber, would be on my "short list". Congratulations on your new hand cannon. :smile:

Biker

Glad that you like it.

So the recoil in .357 wasn't too bad? I have the LCR in .38 and I'm really wanting to trade it for a .357. I figured the extra weight would make .38's much more enjoyable and make follow up shots quicker.

Right now I'm a good shot with the .38 but during rapid shots the recoil has me all over the place. Even if I choose not to shoot .357 I would probably be a better shot with .38's right?

Dang...you got me wanting one now too. I've always been jealous of my wife's SP101 in .357. If this is smaller, lighter and somewhat manageable from a recoil perspective, I might be looking into that. Thanks for the review.

Manageable is the wrong word, how about EASY to get on target, all five shots, one handed, both standing and moving, with .357 defense rounds. I think that is a better description of this weapon..

Now I want one too! If I did get an LCR it would have to be the. 357 because why not have the option to fire three different types of ammo. Even if you find .357 to be too much to handle you have. 38 and. 38+P to choose from.

Awesome report! I'm very interested in this firearm and I'm glad to read everything I can about it. I have the Taurus 650 .357 and love it, but @ 23.5 oz the 17 oz option coupled with the trigger action of the LCR which is, and I agree loads better than my S&W 638 and my T 650, is worth taking a look at. I called my LGS and the manager told me that he had one in today and already sold it.:pat: Oh well, I wasn't quite ready to purchase anyway, but something tells me this little bugger is gonna be a hit or miss at the local level. I never thought I'd hear/see myself type this, but I may have to settle for the S&W M&P model instead. If that happens, I'll be adding a trigger job to the thang and try to get it as close to my LCR .38 as possible. I agree regarding the longevity for these light weight revolvers, but like everything else; just commodities to be bought and sold...

Cheers! :bier:

It is heads and shoulders above the taurus. I have videos of one handed shooting and recoil with three different loads ( 130Gr UMC 38 Special FMJ, 125gr UMC JSP .357, 125 Gr Remington Golden Saber JHP) if anyone is interested pm me.

Here it is next to my Taurus and a few more pics including how it fits in the j frame version of the desantis nemesis and high noon mr. softy....

I plan on doing more review on it moving and shooting in the field.

Sounds like something my daughter-in-law could/would be interested in...I was just talking about this with my son.
Thanks for the post.:hand10:

Congrats. I picked mine up in July and was so impressed that I sold my autos. The wife and I went to the range yesterday for some shooting and I decided to shoot off 5 rounds of my Buffalo Bore tactical .357When I fired the first shot my wife said everyone on the line stopped firing looking around like ***. She also said she was positive that the floor vibrated. If 5 rounds of that stuff doesn't get the job done-run!

I like mine. After I took it to the Range and shot 100 rounds I new it was a keeper. I put my 442 in the safe. The 357 LCR has taken over as my every day all day Back Up Pocket Gun. I carry a Ruger SP101 a Taurus 617 or a Glock 26 as Maine Carry.