Thinking of a ruger LCR in 9mm.

Any big difference in it vs a 38special snubby?
Rise, recoil, accuracy?

While you are at the gun counter ask to see both it and a Springfield Armory X.D. .

Compare the two in weight and dimension and capacity.

If you are purchasing it for a primary.
If it's a bug, disregard.

Primarily interested in the 38 special/9mm comparison.
Have a SW 640 that I would be swapping it for. 38 was a little hard to come by for awhile. Have a ton of 9mm

For carry? Because in the "real world" moon clips suck. There's no good way to carry reloads.

Even as a range gun moon clips suck.

(coming from a guy who shot revolver competitively with moon clips for many years)

Some 9mm loads may jump the crimp tying up the revolver

I carried a S&W 940 as a BUG for a short time. It was accurate. Recoil was on par with +P .38. Never found a good way to carry a reload in a moon clip. I went back to the S&W 442. It was lighter and easier to carry a reload for.

quote:

Originally posted by mike56:
Primarily interested in the 38 special/9mm comparison.
Have a SW 640 that I would be swapping it for. 38 was a little hard to come by for awhile. Have a ton of 9mm

As others have said...moon clips suck. Also, as others have mentioned, 9mm bullets can jump crimp. .38/.357 headspace off the rim, so the case mouth can use a heavy roll crimp without compromising headspacing. 9mm and other rimless cartridges typically headspace off the case mouth, so those cartridges typically use a taper crimp so that the mouth of the case can headspace against the front of the chamber. This works fine in a semi-auto, but the "slidehammer" effect of recoil in a revolver can overcome the weaker taper crimp, and if the bullets slides forward too far it'll jam up the action.

There's a reason revolver ammo has rims and semi-auto cartridges don't...it's because they work better in the platforms they were designed for.

That said, I want a 9mm revolver. Not because I think it's a viable defensive tool, or a practical weapon, but like you I think it would be cool to get my revolver on with some cheap 9mm ammo just for fun. I'd never trade a 640 for one, though. The 640 is excellent AND practical, and I think you will be greatly disappointed if you let it go in exchange for a 9mm. I'd save up and buy the Ruger with cash. To be honest, I've even been considering a *gasp* Taurus to scratch the 9mm revolver itch...I'd sworn off them but I keep hearing that they've gotten better, and it's just going to be a range toy anyway...

I'm not a huge moonclip fan either, but a pinch you can reload the LCR's without moonclips. You'll need to punch out the empties with a pencil or something, but I doubt I'd ever need to reload a snubby more than one in an emergency situation.

I've had an SP101 and LCR in 9mm and found them to have less recoil than a 357, maybe on par with +p 38's or a slightly more. I never had an issue with the bullets jumping crimp, but have heard of others experiencing it.

I recently purchased a small collection in which there was an NIB LCRX in 9mm. I thought about selling it, but may keep it for a carry gun.

I’ve owned the S&W 940 and Taurus 905. Yes the moon clips for them are too thin and easily bent and that is the reason I sold both. I would rather have a 38/357 than deal with moonclips.

No real desire to carry either my Ruger 5401 or 5456; round count limitations just don't appeal to me in a world of Shield+ and P365 pistols. Between the two I prefer shooting the 5401; .38 just suits the gun so much better to me.

I have a Ruger SP101 9mm revolver that is fun to shoot, but has similar felt recoil to hot +p 38 spl ammo. I’m in the camp of liking the moon clips mainly because I found BMT’s mooner tools. I’ve never had an issue with bullets unseating under recoil, but the SP101 is a heavy girl.

Those that have never seen the BMT Mooner tools should take a look here. I have one for S&W models 625, 642 Pro, and my SP101. I was so impressed I bought the 627 and a couple more 642s for my brother and son. They changed my life as it relates to moon clips.

I had an LCR in 9mm for about 9 days. Sold it after first range session. It was a beast! Lots of noise, recoil and muzzle jump. Full disclosure, I’m 75 and have been losing muscle strength every year it seems like. A younger shooter might have different impressions.

I've never wanted an auto round in a revolver, so I have stuck to .38 or .357.

As said, moon clips are bulky. The bullet can move against the crimp. Recoil between 9mm and .38 is about the same. The only advantage is that 9mm is cheap. But do we really shoot our pocket revolvers all that much, anyway? Pony up for a box of high quality .38 rounds and be happy.

I’d have a hard time swapping my 640 for one. I’ve never own a 9mm revolver but have shot an LCR in one and a 101 in it also. I didn’t experience any problems but as others have said moon clips are a pain in the ass. I didn’t experience and bullets pulling in the 9mm but I did own an early LCR in .38 that this happened too. Never had that happen in a j frame in 38, coulda been a fluke. The 640 is a great gun, again not sure if sacrifice it for what you want.

I haven't had an LCR, but have had J-Frame S&Ws in .38 Spcl. and 9mm. I chronographed some major manufacturer .38+P and 9mm in 2" J-Frame revolvers. The loads I tested showed that even standard pressure 9mm exceeds.38+P ballistics with similar bullet weights in the little 2" revolvers. So naturally, recoil in revolvers of similar weight is greater with 9mm than with .38+P.

There is sometimes some bullet pull, but in shooting S&W 547s,a 940,a 686 9mm conversion, Ruger Blackhawk and SP101 9mm revolvers, I've never experienced bullet pull that prevented normal operation of the gun. Still, I suspect the vast majority of shooters prefer the standard rimmed cartridges in revolvers, or 9mm revolvers would be a lot more common...

quote:

Originally posted by rock185:
I haven't had an LCR, but have had J-Frame S&Ws in .38 Spcl. and 9mm. I chronographed some major manufacturer .38+P and 9mm in 2" J-Frame revolvers. The loads I tested showed that even standard pressure 9mm exceeds.38+P ballistics with similar bullet weights in the little 2" revolvers. So naturally, recoil in revolvers of similar weight is greater with 9mm than with .38+P.

There is sometimes some bullet pull, but in shooting S&W 547s,a 940,a 686 9mm conversion, Ruger Blackhawk and SP101 9mm revolvers, I've never experienced bullet pull that prevented normal operation of the gun. Still, I suspect the vast majority of shooters prefer the standard rimmed cartridges in revolvers, or 9mm revolvers would be a lot more common...

What were the problems (besides expense) that has prevented Smith from coming out with the 547 again?

quote:

Originally posted by ScotP7:
What were the problems (besides expense) that has prevented Smith from coming out with the 547 again?

I think part of the reason It didn't last long was that at the time the 9mm cartridge wasn't that popular yet in the US. The 9mm of the late 70's/early 80's didn't have the performance of today's loadings, so if you were going to shoot a revolver you were better off with the usual .38 and .357 cartridges.

I have a 3" Model 547. I like it, but I like revolvers in standard revolver calibers better.

Today, there's probably a lot more profit for S&W in 9mm semi-autos than in revolvers, so I wouldn't expect it or something like it to come back.

If I had a 9mm revolver it would be minimum SP-101 in size a weight. I would also obtain or have fabricated a custom 9mm mold that will cast .359 lead bullets with a crimp groove. I would size them .358 and use Lyman Orange Magic bullet lube. I would roll crimp (probably using a .38 S&W roll crimp die) and feed those rounds exclusively to that revolver and keeping those rounds the hell away from my semi’s. At some point though, I have probably gone off the deep end of sanity with the above exercise.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
For carry? Because in the "real world" moon clips suck. There's no good way to carry reloads.

Even as a range gun moon clips suck.

(coming from a guy who shot revolver competitively with moon clips for many years)

Seems to me I have seen Jerry Miculek do a lot of revolver shooting using moon clips.
Never saw him have any problems.
He had a holder on his belt that held them well.

quote:

Seems to me I have seen Jerry Miculek do a lot of revolver shooting using moon clips.
Never saw him have any problems.

Ummmm I am just going to go out on a limb and, albeit make a completely unsubstantiated guess, that your skills and reps lag a wee bit behind ole’ Jerry’s. Now I could be completely wrong about you but I sure as shit know the vast number of us would still be hearing the “Here we….” Portion of “here we go” before we got a shot off and Jerry is on reload 2.

I feel bad for anybody breaking into that household. “I dunno what happened, I heard somebody say “here we go” and next thing I know Saint Peter is asking me all these questions.”

As for recoil. I always found 9mm revolvers to FEEL more like a light .357 round more than a .38. But that may just be me.