I like to pocket carry a snubby, and my weapon of choice in that regard had long been the 940-1. A good size, moon clips, 9mm. Downsides? Heavy, and now "rare" and "desirable."

Enter Rugers LCR. Lightweight, excellent trigger, .38 special +P rated. Everything I need to gutshot someone through my clothes.

Excellant choice to spoil somebody's dinner.

Have a true story that relates. Back in the nineties, I was at the range with my LGC defensive shooting group. We had one guy that did pocket carry and he decided to show us how it's done. Wore an old suit jacket, since he was going to shoot through the pocket. OK, let the games begin.

Eyes and ears. Puts the snubby in the jacket pocket. He walks towards the target. Closer...closer...closer. FINALLY, he pulls the trigger...twice. Holy s--t. What's that?

It's SMOKE. Remember when polyester suits were all the rage? Well, that's what the jacket was made of. One unenduring quality of polyster is that it's flammable. The two shots ignited the jacket. Several of us ran forward and helped him put the fire out.

That's why I don't wear footy pajamas when I pocket carry.

Yeah, but it's extra badass if after shooting him in the gut through your pocket, you self-immolate, start screaming like a lunatic, and go after him like the Balrog from LOTR!

Excellent choice.
I pocket carry the .327 Federal Magnum model on an almost-daily basis.
Great carry revolver.

I was amazed at how comfortable they are to shoot. My mother has one and she loves it. It's light, comfortable to hold, simple to operate and recoil is very light.

quote:

Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
Excellent choice.
I pocket carry the .327 Federal Magnum model on an almost-daily basis.
Great carry revolver.

I've been thinking of the LCR in .327 but I read that the magnum loads are pretty rough to shoot and some have suggested using the .32 H&R mag. That H&R magnum ammo is pretty pricey compared to the .327 Federal. Haven't been able to find a range that has a rental I could try.

The old "magnum loads are tough to shoot," will always be true in a lightweight snubby. But this isn't an all day plinker. It's also not for bullseye shooting.. You're only going to empty the gun, ideally. If you need more, it's real trouble.

One thing that needs to be said about revolver ammo: you aren't stuck with heavy pills. There is a huge variety of ammunition available.

There are lots of reasons to carry a revolver. Chief among them is full wadcutters.

I'm carrying a semi, but I carried a J-Frame for at least 40 years and I loved it. Ankle, pocket and, rarely, IWB. Maybe 10 or so years ago I got my wife an LCR and, naturally, I shot it some when we went to the range.

I loved it and, now, I've sold all my Smiths except an old 64 pencil barrel and have two more LCRs, a 2" like my wife's and a 3" which is not hard to carry and really accurate, too.

There are times I want or need to carry a short barreled revolver and the LCRs handle that perfectly. Nice trigger (far better than even the J-Frames I had work done on), light weight and easy to carry.

Bob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: straightshooter1,

Have been a lifetime Smith fan (still am) but just bought my second lcrx .38. My first one was a standard model that shoots great and carries great in pocket of jacket. The profile is a little larger than my j frames because of the oversized rounded trigger guard, but is a little lighter than your standard 642\442 (13.5 oz v. 15 oz) with great grips and better trigger and sights.
I bought the second off gun broker only because I always wanted one of the limited run lcrx with the PVD copper finish cylinder and some MN Sporting Goods\FFL had 30 of them still in stock for $349 so I figured what the heck.
The low profile hammer on the lcrx makes the gun look better in my opinion and really is low snag.
At 7 yards and a little practice i find a quick 5 round dump into the 9 ring is consistently standard which is what this revolver is for IMO.
Years ago I didn't even look at other revolvers if they were not S&W but Ruger really came out with a winner in the LCR line up.

quote:

Originally posted by Genorogers:

quote:

Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
Excellent choice.
I pocket carry the .327 Federal Magnum model on an almost-daily basis.
Great carry revolver.

I've been thinking of the LCR in .327 but I read that the magnum loads are pretty rough to shoot and some have suggested using the .32 H&R mag. That H&R magnum ammo is pretty pricey compared to the .327 Federal. Haven't been able to find a range that has a rental I could try.

I don't have the LCR 327 Magnum , but the SP101 in 327 Magnum. I often shoot 32 H&R Magnums in it. I've not noticed a huge difference in the price, however the 32 H&R Magnums are not as available in stores as the 327 Magnum.

The SP101 in the 327 Magnum is a great little pistol. However, its so heavy compared to the LCR, sometimes I wish I had bought the 327 LCR.

One of my favorite comments lately was from a guy who had a .22 revolver that he carried. He was getting ragged on, because .22.

He said to the other fellow:

"Fuck you I'll turn you into a lawn sprinkler if I have to!"

Which, whether .22 is effective for SD or not, is a great statement.

Those LCRs are nice little guns. I have one of the 38s myself. In fact I had it on me today while running a few errands around town.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder:
One of my favorite comments lately was from a guy who had a .22 revolver that he carried. He was getting ragged on, because .22.

He said to the other fellow:

"Fuck you I'll turn you into a lawn sprinkler if I have to!"

Which, whether .22 is effective for SD or not, is a great statement.

Thanks, great line! Out for dinner today my wife had her .38 LCR, and I had a .22 lr LCR.

Obviously, any SD ammo should be tested with the intended handgun before carrying. Even more important with lightweight J-frames. My specific observation is Silvertips, which as you know, uses aluminum rather than copper jackets. The incident dates back roughly 20 years, so I have no idea if any changes have been made to the jacket composition or crimp since. Regardless.

A gun-writer friend at our LGC brought a Scandium J-frame .357 S&W to the range for T&E along with a ton of various brand/weight factory .357 Mag ammo. After I was through shooting, they opened up some boxes of Silvertip 145 gr .357 Mag. I watched several guys shoot it with this load.

The Silvertips were unreliable in the 12 oz Scandium and turned it into a two-shot (at best) Derringer. With several different shooters, the gun would always tie up after either one or two shots. NOBODY managed to get off three or more. The soft jackets on the Silvertips allowed the bullet to jump the crimp (forward) due to the recoil in the lightweight revolver. Then the cylinder would not rotate into battery due to the change in OAL.

Long-winded way of saying TEST any carry ammo before carrying it.

It's not unique to lightweight snubbies, I've had .357 nose out in a full size 6" as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Genorogers:
I've been thinking of the LCR in .327 but I read that the magnum loads are pretty rough to shoot and some have suggested using the .32 H&R mag. That H&R magnum ammo is pretty pricey compared to the .327 Federal. Haven't been able to find a range that has a rental I could try.

Full-house magnums can be snappy, yes. The beauty of .327 is you can shoot multiple .32 cartridges out of it. From mild to very wild.
The beauty of the LCR in .327 is that you get six instead of five.

Very nice.

I've rented the .38 LCR a few times and have always been impressed by that buttery stock trigger that, while still a heavy DAO, is light years ahead of the S&W J-frame stock triggers.

I've always wanted one of these and may just do that, I owned a S&W 442 10 years ago and quickly got rid of it as I found it to be awful to shoot with that stiff trigger and hand-pounding recoil. The recoil on the Ruger seems to be more manageable by far.

I’ve been seriously thinking about one of these in .38 Special, but I do wonder what the recoil would be like with range loaded .38 Special compared to a Glock 43 in 9mm.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder:
One of my favorite comments lately was from a guy who had a .22 revolver that he carried. He was getting ragged on, because .22.

He said to the other fellow:

"Fuck you I'll turn you into a lawn sprinkler if I have to!"

Which, whether .22 is effective for SD or not, is a great statement.

Haha, or Daffy Duck from a Bugs Bunny cartoon; I have an lcr in .22lr and with the right grip you can speed dump the cylinder into an apple sized group at point of aim at 5 yards with no difficulty.