LCR Review
It took a while, distraction from other guns, cost and availability of ammunition, and weather all played a role, but I've finally fired enough (approximately 2,100) rounds to form a real opinion on this gun.
Does the gun live up to the name, is it "light" and "carryable?"
In a word: "yes" at 13.5 oz. and 1.3 inches in width it does fit the name, but the details below will support that it is more than just a light weight gun. It is also nice to shoot, durable, and reliable.
My LCR is one of early production, it wears Hogue grips, not the laser grips. Keep in mind that the Hogue grips are reported to be softer shooting. It has the standard black ramp front sight, but I colored mine white with a crayon.
The LCR is a pretty nice shooter for a light snub nose. Ruger really put a nice trigger in this gun. There is no creep, no slack, and the travel is smooth. It is double action only, and very consistent.
My complaints are the very long reset, the trigger has to come fully forward in order to fire again, and poor followthrough will result in a nasty slap from the trigger springing forward. I was cured of this in the first 50 rounds, but during a long shooting session fatigue set in and my trigger finger suffered for it.*
The felt recoil is slightly less than other snubs, maybe the polymer frame, but more than likely the grips are the reason. As with any snubbie you'll feel a full load, but it is tame, and manageable in comparison to other snubbies on the market.
The sights are no better or worse than any other gutter and ramp configuration. The texture of the ramp helped me color it white, and that is sufficient for my needs. There are fiber optic, and 2 tritium options available. The ramp does take some getting used to.*
I shot low the first 20 rounds or so, and thought I was just adjusting to the trigger, but the problem persisted until I changed my sight picture to line the bottom of the ramp in the gutter. My natural inclination was to line the top of the ramp with the top of the gutter, as you would with notch and post. Once I changed to lining the bottom of the ramp with the top of the gutter my accuracy was better.*
I had some concerns about durability, since the polymer frame was a fairly new concept. Like many early adopters I saw the YouTube video that reports serious flame-cutting. After my experience I can only conclude that issue was from firing lots of*+p ammo very rapidly. Something you probably wouldn't do in a defensive situation.*
Only about 25% of my test was done with*+p, and it was always fired in batches of 50 or less.*
After 2100 rounds my gun looks almost brand new. I cleaned it once, at around the 500 mark, because winter was coming and I knew I wouldn't shoot it.
I am confident in saying the LCR is durable enough for personal protection, I would wager those with a different experience were firing very hot loads very rapidly.*
As far as reliability, none of 2100 rounds failed to fire, I experienced no issues with function.
Overall I am very pleased with the LCR. I prefer the trigger to Smith and Wesson J frames, and would purchase it over the J-Frame again, but if you already have a Smith there is no reason to run out and buy a LCR.
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