Tallball
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2014
- Messages
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Please forgive the one millionth recent LCR thread.
My good friend has a 357 LCR. I shot it a month or so ago and really liked it. 38 specials were nothing, and 357's were fun. We were shooting at 15 yards that day and I kept almost every round onto a paper plate sized group.
A couple of weeks later my friend at the LGS had an LCR 38 special for sale. Since I had liked my other friend's so much, and since it was so much lighter than my alloy j-frame that I like to carry, I traded a couple of guns I didn't want anymore for it.
When I took it to the range the results were disastrous. I am 6'6" and have large hands even for my height. At seven yards I could barely keep all of the rounds on the paper. It moved around in my hands and wore a horrid blood blister near the base of my thumb in 50 rounds or less.
So I asked the good people of THR for advice, and the Hogue grip that normally goes on the LCRx was highly recommended. Since my fingers almost never fit "finger grips", I ordered the smooth version. It fit my hand much better after I changed to the new grips.
Today I went shooting with the same friend again. He is 6'4" and has what I would consider to be "normally-sized" hands for his height. The results were interesting. We tried several different kinds of ammo, including commercial, his hand-loaded target rounds, and some of his stoutly loaded +p rounds.
At seven yards we could both shoot decently with either of them. The added weight of the 357 version, even though it was only 3.5 ounces, made shooting his fairly pleasant, even though the grips were really too small for either of us. The longer grip on the 38 special let both of us actually use all of our fingers, even our pinkies, and we were able to shoot it pretty well as a result. They balanced differently and felt different in our hands, but neither was unpleasant to shoot. Both of us shot over 50 rounds, switching back and forth between guns a lot, with no ill effects.
In general, either of us could shoot either revolver more-or-less equally well. Even though his is only 3.5 ounces heavier, that made a significant difference in how it balanced and in how the recoil felt. Even though mine seemed (in comparison) much lighter, and somewhat awkwardly balanced, with the slightly longer grip both of us were able to control it just fine. I was not feeling my best today, but managed to put almost all of my shots in a paper plate sized group. My friend was "in the groove" and went through stretches where he was putting them all into an area the size of my fist.
They are both good for carry. The 357 is shorter overall due to the grips. The 38 weighs the pocket down less. Either one can easily be concealed in cargo shorts, or in a back pocket with a shirt hanging down.
Thank you to the members who gave me the good advice. I was not sure I would be able to keep and use the LCR, but with a little more practice I think it will be a useful member of my carry rotation. Here are some gratuitous pictures of it with the different grips. (Sorry for the second one being blurry.)
My good friend has a 357 LCR. I shot it a month or so ago and really liked it. 38 specials were nothing, and 357's were fun. We were shooting at 15 yards that day and I kept almost every round onto a paper plate sized group.
A couple of weeks later my friend at the LGS had an LCR 38 special for sale. Since I had liked my other friend's so much, and since it was so much lighter than my alloy j-frame that I like to carry, I traded a couple of guns I didn't want anymore for it.
When I took it to the range the results were disastrous. I am 6'6" and have large hands even for my height. At seven yards I could barely keep all of the rounds on the paper. It moved around in my hands and wore a horrid blood blister near the base of my thumb in 50 rounds or less.
So I asked the good people of THR for advice, and the Hogue grip that normally goes on the LCRx was highly recommended. Since my fingers almost never fit "finger grips", I ordered the smooth version. It fit my hand much better after I changed to the new grips.
Today I went shooting with the same friend again. He is 6'4" and has what I would consider to be "normally-sized" hands for his height. The results were interesting. We tried several different kinds of ammo, including commercial, his hand-loaded target rounds, and some of his stoutly loaded +p rounds.
At seven yards we could both shoot decently with either of them. The added weight of the 357 version, even though it was only 3.5 ounces, made shooting his fairly pleasant, even though the grips were really too small for either of us. The longer grip on the 38 special let both of us actually use all of our fingers, even our pinkies, and we were able to shoot it pretty well as a result. They balanced differently and felt different in our hands, but neither was unpleasant to shoot. Both of us shot over 50 rounds, switching back and forth between guns a lot, with no ill effects.
In general, either of us could shoot either revolver more-or-less equally well. Even though his is only 3.5 ounces heavier, that made a significant difference in how it balanced and in how the recoil felt. Even though mine seemed (in comparison) much lighter, and somewhat awkwardly balanced, with the slightly longer grip both of us were able to control it just fine. I was not feeling my best today, but managed to put almost all of my shots in a paper plate sized group. My friend was "in the groove" and went through stretches where he was putting them all into an area the size of my fist.
They are both good for carry. The 357 is shorter overall due to the grips. The 38 weighs the pocket down less. Either one can easily be concealed in cargo shorts, or in a back pocket with a shirt hanging down.
Thank you to the members who gave me the good advice. I was not sure I would be able to keep and use the LCR, but with a little more practice I think it will be a useful member of my carry rotation. Here are some gratuitous pictures of it with the different grips. (Sorry for the second one being blurry.)
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