Good stuff guys. I appreciate ya! There's such valid points for both calibers that I guess I should have asked a slightly different question...which should I buy FIRST! I'm approximately 67.39864% sure I'll go with the 9mm first.
About the only LCR I have ruled out is the .38. Oddly, that is the one that sold me on the LCR in the first place. I got to shoot about 50 rounds through a friends. Mostly just plane jane paper punchin stuff but also some Underwood 125gr +p listed at 1200fps and some Winchester 125gr +p listed at 945fps. Thankfully, I've just never been recoil sensitive at all. Don't know why. Certainly not because of millions of rounds of practice or any magical technique or anything on my part. Just lucky I guess. I will say that I was somewhat surprised at how little recoil there was in the LCR with the fairly hot Underwood ammo though.
The revolver that got me back into revolvers is an older Charter arms off duty .38sp that I just couldn't pass up at a local pawn shop. Wasn't even remotely thinking of buying a snub nose revolver that day but the price was so good I just had to. I took it to the range with 150 rounds thinking that would probably be about 100 rounds more than I'd shoot. I enjoyed it so much that I actually went through all 150 and found myself wanting more! Anyways, I thought the heavier Charter would soak up the recoil much better than the LCR, but I really couldn't tell that much of a difference. I can certainly see a case for the LCR in .38, but I'd just much rather have the .357 personally.
I'll have to see if I can rent the LCR in .357 as I am very curious about the recoil. Not for fear of the recoil or pain, just the speed of follow up shots, muzzle flip, blast and all. Sadly, my only experience with a snubby in .357 was with the gun I thought I had to have. It was an sp101 with the 3" barrel. That exact gun was very high on my list at the time and I was shocked to see it available as a rental. The stars were properly aligned and shining on me that day AND I had a free rental coupon. Long story short I really liked it, but it just didn't blow my skirt up like I expected it to. Recoil and follow up shots were just fine but to be fair I didn't put any remotely hot loads through it. The range requires that you buy their ammo for their rentals and the prices are kinda stupid. American eagle 158gr jsp at 1240fps was all I put through it other than .38 special.
As far as recoil, muzzle blast, follow up shots and all that good stuff, can anyone tell me where the 9mm falls? Is it between the .38 and .357 being much closer to the .357 all with the hottest defensive loads? Can anyone tell me how the LCR .357 compares with the sp101 with the same loads?
Ooops, sorry I got to ramblin. I'll shut up and listen now. Thanks again, appreciate ya