Ruger LCR accuracy

A

AID_Admin

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Today there was a Ruger presentation on my range. They were advertizing their gun and would allow to shoot them. Even though I did not plan to do any shooting with Ruger I thought I'd take an advantage of it. Since I already shot GP and SP models on the range before, I have chosen LCR .38 model. It felt featherweight and actually pretty comfortable in my hands. I expected a lot of recoil, but it was pretty manageable. However accuracy was horrible.

From 25FT mark, double action I can usually stay within a few inches, ok may be tree or four if I use an unfamiliar gun. With this gun my two 5 shot groupings covered like may be 10 inches radius. It was also a little off center. Now, I understand that LCR is not a gun for target shooting. I also understand that I never shot such a light and small revolver. So I assume most of the issue was my aiming, not the gun. But is this gun really "not so accurate", or is it me 100% ? I mean I do better with my Nagant revolver for crying out loud! :rolleyes:
 
hickok45 seamed to do pretty well with it :P
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With all due respect to hickok45 (and I love his videos, watched a lot of them) he did not do that well easier. Out of 15 shots he had four misses two or even three of them shooting a 2lt bottle of soda from what seems like about 20 to 25FT. Watch the video more carefully...
 
If you are asking about it's mechanical accuracy -- the accuracy that the revolver itself is capable of OUTSIDE of human hands and interaction... I'm sure it's absolutely fine.

All snubs are horribly difficult to shoot. It's not the barrel length so much -- it's the irrationally short sight radius. You simply have almost no idea just how far "off" you are from shot to shot. Add in the rudimentary sights on the LCR and it's a recipe for a serious blow to your confidence.

But there is nothing about the gun that makes it inaccurate, it's just horribly, horribly difficult to shoot well.
 
Snubs are challenging, but that's just part of the fun. With lots of practice and good technique you can get really good with them in my opinion.
 
Watch the video more carefully...
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I did, and I seen him hitting those small steel targets way up on the hillside. Sure he missed a lot.. but he was doing a lot of rapid fire with an unfamiliar gun. Point I was making was that he was hitting things pretty far away that he was aiming at . That tells me the gun is accurate and the misses are all human element. Just because you are having trouble with a gun, does not make it the guns fault.....I wrote I did terrible with it but my coworker, who was with me that day, was deadly accurate with it. So, I don't go bad mouthing the gun to anyone because, in the end, I realize I am the weak link with that pairing.
 
I cringe when I see online or in a gun store where someone recommends a lightweight, snubby revolver as a first gun, especially for a woman. It's an expert's gun, not a beginner's.

We've all seen it, "My wife doesn't have enough strength to rack a slide". And then the Greek Chorus starts, "Get her an LCR" or "She needs a 642". If she doesn't have enough strength to rack a slide, she's going to just love shooting a lightweight snubby.
 
I have an LCR in 38 special and honestly I'm not very good with it at all. Hickok's gong is 80 yards I believe. If he can hit it at that distance with the LCR (1-7/8" barrel) then I'm impressed and definitely believe if I can't hit something with it, its because I suck. I also have not had a range to shoot it until recently, and then the ammo shortage hit again and put me in a different problem with the same result. No practice.
 
I own both LCR and 642, and they both took a lot of practice before I felt comfortable with them. I don't usually use them for target shooting- primarily silhouettes at 7 yds. Given the short sight radius, I find both to be quite accurate at that range. And, as far as comparing the accuracy to a Nagant- you can't compare a barrel of 1 3/4" to one well over twice as long. AND, I dare say you would find the LCR trigger a dream when compared to the Nagant :-). At least, that's how I feel about mine....
 
Thanks for all the replies and let me set the record straight... I am not trying to badmouth LCR. My post could be looked at from a different perspective: I hit 10 shot within 10 inches from the first try. From the self defense stand point this is within an "imaginary attacker" chest. I am pretty convinced that if I showed these results under an attack the assaulter would be dead or at least badly wounded right from the first five shots.

I am just a little surprised about grupping not being tighter. I do have an experience shooting 2.5" snub nose, but in the much heavier gun with target sights... Oh well, I wish my range had LCR gun as a rental. It would be fun to practice with it some more... :D
 
I consider small pocket/carry pistols short range defensive weapons. In fact, I laugh when I read in reviews how good/bad the sights are on a pocket pistol. These, IMHO, are point and shoot guns. If the bad guy is coming at you, who is actually going to aim? I am shopping right now for two pocket carry pistols and regardless of what I buy will probably remove the sights to avoid the possibility of snagging when I draw.
Accuracy? Gimme a break, if the bad guy is far enough away you might have to shoot you probably are outside of the zone of needing to fire.
 
Gimme a break, if the bad guy is far enough away you might have to shoot you probably are outside of the zone of needing to fire.
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C'mon, if you could make a catch-all quip to cover "all situations" so easily and you really believed it... then you would remove all the sights from all your defensive handguns with no caveats. After all, there is some slight chance that those sights would snag, no? And if you actually need those sights, you are "outside the zone", no?

Nobody can cover each and every possible real-world scenario with a short and snarky little quip.
 
LCR - CT laser

I've been experimenting with LCR .22LR with CT laser grips. The red beam is easily visible in full sunlight on black steel targets to about 7 yards. At this distance, the gun shoots about 1" groups with hands supported on the bench.
 
Jerry Miculek had a series of videos on line about snubby shooting (the web site is no longer active). He proposed shooting snubbies by holding the weapon in the right hand as usual but wrapping the other hand COMPLETELY around the right hand with the left thumb over the back of the right hand and fingers of the left hand over those of the right. 70% of the grip should be done with the left hand and trigger control and remaining 30% of the grip done by the right when shooting DA. It works, tames recoil, saves your hand and improves accuracy dramatically. Can't find the video anywhere anymore or you could easily see what I'm discussing.
 
The Miculek grip works well if you have the hands (big paws) for it. It works great for me with a Ruger Sp101, not so great with an LCR. The sharp recoil causes my hands to pop apart.

Snubbies take work, particularly the lightweights. I've been on a run of shooting my LCR very well--this past weekend I regressed.
 
I did see the video fdreano refers to where it was suggested to wrap left hand around right one. I wish I remembered to try it when I was firing LCR, but I did not... As for recoil I only fired 10 shots of .38 Special, but I did not notice it being "that bad". It wasn't worse than shooting 357 Magnums from 6" K/L Frame. Probably about the same....
 
Cousin Pat,

How is that LCR 22LR? How is the trigger? This is one of the revolvers I truly want to purchase when I get back to Texas in October. Are you satisfied with the gun?

Joe
 
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