Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger LCR… ouch

You'll never shoot anyone on a whim with that one. When the victim fares only slightly worse than the shooter's hand, you tend to think before doing that to your hand again:)

That sounds familiar. I absolutely can not shoot a Glock. Full size 9, 40, 45, compact 9.

Too much pain from Arty in that second joint. Fortunately none of my revolvers nor the 1911s give me such issues. The LCR with top loads, as mentioned, will shock my hand, but it does not beat on that thumb joint.

Recoil is a thing with any snub and the LCR is the lightest snub on the market.

Hard to imagine target wadcutters hurting, even in a super lightweight revolver.

Yes. The wider the back of the grips are, the less painful is the recoil. It spreads out the foot pounds of energy against your palm. Narrow grips will hurt the most, since it concentrates the foot pounds of energy on a smaller surface.

For what it’s worth I agree wad cutters should not be too painful

357 different story

If it’s worth it to you I would suggest more practice and work on basics

If you don’t plan to shoot a small light revolver it doesn’t matter too much

I have quite a few Jframes
But I also like the Ruger LCP series have all calibers but 327

Hank

I think I probably need to toughen up. I would like to be able to shoot a lightweight snubby because i liked a lot about it, right up to the point where it went boom. And it wasn’t agonizing - I shot through several cylinders worth of ammo - but it was unpleasant and enough to make me want to stop shooting.

Maybe if I just shoot more and keep adjusting my grip I’ll find something that works well for me.

I've always liked the Smith hammerless so that I could "choke up" on the backstrap. I'd hold the gun so that the web of my hand was just below the top of the backstrap. It cut down on the flip, which is where a lot of the pain comes from.

^^^^^THIS, you can get the longer grip through Hogue^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Went shooting with a friend and got to shoot a Ruger LCR. This was with target wadcutters, and the thing still hurt to shoot."

Maybe the ammo was loaded hotter than standard wadcutter loads? You might want to double check that.

I just picked up a snubby LCRx in 38 Special a few days ago.

Winchester 130gr FMJ are very manageable. Advertised as 800 fps on the box, so probably 700 fps or so in the snubby.

My handload of 5.0gr Unique under a 170gr Keith style SWC was bucking pretty hard. Not sure on the velocity, maybe around 800 fps or so? I need to set up the chrono and see what's what.

Overall, I'm liking the little revolver. The factory grips do a great job absorbing the shock from the recoil, even being a two-finger grip.

Totally understand the OP's frustration. In the pic is an old s&w 649 Bodyguard 38spl. It's all steel and a might heavier than the LCR. It's not the most uncomfortable to shoot but little revolvers are difficult to manage. It still about moderate in feel and not p8nishing with standard loads.

The SP101 has been recently acquired in the past 2 weeks. It's heavy, and with 38spl it's extremely fun to shoot. The mass and those Crimson Trace grips are really c9mfortsble. I'm learning more about the Ruger.

Light rev8lvees are wonderful to carry but a person n3eds something shootable. Try many of them and then decide. Good luck

I am a revolver guy. I probably own revolvers 4 to 1 over autopistols. For years my favorite every day concealed carry piece was a 2” SP-101 357 mag. For a few years now it’s been a Sig 365. Higher capacity, quicker reload, easier to carry and much, much easier to shoot fast and accurately. The only advantage a snubby has, in my opinion, is that, as someone mentioned, it’s better for unwrapped pocket carry.

You're not alone. I'm not the most accomplished handgunner, but I have shot and owned several from .22lr up to heavy-ish 45 Colt. Yes - even average 38 Special loads that are mild in my SP 101 are not comfortable at all in my LCR. If you don't roll your own, maybe try to find some cowboy action loads in 38 Special? I ended up loading my own full wadcutter to simulate cowboy type loads and all is good!

MontanaMarine commented on that.

For defense use you do not need to limit yourself to lighter recoiling (lower velocity) lead bullet loads. The Federal HST Micro is labelled +P yet easy to shoot in small light guns. The bullet is completely in case just like wadcutter target loads.

I'd suggest since you're new to shooting, then go to a range where you can rent some firearms and use some off the shelf target loads. Then you can practice and get the feel of the weapon that you like.

Or you could get a 22 in the frame size that you think that you want, and practice with it. If you change your mind on your carry gun then you'll still have a nice little 22 to carry in the woods or whatever instead of spending a lot of money on center fire ammo resulting in sore hands and probably flinching.

Or, just try to find a trustworthy mentor around your area who isn't going to throw a 44 mag in your hand and see how you do...I agree that the wadcutters could've been some reloads that were made for defense.

I use the same load in my.model 60 ss Dao and yeah they shoot well but talk to you recoil wise..mb

A small, light revolver in 38 Special has a bit of snap to it, but I never considered it uncomfortable. 357 Magnum in a similar revolver is another matter entirely. We all have different recoil thresholds, and different guns fit different peoples' hands better. I'm not a fan of excessive recoil. If that makes me less of a man, so be it.