Review of the Ruger LCR

I have had a Ruger LCR for several years now and I have shot it quite a bit and carried it to a great extent.  The LCR has two tremendous attributes: first, it has, bar none, the absolute best factory trigger of all small frame revolvers.  Second, it is absurdly light.  At only 13.5 ounces for the standard 38 Special +P model, it is an ideal pocket revolver.  The down side to the light weight is that it is punishing to shoot with hotter ammo, but physics are what they are, we can’t have our cake and eat it.  So, I don’t hold that against the gun.  The stock Hogue grip on the gun, which looks fugly as hell, is functional and tames the little beast.  Ruger got it right here.

However, there is something that I do hold against the gun: it has a bad track record of failure.  Now, I am sure that there are many shooters out there that have had no problems with their LCR.  Fine.  Myself, and two family members, all three of us avid shooters, have owned LCRs and all three of us have had issues.  Both family members experienced broken transfer bars in their guns.  I experienced a cylinder that would literally fall off the gun when slapping the ejector rod to do a reload.  It could be shoved back on and otherwise the gun worked fine, but obviously that was not an intended feature of the weapon.

Now, at least Ruger customer service is excellent and they fix problems that arise with their guns, no problem, no hassle.  But, this personal experience hardly inspires confidence.  One of the two family members got rid of his and had no further use for the gun after experiencing that failure.  The other family member, after having his repaired, got two more LCRs because as a dedicated revolver guy he loves the trigger, which is admittedly the best among small revolvers.  One of the two additional LCRs also experienced a failure when the ejector rod backed out.  This track record is less-than stellar.

So, in closing, I must say that I personally like the LCR and still use one because it has the best trigger in the game and its light weight and ergonomics are outstanding for its role as a convenient deep concealment gun.  However, the issues I have seen with it are concerning.  Most will never experience a problem because they don’t shoot these small guns much.  I think if you are interested in this gun and you get a newer one you are probably safe, but take heed.  For myself reliability is priority number one with a gun and the LCR has been spotty.