.38 S&W J Frame 442 vs Ruger LCR, opinions?

[Sz20DF]

Do any of you have any experience with a .38 S&W J Frame Mod. 442 or the Ruger LCR? Buying something for the wife's purse or glove box in her car. Thanks!

 

[itchin]

The j frame will have a smoother lighter trigger.

 

[Moonpie]

No experience with the LCR so can not comment.

Do have experience with the 442.
Good solid quality firearm.
Difficult gun to shoot well. Takes a LOT of practice using the DAO.
D/A pull is a bear. Smaller/weaker hands even more so. Be prepared to send it out to a smith for trigger/action work.
Muzzle blast and recoil are intense. But that goes with any snubby.
Most woman I've taught don't like shooting them.
A standard Model 60 or 638 are better because you get S/A and D/A.

 

[The Lox]

The j frame will have a smoother lighter trigger.

Actually the rolling cam on the LCR has a better "feel" because of the way it breaks. If I hadn't started off a smith guy I probably would have bought the LCR, but I already had multiple J frames before the LCR came out.

The 442 is a great purse gun, but she certainly will need to practice with it a little bit given the fact that the sights are such a complete waste. My wife and I both carry the gun on a primary basis..

 

[SIG_Fiend]

If the gun is for her, I would honestly recommend her picking the gun out. She should find something that fits her hand, that's easy for her to handle, that she feels comfortable with. Some women do like J frames and LCR's. There are plenty that do not like J frames due to the 12-15# trigger pull, atrocious sights, and general lack of ergonomics. I would have her dry fire each gun. Quite a few are going to like the LCR trigger much better. If possible, the best thing to do would be to take her to a range and rent either of these that you can find, or at least something close. When it comes to revolvers, I HIGHLY recommend people actually try them out first before just buying. Revolvers can do the job, and have for many years, but there is no way around the fact that they absolutely suck to shoot.

 

[pistolpadre]

"They absolutely suck to shoot"



huh, what.. been shooting 50 years .. about equal .. and that confuses me.. i've never met that revolver.. had a blackhawik in 30 carbine once that wasn't "fun".. but even in didn't suck..

have a couple revolvers that are both inside 5 years of 100 one on the "other side" of the mark.. their both great fun shooting handguns that will print with modern what ever's..

i normally take 1911's and a couple revolvers to the range.. and see no difference in shooting either one..

remember also that with an auto a round has to be put into battery (less you carry condition one, most wont) before an engagement, that revolver just has to have it's trigger pulled.. i agree with the SA/DA choice of the 60, or airweight..

with the exception of the comment (still shaking my head.. sigh) SIG's advice on her picking it out is really the best on the page.. No doubt it will work out better if she's comfortable with the piece from the start..

 

[Whisky]

.
my Wife bought 2 pistols for herself last year - a Glock 19 (which is one of her favorites) and an LCR in .357mag (which she doesn't have a problem shooting - mostly .38spec ammo)

I think it's a nifty, 5 round pistol but I prefer more capacity

 

[SIG_Fiend]

"They absolutely suck to shoot"



huh, what.. been shooting 50 years .. about equal .. and that confuses me.. i've never met that revolver.. had a blackhawik in 30 carbine once that wasn't "fun".. but even in didn't suck..

have a couple revolvers that are both inside 5 years of 100 one on the "other side" of the mark.. their both great fun shooting handguns that will print with modern what ever's..

i normally take 1911's and a couple revolvers to the range.. and see no difference in shooting either one..

remember also that with an auto a round has to be put into battery (less you carry condition one, most wont) before an engagement, that revolver just has to have it's trigger pulled.. i agree with the SA/DA choice of the 60, or airweight..

with the exception of the comment (still shaking my head.. sigh) SIG's advice on her picking it out is really the best on the page.. No doubt it will work out better if she's comfortable with the piece from the start..

I guess I should clarify what I mean by "suck". I'm not talking about recoil or anything. It is considerably more difficult for the average person to extract a meaningful level of performance out of a revolver in comparison to a semi auto. I have seen it time and time again in classes as well as local action pistol matches. With minimal training and in a relatively short period of time, it's not all that difficult to teach a person how to shoot a semi auto fairly fast, as well as doing their manipulations (reloading) relatively fast. It's not difficult to teach a person how to shoot a revolver either, however it has been my experience that it takes considerably more effort for the average shooter to attempt extracting a competitive and fast level of performance with a revolver.

So what I'm saying is it's my opinion that they "suck" in terms of performance for the average shooter. I have known and shot with several people that can run a revolver very fast, and have excellent performance, but that's still relatively uncommon. Go to most action pistol matches, and except for the rare odd duck, if anyone is even shooting a revolver, there is usually a substantial percentage of semi auto shooters running considerably faster.

 

[navyguy]

Sig P238. Very low recoil, easy to rack the slide (real easy). Thin light and easy to carry .380 not as much punch as 38sp, but not so bad. A really nice little pistol if one doesn't want something bigger.

 

[winchster]

The LCR flat sucks to shoot. Bought one for the wife and she hated it, she preferred my SP101 so I sold the LCR. The 442 shoots much nicer than the LCR but for the money I'd buy a 3" SP101.