First leak from SHOT: Ruger polymer-framed snubby revolver [Archive]

View Full Version : First leak from SHOT: Ruger polymer-framed snubby revolver

ToddG

01-13-09, 19:26

The Ruger LCR.

http://pistol-training.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/rugerlcrctc.jpg

(thanks go to LanceinOregon on the Crimson Trace forum (http://forums.crimsontrace.com/index.php) for finding this before it got yanked by Ruger)

RD62

01-13-09, 19:33

Hmmm....

This definately has some EDC potential.

-RD62

BushmasterFanBoy

01-13-09, 20:09

I think the LCP is a better CCW gun, it seems to be the same size and even less width when the cylinder is taken into account.

Is there a reason for this, other than of course, the traditional advantages of a revolver v. auto?

MisterWilson

01-13-09, 20:40

Any word on caliber? .38spl?

thopkins22

01-13-09, 20:40

Is there a reason for this, other than of course, the traditional advantages of a revolver v. auto?

I still plan to buy an LCP, but there's probably a niche. Has the polymer frame revolver thing ever been done before? I bet it's crazy light...have you seen the prices people pay for scandium and titanium revolvers? If this thing is inexpensive, and I bet it will be, I think they'll sell a lot of them.

John_Wayne777

01-13-09, 20:41

Well....that's novel.

Caliber?

ToddG

01-13-09, 20:43

.38
(this message is too frakking short)

Lawdog537

01-13-09, 21:20

I think this is very cool! Even with the recall I am impressed with my LCP. I really like this concept.............

DZL HOG

01-13-09, 21:42

Cool.
Depending on price, that could be something Im interested in.

I bet some +P Gold Dots will be fun to shoot out of it. :eek:

BushmasterFanBoy

01-13-09, 22:04

I still plan to buy an LCP, but there's probably a niche. Has the polymer frame revolver thing ever been done before? I bet it's crazy light...have you seen the prices people pay for scandium and titanium revolvers? If this thing is inexpensive, and I bet it will be, I think they'll sell a lot of them.

True, hadn't considered that angle. A lasergripped, ultra-lightweight, compact revolver is about the most idiot-proof, easy to carry gun I could imagine.

TOrrock

01-13-09, 22:10

Looks like something the Russians would have come up with in the last 15 years......

Kinda cool.

Definitely like to check it out.

MisterWilson

01-13-09, 22:20

So will this mean that we'll be in for another decade of ignorant senators, congressmen, & supreme court justices talking about dreaded guns that are able to slip by metal detectors?

Maybe we need a movie to come out & mention it saying:

"That punk pulled a Ruger .38 on me, you know what that is? It's a plastic gun made in Arizona. It doesn't show up on your airport metal detectors and probably costs more than what you make in a week."

Mark71

01-14-09, 00:43

Very cool! Looking forward to checking it out.

Alpha Sierra

01-14-09, 05:05

I doubt S&W Airweight and Airlight J frame sales are going to suffer.

John_Wayne777

01-14-09, 07:37

http://www.gunblast.com/images/Ruger-LCR/DSC06146.JPG
http://www.gunblast.com/images/Ruger-LCR/DSC06194.JPG
http://www.gunblast.com/images/Ruger-LCR/DSC06207.JPG

Apparently the frame around the cylinder is aluminum and the "grip frame" is polymer.

Robb Jensen

01-14-09, 07:54

Pretty cool.....and it has a frick'in LASER! ;)

markm

01-14-09, 08:13

I think the LCP is a better CCW gun, it seems to be the same size and even less width when the cylinder is taken into account.

Both are pathetic calibers... .380 and .38 special? You're barely armed.

I'm not trying to talk out of my ass or be argumentative. I've done the hill billy penetration tests myself. Both rounds are a joke.

ToddG

01-14-09, 09:14

Let's not have this thread devolve into a caliber debate. Thank you.

Joe Mamma

01-14-09, 09:29

Excellent concept. But I'll wait for the first shooting test before I become a fan.

.357 magnum would have been nice (instead of a .38). But I 'm sure it would have hurt like shit to shoot!

Joe Mamma

markm

01-14-09, 09:38

.357 magnum would have been nice (instead of a .38). But I 'm sure it would have hurt like shit to shoot!

Joe Mamma

I'm no engineer... but I'm thinking .357mag plus plastic revolver = Bad Idea. :confused:

Plus, .357 snubbies are largely a waste. You end up robbing the cartridge of too much of the velocity.

Joe Mamma

01-14-09, 09:58

I'm no engineer... but I'm thinking .357mag plus plastic revolver = Bad Idea. :confused:

Plus, .357 snubbies are largely a waste. You end up robbing the cartridge of too much of the velocity.

I used to think that because I hear that all the time. But my chrono tests (my guns, factory ammo) have shown that isn't really true (in my opinion). I feel well armed when I'm carrying a .357 snubby.

(Just to make sure we are still on topic:) as long as there are no mechanical issues, I bet this gun will sell pretty well.

Joe Mamma

RAM Engineer

01-14-09, 10:07

http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=1735

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheFirearmBlog/~3/511850757/

I just bought a S&W 442-sans lock. I wonder how this will compare.

markm

01-14-09, 10:10

I used to think that because I hear that all the time. But my chrono tests (my guns, factory ammo) have shown that isn't really true (in my opinion). I feel well armed when I'm carrying a .357 snubby.

(Just to make sure we are still on topic:) as long as there are no mechanical issues, I bet this gun will sell pretty well.

Joe Mamma

I guess it would depend on the round. And yes.... I have no doubt that people will buy this gun. If people will buy the Kel Tec pistols, they'll buy this too.

signal4l

01-14-09, 11:07

I give Ruger credit for their innovation. Hopefully they can de bug the LCP.This revolver will sell very well. I dont know if I will buy either, though. I get itchy if I carry less than a 9mm. The little guns defenitely serve a purpose. I just havnt needed one as of yet

Robb Jensen

01-14-09, 13:10

I wonder how long before the recall? ;)

Raiden

01-14-09, 14:17

Neat stuff. I think it's a really smart product. I remember reading here that Larry Vickers recommends a J-Frame smith with Crimson Trace grips. I like the modularity too. (My first thought is "pink grips for the ladies!").

My second thought is about durability - in particular, the strength of the grip-to-frame connections - it looks like it's held together with a couple of screws?

I'd be really interested to see if it sells and holds up to use.
I wonder how long before the recall? ;) Back in the 1960's my father worked in Germany. He was young, single, had a good job, and the exchange rate was 4 Marks to the dollar. He wanted to buy a Porsche, and he had the choice between the 911 and the then-brand-new 914. The 914 was sporty, new, and more practical... Until it started to break. His Life Lesson that he passed down to me from a couple of years of chasing breakages and bugs was "Never be the guinea pig for a new design". He still wishes he had bought the 911.

It's conservative, and you lose out on using the new stuff, but I'll let somebody else break it first. ;)

5pins

01-14-09, 15:44

I wonder how long before the recall? ;)

May 16th
:D

sigmundsauer

01-14-09, 15:54

Awesome. Would love to have one of those in 9mm.

Tim

Race

01-14-09, 16:29

I would try one out (after the first recall, I suppose). I like to carry a J-frame in my pocket, instead of a .380, if I have the choice. I like having 158gr bullets, instead of 95gr, but hey - that's me...

I hope it does not have any kind of ILS-keyed lock. I wouldn't consider it, if it did.

RD62

01-14-09, 16:29

Current job situation makes it difficult to CCW a standard pistol daily. Anything bigger than a sub-compact is almost a no-go. I've been wanting an Airweight for sometime, and an Airweight or this Ruger, would help ensure that I always have a pistol with me.

As far as .380 or .38spl go. I haven't done any testing myself, but I'd rather not be shot with either if I can help it at all! :D

-RD62

Dan Goodwin

01-14-09, 17:04

Here's the PR release I just got with the specs.

http://www.ruger.com/LCR/

96GTS

01-14-09, 18:49

Cool concept, but only 13.5oz. My S&W 442 is listed at 15oz on Smith's site and the AirLites are listed at 12oz. Albeit the AirLites are twice the price of my AirWeight and the LCR. I can't justify another $500+ (msrp) to replace my $400 AirWeight for a lousy ounce and a half... When I saw the plastic frame, I was hoping to see it at or under 10oz:(

Saginaw79

01-14-09, 20:20

I had considered such a design long ago but figured the wheel gun was dead so why bother. Im surprised it took someone so long to do such a thing though!

skyugo

01-15-09, 01:54

i was just wondering when someone was going to market a poly revolver...

Irish10

01-15-09, 16:46

Nice but if it shoots like the scandium framed S&W's my wrists are already hurting!!

Sam

01-15-09, 21:07

The Ruger rep at SHOT said that their panel of testers were required to shoot 100 rounds of full power loads through this gun. They said it was manageable and didn't beat up their hands. It's an interesting little gun.

DrMark

01-18-09, 22:52

I though I would hate it before I played with it at SHOT.

Trigger was better than I expected; Ruger booth guy said the internals are electroless nickel plated for smoothness.

I'll probably stick with the J-frame Smith for this niche.

Of course, I haven't fired the gun; handling impression go only so far.

M4tographer

01-18-09, 23:09

I just threw up in my mouth a little. :(

Gentoo

01-19-09, 02:36

Nice little gun.

It looks like a good choice for pocket carry. If they can produce them in numbers and keep the price around $300 or so, they will sell all they care to make.

ST911

01-19-09, 15:33

I'd be curious to see the results of Ruger's testing with induced catastrophic failure.

I suspect we won't, and will have to wait for a few such events from the field.

Race

01-19-09, 16:12

Buckaroo

01-19-09, 17:03

Well, this discovery is a deal-breaker for me. I'll just stick with S&W pre-lock J-frames.

"Internal lock is hidden unobtrusively under the grip and does not interfere with the fire control mechanism in any way when disengaged."

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=5401&return=Y

Darn it.

Crap,. I missed that too. Not for me either in that case.

Buckaroo

ToddG

01-20-09, 00:14

I played with two of them at SHOT. Both malfunctioned while dry firing. Admittedly, both were on Day Four so they'd been dry fired thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of times by then.

On one gun, the trigger would lock up every few pulls ... wouldn't budge one mm when I pulled on it as hard as I could. The cylinder had to be opened and closed to get it to work again.

On the other, the cylinder would not rotate every second or third trigger pull. Hammer would rise and fall, but the cylinder wouldn't move a new chamber into position.

According to a guy at the Ruger booth, these issues were being chalked up to an issue related to the modifications they made to "inert" the guns for the show ... something about the transfer bar causing wear on some part it normally wouldn't. Could certainly be true.

Nonetheless, I don't see myself becoming an early adopter of the LCR. Ironically, my LCP has made me rethink carrying a compact revolver as a BUG. But if I were going to go back to a snubbie, it would be a j-frame. Period. No debate.

Gentoo

01-20-09, 06:35

Well, this discovery is a deal-breaker for me. I'll just stick with S&W pre-lock J-frames.

"Internal lock is hidden unobtrusively under the grip and does not interfere with the fire control mechanism in any way when disengaged."

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=5401&return=Y

Darn it.

Nice find. I was looking for a hole on the side, and missed this as well.

Oh well, guess its a good old no-lock J frame then.

Someone should tell the S&W people to make those M&P minis without that internal lock.

USG

01-20-09, 21:23

HeadHunter

01-20-09, 22:40

My cross post from another forum.

I did get to handle, but not shoot, it at the SHOT Show.

The trigger pull is OK, but it's more like a nice Colt pull than S&W. By that I mean it stacks up somewhat at the end. For those who are good at staging the trigger, it will work pretty well. Those who are used to pulling straight through will probably need to do some dry fire to get accustomed to the Ruger's trigger.

Speedloaders that fit it may be an issue. When I asked the product manager if J-frame speedloaders fit it, he gave me this response: "We tried some HKS loaders and it went in partially, but it took the speed out of speedloader. Speed Strips are probably what you will have to use." I told him I would send him an SL Variant to see how that worked. The HKS people said they hadn't heard about the revolver and had no plans to produce any compatible units in the near future. Unlikely Safariland will produce anything for it.

The sights didn't impress me very much. It annoys me when this issue is glossed over by the manufacturers, but in the end, they have very few real shooters on their staffs so they don't understand the issue. The Charter .44 frame snubs have excellent sights so I know it can be done.

It has the push in cylinder release, which is a little slower for me on the reload. That's probably a minor point, though.

We'll see. If I can get a T&E copy, I will shoot it, but given their recent recall record, I am not going to spend any money on one for a while.