Ruger LCR 9 range report

[dannyb]

I have a sort of thing for revolvers in 9mm; revolver reliability plus cheaper ammo. My latest Iwantone acquisition is a Ruger LCR9. Took it to the (outdoor @ 33 degrees F) range for a first-time spin. My wife came with me to pop off a few rounds with her S&W 317 and to jeer me on. I was using some surplus Israeli 9 X 19 mm (I love the numeral 9 and the two Hebrew Mem Mem right to left on the box). The LCR 9 comes with 3 springy moon clips. When I started, I was hitting high-right (wife gave a nice supportive jeer). I realized that I was hunching in my stance (it was cold and I was wearing a fall jacket) so I paid attention to my posture and started chewing up the center area of the target at 25 feet. Recoil was a bit snappy but not too bad. I shot in both isosceles and single hand.

I discovered that it was more difficult to pop the spent casings out of the moon clips than I read in the various reviews. I do keep a demooner in my utilities box (I also love .45 acp revolvers), so I popped the casings out and reloaded the clips; one of the clips cracked when I reloaded it for the third time. Now down to 2 clips, I started to de-moon some casings when the second clip broke. The third clip broke when I popped out the spent casings. Luckily, you can shoot the LCR 9 without the clips, but you won't get the star to remove the casings. I found, however, that a moderate bang on the table would would loosen up the spent cases so that a good shake would drop them out of the cylinder. I did this a couple of times. We then packed up and went for a hot beverage.

Summary: Revolver was reliable, went bang every time and was reasonably accurate - even in the face of professional jeerleading. The included moon clips were fragile and failed very quickly. Shooting the LCR 9 without the moon clips was still OK, but required extra effort to remove spent cases.

Next steps: I have ordered a 10-pack of Speed Beez moon clips for the LCR 9. They look like they may be more robust, come with their own demooner, and are significantly cheaper than the Ruger product. I'll post a follow up when they come and I have a chance to use them.

[PHLJJS]

I have an LCR 9mm as well. I haven't had any issues with the moon clips, but found the recoil to be painful with the factory grip.

I replaced it with a Hogue Tamer rubber grip without the finger grooves. It's a little bigger and allows you to get another finger on the grip. It soaks up the recoil much better than the factory grip.

[dannyb]

The Hogue grip is on my wish list for December 25.

[Bang]

Spend additional money on a new product to make it right. Sounds like the Harley-Davidson marketing model.

[brian]

no issues with recoil or clips with mine.
not a fan of 45acp in clips...i much prefer auto rim in those 45s.

[Gunsnwater]

The first moons had to get a tiny bit dremeled off the circumference. They were too tight and bound up the cylinder. The extras I ordered both ruger and after market fit correctly out of the box.