LCR Boot Grip Option

Thinking about getting back into the Ruger Revolver family. ALMOST bought the LCR .38 today. I am forced to pocket carry about 90% of the time. I had a JFrame 642 and traded it away cause the grip design constantly stuck out of my pocket a bit. I love the Hogue grip on the stock LCR for the range but had a question about the boot grip. Is the grip swapped out easy on the LCR? I see the boot grip for sale on ShopRuger website. What I mean is that if I go CCW with the boot grip but put the Hogue one on while at the range or home does the rubber start sliding and stretching? Just afraid swapping them out will tend to stretch the rubber to where it is not form fitting. Does the boot grip cut down on the grip size enough to make a difference in the pocket? Thanks

Yes, not only is it smaller in the pocket, the hard plastic sides let your hand more easily slip around it during the draw rather than sticking to it like the full size Hogue grip.

There is one screw at the base of the grip to remove it. Though if I were going to carry it with the boot grip, that's what I would be practicing with. Once you practice a bit with the boot grip, you'll probably consider switching back and forth a hassle.

The boot grip is just a tad less comfortable with regards to recoil but not as bad to me as the standard boot grip that comes on a J frame. The boot grip still has a recoil cushion in it.

Overall I do believe the length of the LCR will be a little longer than the J frame assuming boot grips on the J frame. Maybe you just need to buy pants with the properly sized pockets. Usually when I go clothes shopping the pocket gun goes with me to test in the dressing room.

I switched to the boot grip to reduce printing in IWB holster as well as pocket. Then I switched back to let some others shoot a "snubbie". Your post kind of reminded me to switch back. I've kind of gotten used to the comfort of the Hogue. But the boot is definately a better carry. If you switch back and forth, take care of the single screw for each grip. They're different lenghts, not interchangeable..

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but I thought some photos might be of interest.

Picked up a LCR .38 Special a couple weeks ago for $305, brand new on Gunbroker. I already have a small, light, 6-shot .357 that doesn't recoil - a Chiappa Rhino - but was wanting to get something to replace my long-mourned S&W 38-2 humpback. Happy about the deal I got on the LCR, but found the sticky Hogue grips - while making it decently comfortable to shoot - really grabbed clothing during concealed carry and made the piece a bit too large for proper pocket carry.

So, I ordered a pair of the Hogue compact boot stocks from the Ruger mothership. Installing them, I found they made the gun quite a bit smaller (it now disappears in a Mika pocket holster or a Pistol Wear Trump Card holster/belt) and noticeably lighter. They're also not sticky, which is great for carry, though they still have a recoil-absorbing insert. The boot stocks afford a much smaller grip, however; it's good that the internal hammer gun allows for a very high grip, as this allows some measure of control despite the smaller, thinner stocks.

Here are the comparison shots; I hope they're of interest to future researchers trying to decide whether they want the smaller stocks:

Before


After


Before installation, wearing the original Tamer stocks - please note the bill for scale (I aligned the lowest part of the stock with the edge of the bill, as viewed from directly above)


After installation, wearing the new boot stocks - again, please note the bill for scale (aligned as before)


I hope this was of interest; again, sorry about the zombie thread. 8)

Thanks for the write up and pics. Those were the comparsion pics I was looking for.

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=206307

xrlke said:

Thanks for the write up and pics. Those were the comparsion pics I was looking for.

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My pleasure; glad they were of use. 8)

Thanks, hitman - forum "search" was down (seems to happen a lot) when I tried to figure where to put these pix, so I used a Google search of the site and just put them in the first thread that came up.

Good pics Erich, as always. That new LCRX is really tempting. What bullet weight does your LCR seem to like?

Thank you, Ferguson.

From the couple hundred rounds (all +P) I've put through the gun, it really seemed like the LCR was designed for the 135-grain Speer short barrel +P Gold Dot load (and its functional equivalent, the Winchester 130-grain +P PDX1 load). Both did well (around 975 fps average velocities from this barrel at about 80°F/10% humidity and just under 6k' altitude) and were accurate and controllable. (The Winchester loading actually shot better for me, and that's what I'm carrying.) I shot a number of handloads (lots of +P 125-grainers, my warm "combat wadcutter" loading and some FBI-Load equivalents) also, and certainly noticed the lighter bullets were more pleasant on the shooter! The gun is not inherently any more accurate than any equivalent five-shot .38 "J-frame-ish" thing, nor any less - the nice newly engineered trigger on the LCR certainly makes it easier to shoot well, especially at speed and with the weak hand.

Just my 2¢, but I really appreciate how the concealed hammer LCR allows the shooter to "choke up" when taking your firing grip: this makes the fairly light gun a lot easier to control by getting the gun in better alignment with the shooter's arm. (This is even more essential with the shorter boot grip installed: "choking up" allows the shooter to get a much better grip and better leverage when firing with the small stocks.) I am happy to have an external hammer on my 3" SP-101, but I'm very happy with the concealed hammer on the pocketable LCR .38 Special.

Do you aim with the top of the front sight even with the top of the rear notch. While it may seem an elementary question I have owned-and sold-a few revolvers that had a really tall front sight that would only hit point of aim with more than half the front blade sticking up over the rear.

FergusonTO35 said:

Do you aim with the top of the front sight even with the top of the rear notch.

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I do.

FergusonTO35 said:

Do you aim with the top of the front sight even with the top of the rear notch.

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As do I. BTW, Remington's version of the +P 158-gr LSWCHP "FBI Load" did 905 fps average from my gun on that outing I mentioned before. Wasn't terribly unpleasant, but was noticeably more stout than the loadings with lighter grain-weight bullets.

Back to the subject of the LCR boot grip: I've been dry-firing this gun a lot with the new stocks, and I've noticed that the boot stocks really encourage the shooter to take that "choked up" firing grip that I mentioned up-thread. (The regular Tamer stocks strongly discourage "choking up", insofar as their finger grooves force the hand into a traditional grip.) You see, the Boot stocks are so short in the front (under and behind the trigger guard) that a shooter really feels more comfortable taking a grip in which the web of the thumb is all the way up (and even over the top of) the backstrap of the boot grip. This results in a grip that puts the bore in much better alignment with the shooter's forearm (this is the big advantage to the bottom-firing chamber of my Chiappa Rhino, which mitigates recoil in a way that is difficult to believe in a 23-oz. .357 Magnum revolver), and is likely to make for faster follow-up shots.

That would be really interesting, if I actually wound up shooting the LCR faster with the smaller, lighter stocks installed.

I'll have to see about taking some photos to demonstrate what I'm attempting to describe. And I clearly need to get back out to the range with the gun - how fortuitous that a weekend is fast approaching. 8)

Sounds good. That R-P load is apparently underrated from the factory, all the ballistics tables used to show that load and similar as turning in 850 fps from a 4" tube. In the past I've never had much success with snub nose revolvers but the LCRX looks like it could change my mind on them!

Well, this is seriously "old stock" Remington - from the '80s, IIRC. My recollection from the time is that the 4" listing was 950 fps. And I'm at high altitude . . .

Hoghunter, I switched to the boot grip because I wanted to carry the 38 spl LCR in my pocket. The standard grip was just too big and sticky to easily retrieve from my pocket. Now the boot grip stays on my LCR all the time. My hands are not the skinniest but their not beefy either so It is more difficult for me to hold on to the boot grip through the recoil. The first time I shot it with the boot grip I shot about 40 rounds. The back strap kept hitting the tendon to the right side of my right thumb. It was an injury that lasted several weeks. I still very much wanted to use and get use to the boot grip that I knew I had to change the way I grip the boot grip. I grip it now in a very unorthodox fashion and I found that I can still aim it steady. Last time I fired close to 60 rounds in a session with zero effect to my hands. Most of the rounds in that session were +p. Now it's all about the practice and continuing to get use to the new way I grip.

Here are photos of my "choked-up" grip as I'm firing it with the boot stocks these days:

I never reported back on the LCR-38 and its new boot grip stocks.

I don't know whether it was all the dry firing I've been doing or else the choked-up grip I was able to use on the thing (due to the absence of finger grooves forcing my hand down low), but I found the gun to be a whole lot easier to shoot well than with the original stocks. I was able to shoot both more accurately and faster, and the recoil felt notably less than it did with the other stocks.

I'm betting it was the grip I took on these. Anyhow, money well spent - at least for me.

FergusonTO35 said:

That new LCRX is really tempting.

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Continuing the resurrection of this thread, and because the LCRx is mentioned...

I installed the boot grips on my LCRx. They do what I intended them to do. They don't hang up on my clothing nearly as much as the factory grips, but at a price. The grip is extremely short. For my very wide hands, almost too short. And that's not a criticism, but an observation.

The other thing that a guy's really gotta be aware of if he wants to install the boot grips on the LCRx is the top of the grip prevents single action operation of the hammer without some serious body work being done on the grips.





Never thought to take a picture before I started cutting, but it is a very substantial amount of material that was removed.

WAYNO.