An Idea That Hurt !

[bula]

So, y'all have seen me post of my 44spec Bulldog many times. Then lately that sneaky little LCR attached itself to me like a Tick ! A C.A. 44spec thread going on around here at the moment , got me to holding the Bulldog in one hand and the LCR +P38 in the other...and POOOF ! Ouch, needed a couple tylenol. But you may at this point be able to guess. If/can Ruger scale up the LCR/LCRX into a 44spec. ? Much as I like my Bulldog, THAT idea would put it at risk of staying in the drawer. 

[jeffh]

May 26, 2023 8:40:47 GMT -5 bula said:

....If/can Ruger scale up the LCR/LCRX into a 44spec. ?...

I am certain Ruger is fully capable.  WILLING may be another story.

I firmly believe that the main impetus behind the LCRs was to compete with Charter Arms.  Sure, everyone's gotten on that sixty-year-old bandwagon in the last ten years, so Ruger is competing with everyone, but Charter was who everyone else was competing with to begin with.

I also firmly believe that the LCRs are much cheaper to make than the SP101s or GPs.  Initially, their prices reflected that - they were like all the modern, plastic-stocked $400 wonder rifles everyone was making for about half what their traditional rifles were going for - at least Savage and Remington, then Ruger.  YET, curiously, the LCRs are being offered for not much less than an SP101 these days.  The whole idea of a good revolver being made affordable through innovation fell through the cracks with the LCR - or so it seems to me.

So, where I'm' going with this is that while they COULD make an LCR/LCRX in a larger frame size, they'd be wanting to sell it for more than a GP100 - which is just my cynical guess.  They'd sell out the first run at over MSRP, start another run and those few weirdos, like us, who like the 44 Special would have gotten ours and the rest of the next run would languish on the shelf until sold off cheap through distributors and we'd never see them again.  I'm pretty sure Ruger would see that writing on the wall, but gun makers have fallen for the "popularity" of the 44 Special over and over, made a run, sold them, couldn't sell truckloads of them steadily thereafter and scrapped it.

That said, if Ruger DID make a 3" LCR in 44 Special - for under $500 - I'd probably be very tempted to buy one.  As they go over $500, and often closer to $600, I'm out.

I have an LCRX and it's light, but bulky.  The cylinder is small, but the frame is rather large for what it is/does, so I'd not be inclined to give up the compactness of the Bulldog for that extra bulk myself.  I paid $400 for the LCRX (38 Special) new, four, five years ago and I'd pay that, or even $450 for another in 357 today, but wouldn't pay just $50 less than an SP101 for one.  Maybe I am looking in the wrong place at prices or maybe my perspective that the LCRs are BUDGET revolvers is wrong.  My take is that if they cost a lot less to make, they should sell for a lot less too, so I see a really good budget revolver simply being priced too close to one which costs a lot more to make.

[bigbore5]

And they just don't look nice. The LCR line looks like a pre-teen with 3D printer wanted a cap gun.

[bula]

Your logic works for me, close enough to my thoughts. For the right price, I'd reach for my wallet. 

[bigbore5]

The right price would have to be less than a Charter, that's for sure.

[jeffh]

Now, if you want cheap AND good-lookin', Rossi is (supposedly) back in the revolver game, but I've had a time of it finding one.

The RP-36, is a SIX-SHOT 357 on the same frame size as the Taurus 605, which is a FIVE-SHOT 357 and which fits into the same holsters I've been using for my Bulldogs - perfectly. The Rossi also kept the hammer-mounted firing pin and rebound slide, which should produce a MUCH lighter DA/SA pull than the Taurus versions, which are very heavy in both DA and SA.

I've had two or three Rossi M720, 44 Specials and they were smooth, crisp and nicely built guns, but a bit heavier and bulkier than the Charters, They shot very well too and shared one feature with the Bulldogs which made it a bit easy on me - they all had oversized throats, like .433". It was convenient for me because I coud size all my 44 bullets the same diameter.

Anyway, if they ever ship those new 357s, I want to get one.

If they were ever to do another five-shot 44 Special on a small frame, I'm afraid I'd have to get one of those too.

Prices on most sites have been under $400, but always out of stock. The few who actually HAD one (I've seen like three in stock) were all over $450. Honestly, if they're made as well as the old ones, it would be a deal. The Taurus 605 I had was VERY nicely done, just the design of the innards turned me off, but Taurus is making the Rossi revolvers, so that's probably a good thing now that they're turning out some very refined work right now.

[jeffh]

By the way, I'm not just being "cheap" either. I admit that I have a soft-spot for cheap guns that work well, but Smith and Ruger are not making anything at the moment which appeals to me in the least. Colt's 3", 357 is tempting, features-wise, but they actually do hit my "cheap-nerve," so I just don't think about those.

I don't know if it would fit, but that 3" Colt in 44 Special would be one that I would lust for, whether I could afford it or not.