Revolvers

Designed for concealed carry, the 5-shot .44 Special Boomer by Charter Arms packs a powerful cartridge in a small, snag-free package.

One common questions I hear is a lot is “I’m looking for a handgun but I don’t have a lot to spend. Can you recommend a budget revolver?” Consider this first.

So why would we or you want to do something like this? Well, contrary to what a lot of people think stainless does not mean rustless. Stainless steel will, can, and does rust. Now it is not as prone to corrosion as regular steel, but it will happen. Coating a stainless gun might be the equivalent of putting on two condoms, but sometimes its better to be have a little extra protection. See what WMD can do.

The widely acclaimed Ruger LCR (Lightweight Compact Revolver) just got even better. As you know, the LCR is one of Ruger’s best-selling guns. They hit a home run when they introduced the first polymer revolver in January of 2009, and since then they’ve added several new versions to broaden the market for this revolutionary snub nose. The latest is the .38 spcl./.38spcl+P version with an external hammer—the LCRx. Don’t worry, the addition of the hammer hasn’t changed any of the great handling and shooting qualities of the double-action-only (DAO) LCR. It still has the same polymer lower housing that holds the fire control components, the same aluminum alloy upper and the same stainless steel barrel liner and cylinder. However, with this model you have the option of pulling the hammer back and firing in single-action (SA) mode.

If you remember back to our original story on the Taurus Judge Polymer, one of the biggest problems with the gun was an almost complete lack of ballistic integrity. The most “cutting edge” round, from Winchester, wasted nearly a third of the total payload on steel BBs that travel at roughly the same speed as a Crossman BB gun. With all the popularity of .410 guage personal defense pistols, they looked to be something of a dud when it came to actual self defense. Seeing this, Hornady had engineered a new addition to their Critical Defense handgun ammo specifically for short barreled .410 pistols, called Triple Defense, and through powder blending and some interesting projectile choices, the .410 revolver can now at least be used as an effective self defense weapon. We tested this new round on the chronograph and with targets at normal close combat distances and this new Triple Defense round proved itself a formidable foe with enough flexibility to take advantage of the strengths of the .410 round at both short and moderate distances. The .410 revolver is still more of a novelty weapon than a serious contender or your best self defense gun, but for the millions of guns out there already, at least we now have a smartly made accurate round with enough punch to matter.