Greetings and welcome from a fellow Army veteran. Glad you joined the group.
I have a .38 Special Ruger LCR. I wear it at work with me for 12-hours every single shift. Previous to buying the LCR I had carried a flat single stack compact 9mm or a different 5-shot snubbie. Both are very good, but the revolver design allows me to shoot directly on contact with "something" which could conceiveably push a semi-auto out of battery momentarily until I figured out what was happening.
There is nothing on the LCR revolver to rust. It has a very smooth double-action-only trigger pull. The revolver shoots to the sights at 15-yards with any bullet weighing 135-grains or over. I also have a Smith&Wesson 442 DAO snubbie. It shoots great, almost as well as a 4" larger revolver.
I can actually get a higher "purchase" on the grip with the 442 which makes recoil slightly more rearward than the Ruger LCR which has a tiny bit more rise during recoil. The 442 seems a bit delicate to my way of thinking. The .38 Special LCR can (and has) handled real thumpers on the range and I think it is by far a stronger gun. Rugers interchaneable grips put rubber between you and the frame, which soaks up recoil really well. Lots of other small snubbies (most IIRC) put steel or aluminum against your hand unless you buy oversized Pachmayers which defeat the concealability benefit.
When I bought the LCR my gunshop owner threw in the ultra slim concealment grip which changes out in mere seconds. For a pocket gun it imperceptible in the way it "prints" in loose fitting trousers. The standard rubber grips are pebbled, a tiny bit "fatter" and have a finger groove that conforms to between your middle and ring finger and is quite comfortable.
Every LCR I have looked at has very deep cut rifling in the barrel which if you shoot cast or swaged lead bullets for any reason the barrel quality nod goes to Ruger. Everything, for that matter, that is cut or machined or polished is very precisely done. There are zero rough spots or burrs or finishing concerns. I shoot cast double-ended wadcutters (DEWCs) and lead semi-wadcutters (LSWCs) a good bit and this LCR loves them and my LCR is capable of shooting a "one hole" 2-inch group at five yards.
The Ruger allows you to swap the front sight blade for something of higher visibility. An XS Big Dot would be amazing on this little gun for low light shooting!
If you have questions on this fine little revolver please don't hesitate to ask. I feel like it is a lot of money very well spent, and I am of the belief that if it's not professional enough for my needs I will sell it off and look elsewhere. Not this time, though.
I guess what it comes down to is that if I got a full refund of what it cost and I stood there in the gun store holding that much cash with an array of different brands of 5-shot snubbies laid before me.... eliminating any buyers remorse or feeling I had to justify a poor buying decision~~~
I would buy the Ruger LCR again.
