Generally I agree, they're full powered center-fire feather-weight guns with low capacities and are slow to reload when compared to a modern auto. They're thicker too, since they have the "revolver" thing going, and are almost always higher priced than their comparable auto brethren. Combine that with the fact that I'm really not a big revolver guy, there never really was any reason for me to get one.
So... I ordered one anyways. Figured it would make a good B.A.G. Day gun, and I wanted to try doing business with a newer local(ish) dealer. Well... eight months later the stupid gun finally showed up, and I'm probably not dealing with him again. Something this simple shouldn't have taken so long...
Anywho... I do love how light the little thing is (15oz. empty) and the shape of the frame lets me really choke my grip up and get a pretty low bore-over-grip height. I'm hoping that will let me negate some of the jump inherent with hot loads in the little thing. We'll see how that works out on Thursday when I duck out behind the barn at Grandpa's to pop a few rounds of and see if it actually works.
The original plan was to attempt to "master the snubby" over the summer, but it just means I'll get plenty of dry-fire practice and hopefully get my reloads down while combating cabin fever up here in the frozen north. Also it'll give me a chance to get an Apex spring kit and drop that in (the stupid little thing feels so good in my hand that it's a shame the trigger is so "meh.")
Now if only Smith hadn't drilled a stupid hole in the side of the thing.........
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They aren't much fun to shoot, still they're very serviceable guns and I keep a few of them on hand for the situations where they rule the roost. (Essentially they're guns you can load in seconds and drop into a pocket or a clip-on holster and be out the door...and you can unload them all day long with no disastrous effect such as semi-auto bullet set-back)
BTW unless lightness of trigger is extremely important to you dry fire the gun 1,000x or more and see how the trigger feels. For extra cheap trigger job pop out the sear and give it a good cleaning to get any dust, grit, or imperfections you sheered off, out of the mix.
The short grip means you have less leverage in the trigger pull. That being said my J-Frames have some of the best triggers in my safe.
The SA trigger on my wife's 638 I'll take the Pepsi-challenge with ANY Colt Python with any day!
I've got a set of snap-caps living in it now, and it's been hanging out on the coffee table so I can dry fire during commercials or whatever. Eventually I'll drop in the Apex J-Frame spring kit I think, but I want to get a feel for the "before" so I can write up a good review for here.
Looks a lot like mine. Minus some minor finish wear. Oh, and I have Hogue grips on mine. And mine doesn't have the stupid lock. But I really like mine. My wife usually can't tell it's in my pocket.
What holster do you use?
I used to have one of those. In fact, it was the very first pistol I ever bought. I liked it, except for the fact that the trigger was so absolutely horrible that I could barely keep it on the cardboard at 7 yards. I ended up trading it for my Taurus .45 because of that.
I've shot that exact model. It's a neat idea, but even with regular loads, it's a handful. My LC9 is roughly the same x and y dimensions, but is much thinner, holds 7+1, has less felt recoil, has a detachable magazine, a spot to put my pinky, the same if not more power, and the same trigger (no joke, the LC9 trigger is terrible compared to most striker-fired guns, it has an internal hammer.)
All that said, I do kind of want one. It's a S&W revolver...
I almost picked up an LC9 instead of this one actually. Then I saw one loaded, and that stupid flag is more of an eyesore than the hole in the side of this one to me.
Then again I actually handled an LC9 last week, and it felt decent. So who knows, I may get over it.
The pocket holster I use is an Uncle Mike's generic nylon holster (probably 8936, maybe), that originally had a plastic belt clip sewn onto it. I removed the stitching and have used it as a pocket holster. It works well enough for me, the nylon holster stays in my pocket when I draw the wheelgun from my pocket.
I should have a Desantis Nemasis in a couple days.
Fred, mine was the same way when I got it, a little gritty and heavier than I like. After dry firing it a few hundred times, though, it smoothed out a treat and now I can shoot it better than any other gun I own. The best part is, after putting a few hundred rounds through it, you'll notice that muzzle flip it almost totally gone in all of your other guns.
:-D
~Of course, after seeing the "Dime Club" post, muzzle flip *may* not be an issue for you~
:-D
Heh.
Unfortunately, rifles are rifles, and pistols are pistols. I'm definitely better with a long arm than any handgun (working on that though.)
Unless you plan to shoot from the pocket every time, what's the point of refusing to have an exposed hammer?
For every tactical event requiring shooting from the pocket, you will have ten events requiring aimed fire at the extreme end of the revolver's range, and that type of work is best done single-action. I have had a LOT of revolvers, J-frames included, and still have 4, none of them SAO, but all have exposed hammers.
Yes, I do, in fact, practice with my Ruger SP-101s at longer ranges out to 40 yards or so, and I feel confident I could hit an exposed man at 50 with the Ruger snubs. I routinely practice with my 4" Colt Anaconda at 100 yards, and have rung a 200-yd gong (20" gong) with it, 4 out of six. All that work, I do single-action.
Simplest answer- because I think it looks neat and I wanted it that way.
More complex answer- well you pretty much answered that yourself. If I'm wearing something where I can get away with any other sort of carry, I'm not going to be carrying this one. If I carry the little J-frame, it'll be when I can't actually hide my full size M&P. The snubby is purely a last ditch defense gun for when I can't carry a real gun.
I'm not worrying about long range engagements with my tiny little defensive pistol, that's just silly. The only realistic time I'm going to worry about shooting somebody past 50 yards, I'm going to be wearing a uniform and carrying an M4. Past 50 yards is offensive in my mind, and taking the offensive with a 5 shot revolver is just plain stupid.
Plus, if someone shoots at me from 50+ yards, I'm moving to cover before worrying about shooting back. If I'm in a situation where I think someone is going to try attacking me from 50+ yards away, I'm carrying a rifle.
If I'm drawing my little BUG revolver, he's in my face, and I'm dumping all five rounds into him as fast as I can pull the trigger and keep rounds on target. Given this, having a hammer sticking out to foul up the draw and dig into my leg all day just seems pretty silly.
Love mine, the apex kit is great but the rebound spring is almost too light (makes reset feel a little sluggish) 2.5k of 148gr lhbwc later it's a great shooter. They are very accurate and a better set of grips makes emptying 5 rnds into a target a zone as fast as you can pull the trigger at 10yds much easier.
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