Kentucky Armory Club

What are all the wheel gun guys and gals opinion of these? Want a small lite weight pistol to stick in a pocket or carry discreetly (church or what have you) by ankle or whatever. What are your alls choice and why? Any advantages in going with the .357 over the .38+P or not?

.357 is going to add cost to the gun and pain when firing...lol.

I've got a S&W 642 air weight that I pocket carry. It's fairly light, the hammer is internal making it snag free. 5 rounds of .38 +P. you can definitely tell the difference between regular and +P rounds but its not really unpleasant to shoot.

The only one of the 3 I've shot was one of the airweight scandium frames in a .357 and it sucked! 5 rounds and my trigger finger was numb for 2 days...haha It wasn't bad in .38 and I don't think it was a +P .38.

I've never shot a scantium. Marcus has. I believe his exact words after two .357 rounds were "There's nothing pleasant about that"...lol

ssracer wrote:I've never shot a scantium. Marcus has. I believe his exact words after two .357 rounds were "There's nothing pleasant about that"...lol

It was awful! I can't remember who's it was but it was terrible. It wasn't at our last shoot but the one before. It flipped up so bad every time I shot it the trigger guard smacked the back of my finger between my nail and my first knuckle.

I think it was the same guys gun. I vaguely remember him shooting it at the last shoot I think.

ssracer wrote:I've never shot a scantium. Marcus has. I believe his exact words after two .357 rounds were "There's nothing pleasant about that"...lol

Yes that was my scantium 357. Its not bad with 38s but you start shooting 357s it will talk to you.

11.5 oz J frame. Its a great carry gun.

I recently shot my buddies LCR and .357 wasnt too bad. Granted it was a hell of a kick compared to the .38 sp but not unbearable. Seemed like a nice wheel gun and easily concealable. I would nt want to strctly shoot .357 out of it all which is why the fact it can shoot .38 sp is nice. As for accuracy....it had none IMO. We were shooting a target maybe 20 ft away and it was all over the place with both loads. Man sized target is an easy hit though, just not sure where it will end up on that target.

And as expected with any DAO it had a very long trigger pull that makes accuracy difficult.

Although I'm not a wheel gun guy, I miss my 642.

Dustin wrote:

ssracer wrote:I've never shot a scantium. Marcus has. I believe his exact words after two .357 rounds were "There's nothing pleasant about that"...lol

Yes that was my scantium 357. Its not bad with 38s but you start shooting 357s it will talk to you.

11.5 oz J frame. Its a great carry gun.

It's exactly what I'm looking for I think. I would just shoot the .357 few and far between...haha How do you carry it? Pocket, iwb or ankle?

The pull on the 642 isn't bad with the drop in wolf spring kit

I didn't think Dustin's trigger was bad for a DAO...

this is exactly where i am in my search for a snubbie. probably going the s&w642 route. the trigger on the lcr is somewhat better/smoother with the long da pull, but not sure about the whole polymer revolver thing. looks like there has been some trouble with them blowing up and the frame splitting on top of the cylinder. maybe ruger has fixed it, i just dont know.

bigelowe wrote:this is exactly where i am in my search for a snubbie. probably going the s&w642 route. the trigger on the lcr is somewhat better/smoother with the long da pull, but not sure about the whole polymer revolver thing. looks like there has been some trouble with them blowing up and the frame splitting on top of the cylinder. maybe ruger has fixed it, i just dont know.

Kinda leary of that too... I know nothing of the scantium frames S&W's.

Maybe
Yes
Yes

There according to your list.
These guns are shot little , carried alot.
Even rated for +p
Service life about 3000 rounds.

That said I prefer a steel 5 shot
But I carry/truck gun is a six shot chopped Model 200

guncrank1 wrote:Maybe
Yes
Yes

There according to your list.
These guns are shot little , carried alot.
Even rated for +p
Service life about 3000 rounds.

That said I prefer a steel 5 shot
But I carry/truck gun is a six shot chopped Model 200

Do the 642 metal frames have a better service life?

642 is aluminum so it should be good

Ankle or iwb


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Do the 642 metal frames have a better service life?

Ok the service life is a SWAG on my part.

Carry light weight .38 are five shot and made with plastic/scadumum/boleninum/aluminum for a reason of weight.
These light materials have less fatigue factors than steel ie. blue or stainless
So they have less of a service life.
You should shot your carry guns enough to know they work and to gain muscle memory.
They should not be used for target shooting/plinking ie. shot the crapper out of.

Of course believe me or not
I have limited experence with revolvers from .22 to .500 over 29 years of repairing , shooting, refinishing , lopping , cussing , reloading, throwing


The real expert are on kFa and b ARFcom.

I don't know a lot about revolvers. I own one, a Ruger 45LC and it has had 10,000+ rounds through it. It was my dad's and been around as long as I can remember. It's also a heavy full size revolver. That's pretty much the extent of my limited revolver knowledge other than the 10-20 others I've shot over the years. I've always liked them, just never had much time with one other than the one I own. A really small light reliable pistol needs to be in my list if arms...haha The micro semi-auto's I've shot felt like total shit to me. Though I would not want to be shot by anything, I'm not a fan of .25, .32, .380 rounds for a carry gun. My goal is get myself carrying on a regular basis. I want something like the Shield (relatively small, thin, but still doesn't suck to shoot) to be my main carry and a light weight revolver to be a pocket gun for shorts, warm up pants or whatever and ankle or iwb for church or work or places it needs to be more discreet than normal.

Read somewhere that S&W puts a 8-10,000 round service life on their lightweight revolvers.

I've still been looking and fondling these pistols every chance I get and really leaning leaning towards the aluminum, shielded hammer .357 j-frame. 642 I think. These j-frames have WAAAAAAY to many f'ing options! Are there any other model #'s I should look for other than the 642 that fit the above options?
I found 5rds of .357 while looking for some 9mm I have misplaced and I have never owned a .357mag. or .38sp for that matter. Good enuf sign for me, time to purchase...haha

What is the difference in a 442 and a 642?

The 442 has a black finish.