Guns & Outdoors Forum

I've never been too much into J frame guns.
My first was a kit gun model 43 airweight in 22 LR.
I really like that one so decided to try this one.
The 37 is also an airweight but in 38 special

I went straight to the range with it.
I didn't expect much for accuracy so I put the tin man out at 50 feet
I was quite surprised how well centered it was and the shots all rang steel.

Well that looks like a neat little revolver! The wad cutter loads were probably pleasant out of it too!! Nice work!

That's certainly a keeper

Congrats! now you have a whole new line of grips to collect
Love my little J frame .32

Diver43 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:32 pm That's certainly a keeper

When they shoot like that you bet.
The wadcutters were pleasant and the regular loads not bad at all.
I expected worse.

That grip helps that gun a lot when shooting, a little tight in the front pocket of the Carhartts though

Nice little gun. I love the J frames. My favorite is the model 30 that I own in 32 S&W long. It's actually very accurate for what it is but I've read that the 32 caliber is "inherently accurate" for some reason.

I have a Smith 442 in .38 +P (sans internal lock) that I impulse bought a few years ago, and was very surprised at how much I liked it. Back when I was shooting more regularly I could sat it down on the bench, and go from the buzzer to dumping a cylinder full in the A-Zone at 10yds in about 3.5 seconds. Not amazing but not terrible for a small gun either.

I really like/prefer square butt J frames. That’s a keeper for sure

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 11:53 pm Nice little gun. I love the J frames. My favorite is the model 30 that I own in 32 S&W long. It's actually very accurate for what it is but I've read that the 32 caliber is "inherently accurate" for some reason.

Mine is a model 31-1 and it's a great little revolver. haven't really found a load it wont shoot well.
Some years ago I found published data that used the little 60gr Speer Gold dot bullet they used in the 32ACP. Kind of a little fireball
I haven't seen those bullets in years unfortunately.

Very nice!

The 38Spl has grown on me over the last few years as just a pleasant shooting experience. And it's no slouch for social work as well, with the right load

Admin wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 5:09 pm Very nice!

The 38Spl has grown on me over the last few years as just a pleasant shooting experience. And it's no slouch for social work as well, with the right load

The 38 special does get somewhat of a bad rap.
Let's just say I wouldn't hesitate to carry it at times.
Put the bullet in the right spot it will work just fine.

NEEEEEEEEAT! That is a NICE child of - what would you call it - recent antiquity?

Even the DAO's are 50 yard-capable if you are willing to put the work and the ammo in. They seem to be fading in popularity even as backups these days. Not sure if it's the proliferation of mini-9's or that to the youngsters, revolvers might as well have fallen off an alien spacecraft. . .

Bigslug wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 2:18 am NEEEEEEEEAT! That is a NICE child of - what would you call it - recent antiquity?

Even the DAO's are 50 yard-capable if you are willing to put the work and the ammo in. They seem to be fading in popularity even as backups these days. Not sure if it's the proliferation of mini-9's or that to the youngsters, revolvers might as well have fallen off an alien spacecraft. . .

Both…. All the new shooters want semi-auto black guns. Good for us curmudgeons that still rock it old school every once in a while.

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 4:06 am

Bigslug wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 2:18 am NEEEEEEEEAT! That is a NICE child of - what would you call it - recent antiquity?

Even the DAO's are 50 yard-capable if you are willing to put the work and the ammo in. They seem to be fading in popularity even as backups these days. Not sure if it's the proliferation of mini-9's or that to the youngsters, revolvers might as well have fallen off an alien spacecraft. . .

Both…. All the new shooters want semi-auto black guns. Good for us curmudgeons that still rock it old school every once in a while.

Once the used price of revolvers starts dropping I'll be happy. I could use another .357 or two, but not at the near $1K price point you see a lot of them at.

The old revolvers are up there price wise now.
Very glad I accumulated most of mine years ago.

This is the first Smith I've bought in a long time.
It was 350
I cost averaged it out that the grips would be 80
That the adapter around 50
So I called it a 250 dollar gun.
I can convince myself easily at times.....lol

JunkCollector wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 12:49 pm The old revolvers are up there price wise now.
Very glad I accumulated most of mine years ago.

This is the first Smith I've bought in a long time.
It was 350
I cost averaged it out that the grips would be 80
That the adapter around 50
So I called it a 250 dollar gun.
I can convince myself easily at times.....lol

I'm stealing that description when I convince the wife a new to me gun, is a great investment that is needed

At this point my wife already knows it....
Well except for the needed part.

JunkCollector wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 3:58 pm At this point my wife already knows it....
Well except for the needed part.

Yea same here, she will often ask if I have enough cash. She has actually purchased a few herself. She did question the need for the Bergara though. But saying i/we don't have a .308 was good enough. But if she ever gives the raised eyebrow, I will now be ready

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 4:06 am

Bigslug wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 2:18 am NEEEEEEEEAT! That is a NICE child of - what would you call it - recent antiquity?

Even the DAO's are 50 yard-capable if you are willing to put the work and the ammo in. They seem to be fading in popularity even as backups these days. Not sure if it's the proliferation of mini-9's or that to the youngsters, revolvers might as well have fallen off an alien spacecraft. . .

Both…. All the new shooters want semi-auto black guns. Good for us curmudgeons that still rock it old school every once in a while.

It's making for an interesting generational shift:

I sometimes qualify a guy who's been retired 20+ years who really knows to run one.

Folks whose careers might have overlapped with those guys usually need instruction on the finer points of where to keep their ammo and how to run a reload. Those folks got exposure to the end of the DA/SA auto popularity, so the trigger isn't totally alien.

After them are the guys who get the utility of the platform, but need instruction in just about all of it.

The "buying revolvers" cutoff seems to be roughly at those who started 5 years ago. Given that we kicked the .40 S&W to the curb 3.5 years ago and you can actually get a decent little gun in 9mm, I suppose that would follow.

I gotta say, this dinosaur gets a HUGE amount of chuckles from the fact the latest and greatest flavor-of-the-week guns that everyone is marching like zombies to acquire are 9mm 1911's with fat magazines. At least I'm comfortable with that O.S.

The double stacked 9mm 1911 is an interesting phenomena that I’m still trying to decide if it means anything to me or not. My first experience with one was many years ago when WC introduced their version of it previous to the “craze”. I remember posting here that it was an absolute pleasure to shoot and I just couldn’t miss with the damn thing. But I’ve not been able to figure out if that was the design or the quality of the example I was shooting that led me to that assessment.

Since then the concept has garnered no more that a side glance here and there from me but their current price point has made it difficult for me to even consider stepping sideways in capabilities from my current Glock EDC into what amounts for me to a personal experiment.

Admin wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 5:09 pm Very nice!

The 38Spl has grown on me over the last few years as just a pleasant shooting experience. And it's no slouch for social work as well, with the right load

I have a few of the OLD S&W 125gr "Chief's Special" Nyclad SWC-HP bullets
They expand nicely down to around 800fps.

GrapeApe wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 4:33 pm

Admin wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 5:09 pm Very nice!

The 38Spl has grown on me over the last few years as just a pleasant shooting experience. And it's no slouch for social work as well, with the right load

I have a few of the OLD S&W 125gr "Chief's Special" Nyclad SWC-HP bullets
They expand nicely down to around 800fps.

To some degree, the .38 Special is a round that drives me a little crazy. There are guns that can handle +P and those that can't. There's a performance envelope for what you can expect out of a "duty" length barrel and then you have to study matters anew when you pick up a snubbie. Will the bullet even expand? If it does expand, will it penetrate worth a damn?

When Winchester and a couple others changed their old 130 grain FMJ round nose load to use a flat nose of the same weight with about a .25" meplat, my immediate response was that one could do a lot worse.

Congratulations on your J frame. It'll get the job done. I used to carry a Model 38, which was a very helpful little gun. I wish I had one now. Is that gun a square butt or a round butt?

It's a square butt Gene.
I think the RB guns are a little more concealable.
I just never warmed up to them.