The only way a long weekend can be made better is if it comes with lots of fun.
I can see from the pace of posting that most of us are relaxing and having some easy time this weekend. You can't be training at high intensity all the time - the best athletes peak for their event (Olympics, Tour de France, Superbowl - whatever). Same thing goes for our prepping. The trajectory hasn't changed, the slide hasn't slowed, but enjoy time with your family and friends as much as you can.
So the "every 6 weeks or so" gun show hit town this weekend (next one on 10/15) and Mrs. Graybeard and I went to see the sights. I deal with my weakness for rifles by looking at everything and convincing myself it isn't exactly what I'd like - or it isn't different enough - or it's too different. Although a bolt action .223 almost followed me home...
But the no-fan-of-pink-handguns Mrs. Graybeard has been sort of leaning toward getting a revolver for some time, and today finally found they one she thought was da bomb. A Smith&Wesson 640, a J-frame .357 magnum/38 special in satin stainless with a black rubber grip. Internal hammer, 2 1/8" barrel, so a good deep concealment gun. It's the first revolver either of us has gotten for carry. If you care for pictures, just click on that link.
In the meantime, seems like a nice excuse for a little range trip and group therapy tomorrow.
Good pocket revolver. When I worked the streets, some of us would carry these in a jacket pocket during cooler weather. You could walk up to a citizen on a stop with your hand in your pocket, and be prepared to take necessary action - without alarming the 99% who were innocent of any bad intentions and didn't require such a response.
ReplyDeleteBeing still PO'd at S&W for their pussy-footing around with the Feds, as well as their rip-off of Glock with the Smegma semi-auto, I bought a Taurus 650 in stainless that is a copy of this revolver.
I then bought the Taurus Total Titanium .357 that has the curved hammer shroud that lets you cock the hammer for single action fire (looks like the 851, but in .357 Mag), but evidently Taurus has stopped selling that in .357. Probably too many complaints from folks whose don't like the recoil of a .357 in such a light handgun. With the right grips (rubber and slightly larger than the stock grips) it isn't bad at all, at least in my big mitts.
If Mrs. Graybeard is recoil sensitive, practicing with .38 Special will work just fine. Should she need it for social work, she won't notice the extra recoil from the .357 due to the adrenaline dump and stronger grip she will (unconsciously) be using. Besides, the S&W 640 being stainless, it has enough weight to reduce a good bit of the felt recoil. The Taurus Titanium (or S&W's Scandium) is quite a bit lighter.
I apologize if I'm teaching Grandpa how to suck eggs, but remember that lighter bullets produce less recoil when you reload the .357 for her. You can get Remington Golden Saber 125 gr bullets in .357/.38. Don't believe the hype on some of the gun lists that the Golden Saber loaded ammo produced by Remington is "underpowered" because it has a lower velocity than some others. It has been tested for penetration and expansion and does just fine on both counts. The bullet is designed to function well at the velocities listed, and will produce milder recoil in a light revolver. I use this bullet in my .357's and also in my .45's, although I _do_ load my .45's to +P levels.
Recoil sensitive? I think her picking out the stainless revolver was based on knowing that it usually isn't fun to shoot big .357 magnum loads with something like the S&W Airweight, or their Titanium/Scandium-Aluminum guns; the Ruger LCR or the other really lightweight designs out there. And the gun played exactly as desired.
ReplyDeleteHer reaction to her first cylinder of the .357 magnums was, "this is so cool...". Eventually, she made me take the box away, saying shooting them was like popping cashews and she'd just do it all day. She loved it. I think she'd rather shoot 357 magnum FMJ than 38 special.
Neither of us is used to the long, hard trigger pull - it's much harder than anything else we have. But it's a DA revolver; that's what they do. After about two boxes of 50, between the two of us, we were getting the hang of it OK. I am definitely going to paint the front sight, though. I have some (almost) glow in the dark paint I got for this a while back.
I have (factory load) Gold Sabers in 9mm and 40 S&W. Of course, I've never had to use one in anger, but I have no discomfort about carrying them at all.
Glad to hear she isn't bothered by recoil. There are after-market spring sets that will smooth out the trigger pull. They can't really shorten it, but do make it a little lighter and smoother. For example:
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