Looking for a small lightweight revolver, your opinions please?

Picked this up today off a fellow NES member. Looks brand new, very clean gun, not a scratch on it. Sorry about the shitty camera phone picture.

sw442.jpg
 
If you want, you're more than welcome to try out my 642. I've got 3 different sets of grips, 3 holsters, a fairly nice action/trigger job, and a chamferred cylinder (to aid in faster reloading). If ammo is TOO scarce, ill even bring some extra .38sp with me (although I don't have any +P loaded at the moment, although that's easily amended :).

I could probably scrounge up a bone stock 642 for the night too, if you want to compare the two.


(I love mine. It's resting comfortably on my ankle at the moment in a nice desantis).


*edit: just noticed ya grabbed one already!

well, offer stands if ya still wanna compare.
 
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Jasper said:
If you want, you're more than welcome to try out my 642. I've got 3 different sets of grips, 3 holsters, a fairly nice action/trigger job, and a chamferred cylinder (to aid in faster reloading). If ammo is TOO scarce, ill even bring some extra .38sp with me (although I don't have any +P loaded at the moment, although that's easily amended :).

I could probably scrounge up a bone stock 642 for the night too, if you want to compare the two.


(I love mine. It's resting comfortably on my ankle at the moment in a nice desantis).


*edit: just noticed ya grabbed one already!

well, offer stands if ya still wanna compare.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer! What is different between the two?
I may take you up on this offer, maybe I will get one 642 also. [smile]
Where do you go to shoot?
 
Mvgc in malden. I go all over the place though, your call. Iirc the 442 and 642 are identical except for the cylinder and finish.
 
I'm new here, and have been reading your posts,,,,,very informative and helpful. Great forum!
I'm looking for a lightweight S+W revolver like the 442. But would prefer something lighter, the SummerGun someone mentioned here is a thought.
What would you recommend for me, I'm a female with medium size hands. Carry perhaps in a jeans pocket, with a small holster. Perhaps you could recommend that too.
Thank you.
 
capecod37 said:
I'm new here, and have been reading your posts,,,,,very informative and helpful. Great forum!
I'm looking for a lightweight S+W revolver like the 442. But would prefer something lighter, the SummerGun someone mentioned here is a thought.
What would you recommend for me, I'm a female with medium size hands. Carry perhaps in a jeans pocket, with a small holster. Perhaps you could recommend that too.
Thank you.
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert on little pocket guns, but I'm not sure if there are many good choices out there that a are significantly lighter that the 442 (which is a really light gun), and that still pack a decent punch.

442s are very popular for good reason, they are really light, very reliable, and if you load +p HPs they have good stopping power.

I would be careful with ultra small/light mouse caliber autos.
 
Looks like the 2 that seem to fit the bill would be either the 442 or the 642.
I should get onto the S+W site and look at them, then read more.
And the Smartcarry holster.
Thanks again
 
I have a 442... fits comfortably in my pocket... and I shoot +P ammo.

I believe it is a great choice for personal protection.

The bad news... I really don't like shooting it. It stings even with crimson trace 405 grips with the better strap protection for the hand. It stings. Practice hurts... but having said that I still carry it.

Best,

Rich
 
I have been carrying my 442 today in a pocket carry holster and its nice, I don't even know its there. If you want a summer gun try this one out, its light and packs a punch!
 
Thank you all for the great information and suggestions.
I think that I shall purchase the 642. I did try my brother-in-law's 442 last year, and its a very nice gun. Fits my hand well. It does kick a bit, but I wouldn't be shooting it much. I prefer trapshooting,,,, but pistols are fun too.
And the 642 is somewhat better looking than the Ruger.
 
Im not sure what that does? Smooth out the trigger pull?

Perhaps a used one might suffice?
If we could find one which has just sat around in someones house and not gotten wet, dropped, or abused. Like buying a used camera.
 
A trigger job will smooth the trigger pull and lower the weight of the trigger pull. From the factory the trigger pull on a 642 will be terribly stiff -- over 10 lbs -- making it very hard to shoot with any accuracy. I did trigger jobs and spring replacements on all 3 of my J-frames. They made a significant difference and I'm not exactly a highly skilled gunsmith. The 642 is hard enough to shoot well as it is that I can use every bit of help I can get.

A good gunsmith can easily improve that at a modest cost (~$100 or so). I'm sure that Santurri could do it for you: http://www.santurriltd.com/

Personally, I prefer pre-lock S&W revolvers, so that would be a used one, but a new one would be fine, too.
 
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Thanks, That is interesting, I know our Beeman pellet gun has a really 'easy' trigger pull, and our little grandson can shoot it fine.
Wonder if it would be worth it for me, as only the adults would shoot the pistol.
Someone said that dryfiring it would ease it up a bit?

Please explain "pre-lock" S+W revolvers?
Im a bit of a newbie at some of this.
 
capecod37 said:
Thanks, That is interesting, I know our Beeman pellet gun has a really 'easy' trigger pull, and our little grandson can shoot it fine.
Wonder if it would be worth it for me, as only the adults would shoot the pistol.
Click to expand...
Trust me, it will be worth it.

Someone said that dryfiring it would ease it up a bit?
Click to expand...
It will smooth it out a little bit with extensive dry firing. We're talking a thousand plus trigger pulls. But it won't change the weight of the trigger pull. Trust me, you want a trigger job and it won't cost much. At the same time, if you want, you could have Santurri put a slight chamfer on cylinder holes to ease reloading.

Please explain "pre-lock" S+W revolvers?
Click to expand...
Several years ago, S&W added an internal lock on their revolver. You can insert a key into the left side of the gun, turn it, and the action is locked. It is a pointless addition and has an ugly hole in the side of the gun. See the hole above the cylinder release?

170328_large.jpg


S&W recently made a limited run of 642s without a lock. Look for one of those: http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...d=10001&productId=82463&langId=-1&isFirearm=Y
 
Thats nice. Probably will be the way to go.
But I will think about it, as light trigger pull is nice.
Though not too light,,,,,,,,,,


The 642 Club on The High Road
Great reading here! Thank you for that link, I shall read thru it too, and send the link to my husband's Mac too.
 
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have you shot it much yet. I'm curious as to what you thought of it. For me the J-frame just wasn't a good fit. Even when i didn't like them I wanted to buy one just because of the size
 
capecod37 said:
Thats nice. Probably will be the way to go.
But I will think about it, as light trigger pull is nice.
Though not too light,,,,,,,,,,


The 642 Club on The High Road
Great reading here! Thank you for that link, I shall read thru it too, and send the link to my husband's Mac too.
Click to expand...

IMO, you are never going to get a really nice trigger pull with these pistols. I know Derr does a great job with them, and break in helps, but for people that haven't owned a ton of guns, it needs to be said that (in general) these revolvers are not fun to shoot. I know lots of people want a duel carry and range gun, these revolvers do not fit that bill. They are also not an optimal night stand gun.

They are made for self defensive at close range. They are reliable and conceal very well, but they aren't much fun to practice with.
 
Mass-diver said:
IMO, you are never going to get a really nice trigger pull with these pistols. I know Derr does a great job with them, and break in helps, but for people that haven't owned a ton of guns, it needs to be said that (in general) these revolvers are not fun to shoot. I know lots of people want a duel carry and range gun, these revolvers do not fit that bill. They are also not an optimal night stand gun.

They are made for self defensive at close range. They are reliable and conceal very well, but they aren't much fun to practice with.
Click to expand...
Agreed. They are optimized for concealed carry, and the design choices made for that (small sights, short barrel, light weight, short grip) make them harder to shoot accurately and give them unpleasant recoil.
 
capecod37 said:
Thats nice. Probably will be the way to go.
But I will think about it, as light trigger pull is nice.
Though not too light,,,,,,,,,,


The 642 Club on The High Road
Great reading here! Thank you for that link, I shall read thru it too, and send the link to my husband's Mac too.
Click to expand...

You're welcome! The 642 Club (now "Part Deux") is an awesome resource for J-framers. I think the original 642 Club had a record number of reads, threads and posts...

What I did was sit, watch television and dry fire my 642CT, (well over 2,000 times). It does not hurt the gun and it smoothes the trigger out nicely. I have well over 2,000 rounds of +P through mine, (along with assorted other loads) and it just gets better with round count....
 
Oh, Thats a lot of shooting.
If we get it, which looks like its the one, then I will practise with it.
Perhaps we should take a ride off Cape and look at some of the gun shops in the Wareham, Middleboro area soon.

Might even find a cream puff used one?
Though buying new is better.
 
capecod37 said:
Im not sure what that does? Smooth out the trigger pull?

Perhaps a used one might suffice?
If we could find one which has just sat around in someones house and not gotten wet, dropped, or abused. Like buying a used camera.
Click to expand...

Smoothness counts for a lot! My Wife has Carpal Tunnel and couldn't dry-fire the 642. After I had Greg Derr (Marshfield) do a trigger job on it ($40 IIRC) she had no problem dry-firing the gun. It has ~8.5# trigger pull (down from ~12# and that was after probably 5-700 rds and maybe 200-400 dry-firing cycles) and is really smooth.

Buying used is fine as long as it isn't abused (which would probably be very obvious even to the lesser trained eye). Most buy these guns and fire them very few times.
 
I have both the 38 bodygard (stainless) and the M&P 340. Snubbies are their own thing and you have to learn to shoot them. With quite a bit of practice, the correct grips and a proper hold they are managable and can become a lot of fun to shoot. They have their own Zen thing. You will either learn to love them (given a chance) or flat out hate them..
 
Might head up to a store today and take a look at the model 642. See how they feel, look at the prices, and options of new or used.
An educational trip off Cape.
 
ItalianBostonian said:
So as you all know I picked up a 442. Are there any kind of grips out there that will improve the feel or help me shoot better?
Click to expand...

Boot grips are longer so that you can get your pinky on the grip. They are also softer, so they absorb some of the recoil. Of course, once you put the boot grips on, you can't fit it in your pants pocket anymore, which defeats the purpose of the gun. So I took the boot grips off of mine.
 

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