Heavy vs. Skinny barrel on S&W model 10

S

Samuel

Inactive
Does anyone know when S&W switched to the Heavy barrel on the M&P/model 10? What are the advantages of the Heavy barrel other than helping to reduce muzzle rise? I have heard that the skinny barrel version with the four inch barrel was a very well balanced weapon.
 
I have a M-64 with a 4" skinny bbl. It is a pleasure to carry and use. It was made in the 70s, has fired 10,000s of rounds and it's still going strong.


[Edited by Skip-2 on 02-24-2001 at 02:20 AM]
 
I agree about better balance with the lighter barreled Model 10. It's one of those guns that rests very comfortably in the hand.
 
Lighter barrels handle faster

Field research by my primary handgun mentor indicates light barrels move, point and recover from recoil faster.

For heavy load (magnum) use, the heavier barrels do add weight, and dampen recoil. But for fast shots on multiple targets, the lighter front ends are better.
 
I was issued one in 1970(actually had to buy it)and the range personel told us the HB was for better target control but also could be used as a billy in time of need and would not bend. Never had need to use it that way and could always shoot it better than the new semi-autos that came into vogue in the 90's.
 
I have a skinny-barrelled Model 10 that was made, I believe, in late 1994. The 1994 S&W catalog was the last to show the standard-barrel as an option, the 95 catalog showing only the heavy barrel. Not sure when the heavy barrel was first offered, but I think I have one of the last new, skinny barrels that was offered. Bought it at Sports Authority, new, for just a little over two hundred dollars. It had been marked down several times and was languishing amidst the latest toys, including H&K and Sig autos, Glocks, etc., etc. I just had to rescue it from obscurity and oblivion. At the time I had them check their computers to see if they had any more in the system but mine was apparently the last one they had in any store. I wanted a second one. I also have an older heavy barrel but like the skinny the best. Seems to me to be an absolute classic, lightweight, graceful. Looks like a Humphrey Bogart movie. Will never get rid of it. Laz
 
Thanks for all the answers. Does anyone know how much a model 10/64 with the skinny barrel would go for? Either nib or in excellent shape.
 
Well, the only part of the barrel that touches the bullet is the inside, and the rest, except for its utility as a bean bopper, is just to stiffen the thing as much as necessary. The skinny barrel was certainly proved sufficient for this in hundreds of thousands of examples.
I've had experience with three M&P's with the old slender barrel, and with one M13, the same thing only with a .357 cylinder; and I like the heft and balance of the skinnies.
Besides, they look better...more like a finger, less like a snout.
Around my neck of the woods, old M10s are not unusual, and go cheaply because they aren't magnums. My shooting pard got a cherry 5" skinny last year for well under two clams. Shoots good, too.
 
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