How accurate can a snubnose be?

E

Ed Dixon

New member
Firing a few would've avoided this question but I never have. What kind of accuracy can/should be expected from say a .357 with a 2" or 2 1/2" barrel? I know it's a "purposeful" weapon for close-quarters situations, but is it any fun to practice with?
 
My 2 1/2" Model 686 makes ragged one-hole groups at seven yards, and I can make headshots on an IPSC target at twenty-five yards offhand without issues. Good sights and an excellent DA trigger do contribute to its shootability, but its inherent accuracy is not limited by the shorter tube.

I can't shoot the Model 640 in .38 Special quite as well, but that's mainly to the rudimentary sights and the somewhat inferior grip the small gun offers. I'm sure it'd group pretty well out of a rest, though...keeps 'em in the A zone on an IPSC at twenty-five yards just the same.
 
Very good accuracy

My SP 101 (2.25" barrel) can put all rounds into the IPSC "A" zone at 15 yards, and I've popped beer and sode cans out to 18 yards with it. There is no doubt in my mind that the accuracy is good to AT LEAST 25 yards and beyond, with further practice of course. ;)
 
Mechanically a snub can be more accurate than most shooters really are.
With the shorter sight radius, maybe not quite as accurate.
 
I know...

that they can be fired pretty well, with adjustable sights out to 50yds. I think the PPC two-inch match called for six rounds at that range, but I could be wrong. (It's been a LOT of years since my PPC days). Even at 25 yds, some guys could shoot way more x's on a B-27 than most people would believe. The guns were basically stock (no bull barrels, ribs, etc.), but the actions could be smoothed and I think smooth triggers were ok. Like I said, it's been many years, and I could be FOS on some of this, but not on the accuracy part.

With the non-adj sights (basically a groove on the topstrap for rears, rounded blade in front), they are tougher to shoot that well, but the sights don't/can't break. Once you establish a good POA, your in out to 25 yds, for sure, if your after center mass.
 
In general, it is not the length of the barrel that determines accuracy. The short sight radius and rudimentary sights are far more detrimental to accuracy. Seems to me that there was an article in a gun magazine years ago that compared the accuracy of 2 inch barrel revolvers to 4 and 6 inch barrels. When shot from a Ransom Rest, the 2 inch barrels were about as accurate as the longer barrels.
 
I agree with stans. The inherent -- engineering based -- accuracy of a snubbie isn't substantially lower than a full-size revolver (4 or 5 inche barrels, for example). However, practical matters, such as reduced sight radius, impede accurate shooting.
 
After getting my gun shop commando certification many years ago I KNEW snubs were totally useless. Not keeping current with my certification I unfortunately lost my commando tab. Sigh. Then I found out that snubbies are great guns and that my model 15 as well as my Ruger and those of my friends were all more accurate than me. All kidding aside with decent sights a snub will not disappoint you.
 
My wife can...

..put all 5 rounds of .38 Special in an area less than the size of a man's hand at 25 feet with her Taurus Total Ti snub. I can't do that with a snub and I've been shooting for over 40 years. She did it the first time out, after about three cylinders of .38 Special from my snub. You could have knocked me over with a feather!

KR
 
I got a CIA 650 (357) last week and plinking with 110 grain was not bad at all, I had fun shooting it. Of course, I didn't shoot it all day, but I really like it and it's alot more accurate than I thought it would be.
 
Intrinsically, (makes me sound like a gun mag writer:) )they're as accurate as a longer barreled revolver. The problem is the sight radius isn't very long.
Last year I hit a (empty) propane cannister at a hundred yards with a 357 magnum snubbie. It took four tries but I couldn't have done any better with a four incher. Best Regards, J. Parker
 
T'aint so much the gun as it is the sights. you put a snubbie in a machine rest and there's virtually no difference between it and longer barrels. Trouble is, who the hell shoots from a machine rest?
I have done some fooling around at 100 yards plus with handguns of all types, and it seems to me that once you dial in the amount of holdover, pretty much any of them will hit a 55 gallon drum or a car door at a hundred yards six times out of six. Close 'nuff to make an ornery feller keep his head down, anyways.
Of course, YMMV and all that. Scopes, bipods, and all that other junk just make it easier to do on a regular basis. Hunting handguns are a whole 'nother thread, though...;)
 
Do a search on the subject. Several poeple, including myself posted shooting results.

As others have posted: If you take the time to practice (learn that particular gun) the accuracy is nothing short of amazing.
 
when i was shooting PPC we used to shoot offhand (colt detective special) from the 25 yd line and where disapointed if we came out of the 10-ring (to say nothing of the x-ring)...of course we were only shooting 158gr RN at standard pressures

we had it tougher than the smith guys with their m-19's adjustable sights (they would tweak them at the various ranges) but the only real disadvantage was at 50yds
 
At one time, I could keep all five shots on a silhouette target at 100 with a 3" barrel Chiefs Special, shooting off hand double action. Of course the front sight was held about a foot above the target's "head". At 7 yards, the shots were one ragged hole.

Jim
 
I shoot my .38 snubbie better than I shoot my full size p90.

It's an airweight S&W, but at 25 yards I was able to shoot the clothes pins that held the target on the chicken wire at the range.
(it was a bet, of course).

Very accurate, but OUCH does it hurt after about 15 rounds.
 
Over the last 40 years of shooting, I have found that a 2, 2 1/2 or 3 inch barrel can be as accurate as YOU ARE. I have had trigger jobs done to my guns, to make them much easier to shoot.

I use to have a 2 3/4 and a 6 inch Security six. You had to take a little more than the total front sight with the 6 inch, at 85 yards. The 2 3/4 was dead on. My 3 inch 657 gives me excellent one hole groups at 7 yards and opens up as the yardage increases.
 
Shooting in the SA mode with my Detective Special, I usually place four out of six shots in the black at twenty five yards.
 
A long time ago, a friend and I used to practice AKA Elmer Keith, at very long ranges with our .44 mags and .45 Colts. At first we were just plinking, but soon found that we could "dial in" and hit a target at long ranges. Paper plates at 100 yds, just to warm up. I have always loved snub nosed revolvers and started to do the same with them. Once, while taking a lady friend to the range to practice, she complained about the old tale of the inaccuracies of the snub nosed. I fetched an old rifle cartrige box out of the garbage can, placed it on the bunker at 60 yds, and by the second cylinder full, was bouncing the cartrige box around. My friend asked if I wanted to sell the pistol. I told her if she wanted to do that, buy a couple thousand rounds, come out and practice and when she could duplicate that, I would give her the revolver. Of course she never did. Bob Munden on the American Shooter broke baloons at 200yds with a Chiefs Special. About 10 feet of holdover, I would guess. Yo, go out and have fun like we did and burn up lots of ammo.
 
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