Your advice is certainly well-taken, and I got this to replace my last two failed attempts at having a super small .380 for deep concealment. There was nothing wrong with those guns, except that I can't shoot them well no matter how much I practice, and they're so small that I can't get a decent grip to save my life. And my hands aren't even very large!Good Morning Ohio Guy,
My advice is to rethink a J-Frame for self-defense.
A J-Frame is easy to carry and conceal. But so in a small 9MM.
I used to carry the FBI load in my J-Frame.
I got the revolver because the curved hook shape of the grip allows me to ride it lower, to where it's invisible under tucked-in clothes, but is still easy to grab. On semi-autos, I have to let it ride higher where it prints more.
My main EDC is a PPS M2, carried AIWB with the 8+1 configuration and a spare mag. When I can wear a looser shirt, it's often a 15 round CZ P-07. 95% of the time, I can dress around the Walther at least, meaning an untucked shirt. Belly bands don't work for me, tuckable clip holsters have obvious clips and make weird buldges, and "smart carry" style holsters ride too low for me to grip a semi-auto well on a draw.
Hence, for those rare situations, the J-frame in smart carry will fit the bill very nicely. Or as a pocket gun in winter when I can't get to something buried under layers of clothing.
I have snap caps and have spent the last week trying to reload quickly based on some Lucky Gunner videos. I suspect if I can get really good reloading the cylinder, at best I'll still be 3x slower than I can exchange magazines. So when I carry the J-frame, it'll be 5 shots and I'm done.
Also, I find the revolver substantially more comfortable to carry at a 4:00 position when appendix doesn't make sense. Even small semi-autos always feel uncomfortable to me anywhere besides appendix.
Plus the J-frame is a neat little beast to learn to shoot, and I strongly suspect I'll eventually blow money on a nice Colt or Kimber .357 3", because they're beautiful. I may not shoot them. Just look at them, like Gollum and his Precious.....
Last edited: