Recommendations for little wheel gun

N

Noban

New member
Hi all - I'm looking to buy my first "snubby" and have no idea what's good and bad on the market. I'd like it in .38 special with rubber grips, and am not adverse to alloys. As far as use, I plan on taking it backpacking, using it for home defense, and for fun at the range.

Thanks for the anticipated input!

Noban
 
I think that the BEST would be a Smith and Wesson 342PD, 337pd, or 638 depending on what type of hammer you want. The 342PD is concealed; the 337PD is exposed; and the 638 is shrouded.
 
Greeting's All,

I vote for the "old model" Smith & Wesson 60,
in .38 Special; cuz it's fabricated entirely
from stainless steel and she's the best of all
the rest.:D:)

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.


MOLON LABE!!!
 
I would add the S&W 442 ("blued") or the 642 (stainless) to the list. A few ounces heavier than the 342's or other titaniums (they are alum. alloys, instead), but they're $150 or so cheaper. They are concealed hammer designs, but have exposed hammer siblings, and are in the same line as the 638.
 
I agree with Ala Dan. I have an older Mdl. 60 in my pocket as I write this. I've carried it also for years as a backup, and it's been in my pocket for many a mile of hunting and hiking out in the mountains and woods.

The all steel revolver will stand up to plenty of practice-- which, afterall, is the most important thing. (No, you don't need to blow hundreds of Plus Ps through it.) Being very familiar with your firearm, should you ever need it in an emergency sitaution, is extremely important! The difference in a few ounces of the all steel 2" and the lighter weight .38s, is offset by the much greater recoil of the lighter guns.

Again, more recoil, less desire to practice. And always carry one additional reload. (I carry six additional rounds in a Bianchi Speed Strip.) Mr. Murphy rides sidesaddle on all our shoulders.

FWIW. J.B.
 
I know Ala Dan will disagree with me on this. But, my Taurus M85 in blued steel has been a great little carry gun. Handles great and is accurate.
 
Why not consider getting it chambered in .357 instead of .38? You'll be able to put any 38 special loads that you like and have the option to "upgrade" to 357 if the need, or desire, ever presents itself. Getting a revolver in 357 will not significantly increase the price (although it might be heavier to withstand increased pressures).
 
I just checked out the new Taurus

850 CIA. It's basically a concealed hammer knock-off of the S&W Centennial. I had hoped it would show promise.:rolleyes:

While dry-firing it, the hammer refused to fall on one of the chambers!:eek: The shop owner has huge hands and a grip to go with it, and he forced it on through.(Hey, it wasn't MY gun to muscle like that!) Obviously, there was some sort of burr or something that broke loose because it seemed OK after that.

Oh well, I suspect our resident Taurus apologist will post the ubiquitous photo of his 'pet pair' shortly.:D

Go with Smith or Ruger.
 
SP101, with a 3" barrel :)

Here's the thing: the SP101 is the heaviest snubby, but also the toughest. It's probably at least as tough as a K-frame S&W .357; weight is about 27oz.

So that makes it the smallest effective wilderness defense/survival gun out there. With the right load, it can even take deer, or stop a bear with a perfect headshot (which is tricky with bears, the brain is lower than you'd expect - if bears are a threat, do extra study!).

Now, it's heavy for a snubby. But the one task you didn't mention was daily street-carry and that's the only area in which the SP101's heft would hurt you.

It's extremely comfortable to shoot with .38, .38+P or most of the light'n'fast "snubby special" .357 loads, such as the 110grainers. The really hot 125 JHPs are still gonna recoil a bit, but with practice are controllable. There's some snubbies out there such as the Scandium S&W .357s at 13oz :eek: that simply cannot be controlled from shot to shot with hot 125s.

The SP101 can be street-carried with a good hip holster and belt, shoulder rig or a fanny pack; it's too heavy to just "drop it in a pocket and forget about it". That's why I'd go with a 3" barrel: for all carry methods other than pocket, the extra 7/8ths of barrel length won't hurt you and you can't pocket these anyways.

For your needs, this is it :).
 
ruger sp101 and S&W638

For holster carry, the sp101 would be good--------- Probably the strongest 5-shot snub on the market. but if for pocket carry, the light weight 638 with snag free draw and a single action capability.
 
442 seems to be the best compromise of no snag, light weight and good power in a pocket gun..magnums are a bit heavier but probably better for a trail/home defense gun......titaniums kick like mules and aren't the best house gun with slow follow up shots......try a few out and judge for yourself.....and you cant go wrong with a model 60....i had mine for 18 years...only reason i sold it was my friend really wanted it and i got a great deal on a new 442...sometimes you just need a little change with these toys....
 
This old Colt

If you can find one, and they are not all that rare, a good Colt Cobra can often be found at a good price. I love mine, it's old, not too pretty due to being almost 55 years old, but shoots strait and is very light.

Gator
 
What about the Ruger GP100 with a 3" barrel? Don't think it meets the standard definition of a snubby but thought I'd at least throw it out as an option.

I think it's about 9oz heavier than the 3" sp-101 Jim recommended (36oz total) and about 1/4" larger in all dimensions (height, length, width). Advantages: one extra round and the extra weight should let you shoot any 38spl or .357mag round you want. Disadvantages: Extra size and weight - although still a lot less than a full size 4"-6" .357mag revolver. Also, not sure how much tougher it'd be for open or concealed carry than the 3" sp-101 Jim March recommended (hoping to here what Jim's opinion is on this though :) ).

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to go with Jim's suggestion on the sp-101 either. Ruger makes reliable, accurate, and tough revolvers!!
 
Re: the GP100

See, the weight isn't the whole story on the GP100, it's also overall quite a bit "fatter". Bulkier. Harder to make it a daily-concealment gun...but again, that's apparantly not what you're looking for?

The advantage with the GP100 is that it's the smallest-frame-size .357 can can still eat a diet of the very hottest .357 commercial loads, the "heavy hunting hardcasts".

With any revolver, there's a wide variety of power levels available for a given caliber. With the .357, that's taken to a crazy degree. You've got:

(NOTE: as you read this, remember that bullet energy goes up at an exponential rate as the speed rises, not a steady rate. What I mean is, a 148grain load doing 1400fps is NOT "twice as potent" as the same doing 700fps - it's one hell of a lot more than that. See also: http://www.naaminis.com/energy.html )

.38spl target loads, such as a 148grain wadcutter doing 700fps, with recoil not much worse than a .22. If you ever suffer severe wrist damage and still want to shoot, these things won't hurt you and are still at least minimal acceptable self defense fodder. Probably better than all but the very hottest .32ACPs.

.38spl defense loads, such as a 125grain lead hollowpoint doing 800fps from a 2" tube. Recoil still very mild, the Federal Nyclad 125 is the best known example - a great "arthritic granny self defense round".

.38+P Defense. Now we're talkin'. We've got 158grain lead hollowpoints doing 850 from a snubbie, more from a 4" or more barrel. Or there's 110/115grain JHPs doing up past 1,000fps. Recoil from these can be stout in the lighter .38Spl guns, especially alloy/TI/Scandium. The SP101 user can handle the recoil of these no problem at all, due to the gun weight.

Light .357s: there are 110/115grain .357s made for the snubbie market. Some are quite good. Again, the SP101 can handle these great, but the owner of a TI or Scandium .357 snubbie is going to start to feel real pain. Steel-frame S&W and Taurus .357 snubbies are still in decent shape, although shot-to-shot control is getting difficult.

125 combats: The Remington 125 JHP .357 pulls just under 1,400fps from a 3" tube - now we're dealing with a serious load. The SP101 owner, with practice and a bit of grit, can deal with these...the guy with the GP100 is feeling no pain, the guy with the Scandium gun just broke his wrist. Literally. The guy with a TI .357 is in serious danger of wrist damage. Steel-frame S&W and Taurus .357 snubbies will be OK although a steady diet of these will eat the gun alive, and it'll take more grit than the SP101 owner needs to control 'em.

180/200grain hardcast hunters: CorBon sells these bad boys commercially, as do a few others - they head downrange at between 1200 and 1400fps. Some custom loaders do a 158 hardcast pulling 1,500fps, which is probably the hottest .357 possible. From a short-barrel GP100, there's some pain but it's possible to shoot small amounts of these. The guy with the SP101 is REALLY hurting. The dude with a steel J-Frame S&W probably damaged his wrist, and the TI/Scandium guns probably exploded, killing their owners ;). Not really, but it'll sure feel like it, and damage to the gun is highly likely. These loads can kill more or less anything encountered in the continental (48 states) US, short of a stray Grizzly in North Idaho or something.

Most of the guns that can take even a modest diet of those monster hunting loads are bigger than the GP100, which is why that gun is so popular.

Anyways. Decide what you want. This may help you understand that there's .357 loads and then there's THREE FIFTY SEVEN loads :D - some of those hunting loads are pushing the bottom edge of what the .44Magnum can do in terms of raw energy. CorBon does extensive warnings not to shoot these in too light a gun, and they're not at all joking.
 
Jim,

Wow, that was an even better response than I was hoping for ;) Thanks for the info :D


Noban,

Just my opinion, but I'd give Jim's advice a lot of weight if I was the one buying a revolver! And like I said before, I really don't think you could go wrong with a Ruger.
 
Here's another vote for the Model 60. I would not purchase any new Smith & Wesson, the ban is still in effect. Shop around and you will be able to find a clean used Model 60, by buying a used one, you will not put money into the pockets of the ones who sold us out.

7th
 
Just to clarify, 7th's suggestion re: model 60 is quite good, given that that's a steel-frame snubbie. Early ones were only rated for .38/.38+P, while newer ones are .357 rated. Either way, total weight, size and grip shapes available are very close; both will handle the hottest .38+P with the effects noted above, while the .357 variants will behave as described :).

Both are lighter than an SP101, but the 101 is tougher.

Oh yes, one more nice thing about the SP101: the front sight blade is replaceable and lots of companies sell a fairly easily installed Tritium front dot blade. Any gunsmith can drop it in in seconds. The newest post-ban S&Ws also have swappable front blades but scoring Tritium for the SP101 is easier.

For some people, that alone will tilt the balance to the SP101.
 
Cuerno, you're right, but look at what he wants to do: backpacking, home defense and range play. That's not really the right roles for a lightweight .38, in my opinion. You CAN, but it ain't optimum.

The SP101 is the smallest critter-defense gun I'd want to carry 48-state, at anything like the price. True, Gary Reeder radically customizes a .45LC Vaquero to where it's only one ounce heavier than the SP101 - but that's $1100 plus the cost of the gun :D.

We're just laying out what the guy's options are.
 
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