"Shrouded Hammer" Question

Regarding porting on a snubnosed defensive gun...

I'm against it.

Why?

If you have to fire the gun from a close body retention position, the ports can direct the hot gas and particulates either into your body, or in a worst case scenario, right into your face.

Skip the porting on a small defensive gun. It's potentially more trouble than it's worth.
 
On a truly small defensive gun...

... muzzle blast from magnum or hot +P loads renders the whole "To port or not to port" controversy somewhat moot, based on my personal experience. Shooting a ported Taurus .357 snub from a retention position was no more annoying and left me no more or less ablaze than shooting my non-ported Dan Wesson .357 snub. FWIW. :)
 
Porting. That's a good one.

The biggest advantage to these guns, IMHO, is that they can be fired from the bathrobe or jacket pocket they're carried in, if necessary, without drawing the gun. Kind of a big surprise to a guy whose last words were "Gimme your wallet" or "Where's your women-folk?"

I don't want to catch myself on fire, so no porting for me. This is in addition to all the other arguments against porting a 2" barrel defensive firearm, which Mike I stated well.
 
Lint/Dirt or coins in the slot is a non-issue

This debate is almost as good as the Chevy/Dodge issue, or the auto vers revolver issue. Those that like Centennials will do anything to show how it is superior.
The lint/dirt/stuff in the slot noise is just that - noise. If you put your gun in your pocket and look at it in say, 5 months, then the dirt issue is prolly real. If you take it out on occasion, like daily, when you take your pants off, and inspect it (afterall, you are risking your life on it!!), then dirt is a non-issue. If you forget it is in your pocket and put a handful of coins in there, you should probably re-evaluate your need to carry a piece.
The Bodyguard has a real advantage to me, and it isn't single action shooting, although having that option is not a negative. The advantage is this, you can do a real live function/rotation check after loading, WITHOUT pulling on the trigger. Just pull the hammer back a tad and rotate the cylinder. You cannot do that with a Centennial design. For that, you need to pull the trigger, which to me is asking for trouble. High primers are not really an issue these days (with quality ammo), but excess oil or dirt under the extractor star can still tie up a revolver. So, you can argue all day which is better, doesn't matter. They are both available in steel or alloy materials, same weight, etc. The Bodyguard has some extra capability, which in no way can or should be treated as a negative.
Chose which one you like and stick with it.
.......SmithNut
 
Tamara,

Try a "closed/closed" retention position in which the gun is fired from roughly shoulder level and with your gun hand touching your rib cage.

Chances are you won't like the result.

I sure as hell didn't, and I was wearing a face screen when I did it.
 
The earlier posters covered most every salient point I could think of, EXCEPT ONE...UNLESS THEY HAVE CHANGED the lockwork, the Tuarus "concealed hammer" (or whatever they call them) revolvers are TRUE DOUBLE ACTION ONLY guns...there is NO full-cock notch on the hammer!!! Just another point to consider....mikey357

[Edited by mikey357 on 01-25-2001 at 08:28 PM]
 
Well, if ppl with real-world experience say that the dirt-in-the-slot objection is not valid, I'll not disagree with them. Like I said, I use and enclosed hammer and have no experience with the shrouded models. Logic suggests it would be, but logic based on limited data often gives...interesting results. ;)

As to the utility of being able to cock it...well, I suppose if it is your only carry gun AND you train enough to hit such targets reliably, sure. Go for it. In general it is always better to have a capability than to not have it. In my needs-analysis, however, I decided that any time I would be using my backup would almost certainly be really up close and personal. SA was pretty low on the priority list.

I doubt too many of us could employ a snubbie effectively *in a combat situation* at any distance that would make SA necessary, but thats JMO.

Really? When you get down to this level of nit-picking, any choice you make is likely a good one.

Mike
 
I've owned all three types. DAO has the advantage of lighter and smoother trigger pull than DA or a reglar revolver. Shrouded, IMO, is the way to go and dirt isn't really an issue. Only problem may be in hand slipping when cocking and causing the gun to skip a chamber.

As far as 38 vs 357 goes, we tested it with a 2" SW640...very serious difference in performance (as well as noise and recoil)...for alloy guns, I'd almost consider .32 H&R mag to keep the kick and the noise more reasonable (357 is fine with a steel gun and good grips).
 
Grapeshot: In regard to your scenerio, it's possible to shoot a Smith 640 at 50 yards at clay pigeons and get a high percentage of hits. You can stage the trigger on a 640 so that even though it's a DA only you can make behave like a SA.
 
Mike,

Why would anyone want to fire any pistol from this position? I just can't see the practicality of it. Tactically enlighten me, if you don't mind (seriously ... not a slam, just wonder what I'm missing). Thanks.
 
It's called a retention position for a reason -- you're trying to keep someone from grabbing your gun and possibly either keeping the cylinder from revolving if you have to fire, or to keep them from taking it from you.

Self-defense shooting often happens at touching distance, and you may have to fire from positions & stances that you would never practice while standing on the firing line at your local range.

Some of these positions could conceivably put the muzzle of the gun very close to your body, and close to your face.

That's why I don't like the idea of porting a small barreled defensive handgun. A face full of crap coming out of the ports on a gun might not only sting you, it might blind you.
 
649 accuracy

Amazingly, to me anyway, I can hit a 9" pie plate at 25 yards almost every time in SA, and a 24" gong most of the time at 100 yards. My DA shooting is about 80-90% of SA results at 25 yards. The missed shots are definitely not the fault of the gun. Note that the 649 is an all stainless gun with a largish rubber grip.

649.jpg


Regards.
 
Mike Irwin,

That is the retention position I learned to fire from. ( Iwas told it was "high retention", why does every instructor feel the need to coin their own phraseology?)

My point is that I have capped off more than one .357 snubbie from that position and that the ported ones were no more or less unpleasant than the unported ones. The immense muzzle blast from the high-pressure round leaving the tiny barrel, plus the ejecta from the barrel-cylinder gap, renders the porting question to a non-issue in my personal experience. Your mileage (as well as your tolerance for your garments having scorchmarks) may, indeed, vary. ;)
 
Tamara,

Given that there are probably 20 different porting styles on the market right now, I really think it would be a complete and total crap shoot as to whether you'd get a face full or not.

Those that port straight up probably aren't so much of a problem. Those that port out to an outward angle, those are more of a problem.
 
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