There is a very long couple or three THR threads about the 642 (and its siblings) with a lot of talk about grips and tactics and practice loads and carry loads and on and on. I know Chaim knows about that b/c I remember him posting in it.
I have three Jframes: 2003 production 642-2 with ILS, 60-9 LS, and 442-1 (no ILS). The 642 was the first and only for years, and was the primary carry gun for most of that time, backing up a full size .38 or 9mm at home.
The 642 originally was purchased to save wear and sweat-induced rust on a Detective Special when I moved to Arizona, and was carried with standard pressure 125gr Gold Dots. When I ran out of those and couldn’t get more, I switched to 110gr Critical Defense, and then FGMM wadcutters. Both airweights get carried these days loaded with FGMM.
The DS had a Hogue Monogrip, and was a nice light belt gun. It got traded for a hunting rifle, and later on replaced with the 60-9 because I wanted all of my defensive revolvers to work the same (all are S&W). The 60-9 gets shot with any ,38 I feel like shooting, and I pretend it isn’t chambered in .357 because I’m just not doing that to myself. It is very accurate and easy to shoot. It wears Pachmayr Compacts, and is a neat little belt or ankle gun. If I want to carry on the belt but don’t want the bulk or weight of a full-size .38 or semiauto, this is perfect for that.
The 642 has gone through a lot of different grips as I experimented over the last 20 years. When I need to practice shooting an Airweight, it is the one I shoot. When I am hiking where my pocket gun could get dirty/dusty/wet, it is the one I carry. It has been carried so much that it basically has no finish left on it.
The grip on it today is a Hogue rosewood boot grip. It came with a very sharp bottom edge that I rounded off and smoothed to about 800 grit to blend with the rest of the grip to avoid having a sharp line on my pocket or irritating my pinky when shooting it. The rosewood is lovely, but you can barely see it because the backstrap has a self-adhesive rubber archery vibration dampener affixed to it to make shooting more comfortable and increase trigger reach just a bit without increasing grip bulk, and the whole grip is wrapped in a couple of wraps of hockey tape, which adds just a little bit of friction to the smooth wood grip without being tacky on fabric, and covers and protects the rubber sticker on the back.
Sounds very redneck, and looks it. It also works very well. Copied this from a retired very redneck cop friend of mine.
The 642 has never failed. It has untold thousands of dry-fire cycles, and nearly as many practice handloads. It is not fun to shoot full-power 158s or +P anything through, but it handles them fine and I just do that if I have to, though I once lost a dime-sized patch of skin running through a backup gun match shooting a box of full-power 158gr ammo. I once had to leave all of my ammo in my car at the airport because I forgot an ammo box. The only non-FMJ ammo I could find at my destination was 125gr +P. It’s rated for them and hits to POA with them, so I just carried those for the rest of the trip. No worries about if it will run anything that will fit in the chambers. The action is slick as snot, and anything a guy can do with an airweight J, I am confident to try with mine. I have carried it in pockets, ankle holsters, belt holsters, packs, smart carry, fanny packs, etc all over the country. It has more miles and rounds on it than most of my other guns combined.
The 442 gets carried most these days b/c it has no ILS. It has about 150 rounds through it, and only gets about 10 or so per year fired through it. I just keep it clean, lubed, and carry it. It wears the factory S&W rubber boot grip which works okay for me, but it will probably get the redneck grip the 642 has on it as that is more comfortable for most things.