Finally! My range report:
I finally made it to the range today. It's a long story why it took so long, maybe another time on that story. So I brought both my 340PD and 43C (a .22 in 340 Centennial clothing), but not the M&P because I may return the M&P to Smith and Wesson to fix some factory defects. I figure the 340PD is close enough in weight to the M&P that the range reports would be very similar.
With all the talk surrounding the brutality of these scandium devils I figured I'd buy the heaviest, meanest ammo I could find to ensure an honest appraisal about whether it's truly that brutal, or as a friend said, "vicious" to shoot. The good news, shooting the 11 ounce Smith and Wesson 340PD with titanium cylinder was not "vicious". The bad news, it was harsh, maybe even brutal when firing factory new Remington Express 158 grain full power .357 Magnum ammunition. Unfortunately my range has only one pistol distance, 25 yards, and I was only getting 3 out of 5 shots in a torso sized area. I will not be so quick to attribute the poor accuracy to the recoil of .357 Magnum, because I intermittently did a lot of dry firing at the 25 yard target, observing the sight picture while doing so to assess the matter.
I observed that what seemed like an incremental movement of the muzzle while pulling the trigger translated to a significant amount of movement across the paper target 25 yards away. Those of you with the CT laser probably have a better estimation of the significance of this. I believe this gun will certainly benefit from some performance shop work on the trigger and trigger pull. My theory is borne out by the fact that when I shot my 43C which has a much better DAO trigger pull than my 340PD, there were a heck of a lot more holes on the torso sized piece of paper! Of course the XS Standard Dot front sight on the 43C is a great improvement over the red ramp blade of the 340PD and my PD will be getting an XS Tritium Standard sized or possibly Big Dot sight. I should also say that when I staged the trigger of my 340PD for single action firing, my groups improved but I shot mostly DAO at the range today.
Another important note, I would fill the 340's cylinder with 3 live rounds and 2 empties, and sometimes 2 live and 3 empties to observe if there was any flinching when I shot and I believe it would be a benefit to all shooters to experiment with this.
Unfortunately, I did not have a chronograph. I did bring 10 rounds of the very expensive Remington Golden Saber .357 Magnum ammo, 125 grain, and I will say that while the recoil was not as harsh as the full power 158 grain ammo, it was stout, buckle up! Personally I don't like the idea of the Golden Saber Mag ammo as I've read many chrono reports and out of the snub barrel they only achieved an average of 1030-1090 FPS velocity with the 125 grain bullet. Sounds wimpy to me, but let me tell you, if God forbid my hand is forced and there ever has to be a human being at the other end of my 340's muzzle, if the wallop that I felt in my hand from the Golden Saber Mag is gonna be narrowed down to a .357 sized punch for him, he's in trouble. The recoil was stout. I did not fire enough rounds to know if it was punishing.
Speaking of punishing, the area around the web of my hand is a little swollen, a little tender, but I'll live. I fired 27 rounds of full power 158 grain Magnum ammo and 10 rounds of the Golden Saber, though my first five shots out of the gun were Golden Saber to "break in the gun". No joke, I wanted to "break in" the gun. I've seen enough photos and reports of "blowed up" Smith 340's and read reports by alleged metallurgists that "because the barrel that screws into the alloy frame is steel and their heat coefficients(?) are different, it results in a 'blowed up'" scandium alloy gun. Fact or fiction, I thought I'd just warm up the gun with milder rounds first.
On a side note about a different gun, I once read that full power .357 ammo fired through my much admired Smith and Wesson Model 66 K frame four inch is brutal. To test this theory I fired ONE round (didn't want to wonder whether the holes on the paper came from the 66 or the 340PD) out of my 66 and it was a pussy cat, muzzle flip, yes, but a pussy cat. It has standard square butt wood stocks, the small ones, not the large target stocks they usually come with. I also have a Tyler T Grip Adapter fitted to it, the gun is a dream to shoot set up thus, even though I offer an assessment based upon only one round. I have fired my four inch 19 with full power Mags but that was years ago, and I don't remember it being punishing either.
I fired 37 Magnum rounds out of my 340PD today, but I counted out over two hundred .22 caliber rounds fired from my Smith 43C. If you can afford this little gem, BUY IT, it'll no doubt pay for itself in ammo cost savings to acclimate yourself with the basic mechanics of the 340 (but never the recoil). I easily could have remained at the range firing another one to two hundred rounds of .22 and probably another 20+ rounds of Golden Saber ammo out of my 340PD were it not getting late. I could have possibly finished off the box of full power .357 ammo but it would have been a continuation of my "sucking it up" through the punishment, hate to admit it but full power ammo was punishing though it did not stop me from firing full power ammo on and off throughout my stay at the range.
To address whether the recoil is too impractical for fast follow up shots, I still say that if I'm carrying my 340 and I believe my life will end if I don't shoot, I want all the power I can get, or better to say all the power I can skillfully handle. I must try full power 125 grain Magnum ammo, I've been told the full power 125 grain is not as harsh as the full power 158 grain ammo. I will find out for myself. Yes, muzzle rise was there, but I could not actually observe to what extent, and I was becoming faster with follow up shots but I need more practice.
I would certainly like to try Buffalo Bore short barrel low flash tactical .357 ammo of the 158 grain variety as I've always had a hunch this would be the ideal carry ammo for the 340 series guns, or I'd stick with the Golden Sabers. When I feel the wallop I get in my hand from a Golden Saber, it inspires within me confidence, confidence that someone's gonna get hurt when this thing discharges and it ain't just gonna be me...
Method of gripping these guns: I've seen it mentioned on this forum and elsewhere, Jerry Miculek's videos on proper grip for a Smith J frame revolver. Find them and watch them, I'm satisfied that this gentleman knows what he's doing!! I've seen plenty of youtube clips where the 340 flies up out of the SUPPORT hand when firing... not gonna happen when you adhere to Mr. Miculek's recommendations. Thanks to Mr. Miculek I do believe "faster" follow up shots are possible using medium to full power Magnum ammo and I had a lot of control while firing my PD with full power 158 grain Magnum ammo, and I also had plenty of people looking over at me or making comments of astonishment about "what the heck are you shootin'...?" to remind me that Mr. Miculek's teachings were doing a heck of a job keeping an explosive beast under control. Hell, one fellow praised me more than a couple times and profusely just because I keeping 3 out of 5 rounds on paper at 25 yards!! Thank you Mr. Miculek!! Imagine being praised despite misses!!
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my range session! You're thinking: "ENJOY???" YOU'RE DAMNED RIGHT I DID!!!!! Yes, it was punishing, yes there was pain, but nothing you can't deal with. No, I would not want fire ten consecutive rapid fire rounds of full power ammo if I had two 340PD guns loaded and ready to go, but yes, I did in fact truly enjoy blasting away with this miniaturized monstrosity. It is an expensive and brutal little gun. Is it worth it? For most, probably not, for me, I have zero regrets...
Again, thank you DAdams for this forum and thank you to all who contribute to this forum!! Happy Shootin'...!!!
By the way, I included a photo of my 340PD, 43C, both still dirty after their session at the range a couple hours ago, and my M&P.
