This afternoon I went out and bought a S&W 638. 5 Shots, bead blasted SS finish and rubber grips. I chose the 638 because it has all the benefits of a fully shrouded hammer with the added benefit that I could manually cock it and fire single action which is my preference by temperament and training. (the shroud is open at the top exposing the hammer but the hammer is fully enclosed thus no snagging on anything).
After going home and cleaning and lubing it I was at the range by 4PM. By 5PM
I knew I'd made one hell of a good purchase.
At the range I shot speer GD 125 gr +P's out of it at B-26 targets; 7 and 15 yards. No problems staying inside the 10 ring at 7 and the 9 ring at 15. This was truly surprising to me as I had assumed that a gun with a 1 7/8" bbl couldn't be all that good of a shooter. I was wrong. This accuracy was achieved firing in single action mode.
The recoil was much less severe than I had imagined. Much greater than the felt recoil of my 686 firing .38's but way less than the recoil of my 686 firing full charge .357's.
That said I cannot imagine anyone firing a full charge .357 magnum out of a 15 oz gun. But then I don't have to worry about even trying that as the 638 is a .38 Spl +P revolver and not rated for a .357 Magnum.
After firing 30 rounds SA I switched to DA. Whoa - felt recoil seemed greater firing this way and all my shots went about a foot low and right into a - wait - wait - wow - a 12" group if one can call 12 inches a group. Obviously I need way more practice firing DA - I'll need to learn that - even though I can fire pretty fast SA it's not as fast as DA - though right now if - god forbid - I had to fire the thing for real it'd be in SA.
I bought an Uncle Mikes pocket holster for it - size 3 - and it works well though is IMO less concealed than my full sized autos IWB. The holster fits fully into the front pocket of a pair of jeans. The butt is about an inch below the top of the pocket and anyone that gets close enough to look down can easily see the SS part of the butt between the rubber grips. However, I cannot carry the gun in a rear pocket as the pocket is not tall enough to completely cover the weapon. That's not a big deal though as I will be using it primarily as my carry piece while riding my motorcycle and will carry in the front pocket.
I must say though, that pocket carry is much more comfortable and accessible than IWB. Even sitting I barely noted it's presence while at the restaurant with my wife tonight. I can easily see myself switching to pocket carry and the lightweight revolver full time.
And I don't feel any less protected with just those 125 gr +P's than I do with my Sig P220 or CZ-75B (.40 S&W) other than I've only got 5 shots instead of 8 and 10. That's my gut talking though - my brain says if you need more than 5 you best transfer control of the situation to your feet and haul your butt out of there anyway.
Which begs the question: Anyone know the velocity of those Speer 125 gr +P's out of a 1 7/8" barrel?
I am very pleased with my purchase. S&W quality, great trigger, good accuracy, lightweight.
