Smith and Wesson 442

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SoCalShooter

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Well I broke down and bought another gun today.:evil: My mom wanted a little house gun and we were checking out some new gun shops in the La Mesa area, got the gun for $512 brand new. Any suggestions for light loads for this weapon? I have winchester standard load 38 130gr round nose and I have some flat nose, I also have +P but she did not like shooting the .38 +P even in my model 19. Was also going to get the crimson trace laser grips for her next month and was wondering what anyone's experience was for these grips in a weapon this size? Thanks guys.
 
I have a 442; my wife has a well-travelled M37. If recoil is a real issue, maybe just wadcutters or something in the 110 grain range. Any load in an airweight is going to generate some recoil.

We had a pair of Crimson Trace grips on the M37. I won them and my wife put them on her gun. She liked to put the spot on deer in the night time when she went out for a walk. They were perhaps earlier models as they were a hard polymer material and much harder on the hand than even the stock grips. Much nastier to shoot than my 442 with the original rubber boot grips.

Also, IMHO they are just a gimmick and no substitute for getting good with the gun. I have done a fair amount of night fire and can get the hits while someone else is dinking around with their shaky little red dot. We finally sold the grips.

The 442 is a very good gun. Probably the best of the breed.
 
S&W revolvers generally have their fixed sights factory regulated for 158 gr. loads. Target style full wadcutters in the 148 gr generally work well for recoil sensitive shooters.

As suggested earlier good grips make a huge difference. I've found the Pachmayr Compac and Compac Pro models to be great choices.
 
re: potatojudge thanks very much I will check those out I have been lookingfor decent loads for my model 19 also (not suppost to be shooting 125gr 357mag loads in it apparently)

re:dieneke thanks I priced them out they have two models for the gun one is for deep concealment and the other is a larger model, I think I will go with the larger model so she has a little more grip room, but not until we spend some extensive time at the range with the weapon first, after that I may just have her try a longer grip for it but as for the (dr.evil voice) LAZER I agree it is a gimmick and not absolutely necessary.
 
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