Hi Jesse,

As one old timer to another, how do those very small or “tiny” semi-autos compare in concealability with say a 649 body guard in SS.

For me personally once you go below a 3913 in size, I don’t see much advantage in a semi-auto over a quality revolver. This appears even more so it the gun is primarily a backup. For a long time I tried to talk myself into getting a CS9 or a CS40, but the pure simplicity and near total reliability of a snub nosed .38 with Plus P rounds just kept me out of the very small semi-auto market.

In fact I was totally a wheel gun person up until S&W began making their third generation pistols. Until then my luck with even quality semi-autos was such that I did not trust them for self-defense. Until I got my first S&W third generation pistol I simply carried a .357 magnum or a .38 for my primary concealed carry gun.

Over the last few decades the semi-autos have gotten much better and I now primarily carry a S&W semi-auto (3913 or 4013 or one of their cousins) for my primary concealed carry weapon. If I carry a back up it is a S&W 649 in my pocket.

I simply don’t see sufficient advantage in using a tiny semi-auto for a back up when a snub offers almost the same fire power and is just so much more simple and clean as a machine.

The only real advantage I can think of would be that the very small or tiny semi-autos are easier to conceal, and that is why I was asking the question as I have never really compared their size to a snub nose revolver like the 649 or even one of the air weight variants of the 649.