With me, it was because a good friend of mine passed away and left me his model 637. I couldn't understand why he left me that particular gun. He knew that I didn't like to shoot it. But, after awhile I took to the range, and to honor his memory more than anything else I decided to learn how to shoot it.

I put a set of Hogue Monogrips on it instead the stock boot grips so I could get a 3 fingered grip on the gun, and with some internet research I taught myself how to be fairly proficient.

I began to carry the 637 instead of the .40 caliber Shield I was used to and fell in love with not only the 637, but wheelguns in general. I've not looked back.

A few months ago, I cleaned all my semi-autos and put them away. I don't think I want to sell them as they still serve a purpose for me, but I'm a revolver guy now.

Tried to put on the XDs today when I took the dogs out with the wife. She was getting ready and I just wasn’t comfortable so I switched to the 66 before we even left the house. Lately all I’ve been carrying has been one of these two

I would carry both. One for the pocket and one for the waistband. I’ve been carrying my 7-shot Taurus IWB and my 442 I the pocket.

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Two Handguns every day

I'm in constant debate between my M&P340, glock 43 or glock 19. Lately the 340 has won out a lot due to size/comfort in carry and Reliability...but if I go into the city I usually carry a semiauto for capacity reasons.


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Um,...not a J-frame.


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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Kel-Tec makes a stainless steel waistband clip that lets you carry inside the waistband of your shorts or pants.
It works perfectly and I have it on all my KT pistols.

If ever there was a time for compromise CC surely MAY be it. In your worst case scenario You may want a battle rifle, CCing one is another matter. There will always be a place for my 640, just not EVERYDAY in all types of dress & weather. Would I vote the J frame as the best combination for concealability/reliability/power??? Better ones would be a pretty short list IMO, if any exist at all.

they make the same clip now for most small autos like my G42 and G43....

If I am traveling outside of San Antonio or outside of my normal haunts in NE San Antonio, I will carry a G26 if my clothing allows. Otherwise I usually sport a 340PD in an ankle rig or in my pocket and a Seecamp 380 or NAA Mini as a backup.

I have tried all of the single stack 9s. I just do not like them. for whatever reason, they recoil too much, limited capacity and seem to be on the upper thin edge of being concealable in a pocket. I had a Kimber Solo and that was about the closest I ever got to a mini 9 I would carry, but I never could get it to perform for me as good as I wished it had.

I also sometimes will pocket carry an AMT Backup 45 that has surprisingly managed to be a reliable, accurate little blaster. It fits well in the back pocket of tighter fitting jeans (mitigates the flopping around of a heavy gun when walking).

So, the J frame is a favorite of mine for a bunch of reasons and the various examples I own all share the same manual of arms. My alternate favorite is a .38 special 649 no dash that I just LOVE. It is the smoothest little revolver I have in my rotation. I carry that in cooler weather in a slim little pancake holster under a light coat.

NQ

I never quit carrying a revolver. Old school is a good thing.

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I would carry both of them. A 640-1 is my main carry now and I've got a 66-2, but it's a safe queen. I want one of the new 66's. Probably will be my next purchase. Nice pair!

Thanks. I really like that 66 with the shorter Pachmayr grips. Little wider, little longer, but doesn’t print much more than th 640 when carried appendix IWB. I’m really like it. I personally think the trigger has smoothed up real nice too. Not quite like the old Model 10’s I have, but I shoot it real well

Pre I frame? FFFg and bacon grease.

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Certified Curmudgeon

I am issued the glock platform at work and no matter how hard I try, I cannot like carrying a semi auto at the 1 o-clock position (aiwb) like I do a J frame. I have had a glock 42, 43 and very seldom carry a G26 aiwb when my dress allows it. With my small frame, I cannot get passed the squared slide that sticks me in the rib cage when I carry aiwb. With a J frame, I can cant the gun if need be to bend over and due to its rounded grip, it just rides better for me.

I sometimes debate whether I am carrying enough gun when I have my J, but I feel that the Speer GD short barrel +P ammo I carry should be fine for 2 legged vermin. I will carry 1 speed loader and 2 speed strips with me. Should be enough for an encounter I would hope!

I once had a 3-inch S&W M36. Nice gun, but if I had it now, it couldn't replace my G17.

I found AIWB to be the best for me in terms of comfort, deep concealment, security, and accessibility, but couldn't get comfortable with the thought of a partially spring-loaded striker (G26) or hammer (LCP) behind a live primer pointing down there. Also, as Eagle1 mentioned above, the square slide corners ride too high above the beltline becoming rib jammers.

M638 and 649 are my EDCs - with shrouded hammers I can control and verify hammer-down during holstering and carrying, yet are snag free. I've read the arguments against SA in self defense, but I prefer to keep my options open for what are also my most accurate small carry guns.

When you say dumped it are you saying put it up in safe or selling it ? Just curious. I carry bolth and many and have no plans of selling or safeing them for long periods. My 442 is my all time favorite carry. Problem being I really have to stay on range alot with it to be a good E D C for me. My M & P 40 C is one I stay on target always with or with out range time go firgure

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Spin The Wheel

In the Wintertime, I CCW my 5" Springfield Armory .45. ACP M1911A1

That thing looks

I meant that thing looks nice and purposeful.

I hear you. Some guns just feel right and seem very natural. The Walther PPQ and HK VP9 are that way for me.

The little j frames take some work, especially shooting at distance. Contact distance to five yards though, Im not sure there is any better small gun. They work from awkward shooting positions, one handed, weak handed,
pressed against an assaliants body. Heck, the steel ones even make an expediant truncheon.

I guess it comes down to what sort of threat one sees as the highest probability. As a middle-aged dude with a pretty sedate lifestyle, the j frame fits the bill for me.

I carry my Model 12-2 off duty, but I carry my Model 642-2 all the time.

I carried a KelTec P32 as a BUG until I shot it over the Crony.


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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

45 Shield does house protection but the 38 goes with me

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Some assembly required..

Sorry. I have a couple of 1 7/8" S&W 36s, a 2 1/8" Model 60 and a 3" Model 60, but I still prefer one of my PPK/S pistols or my Kimber Micro for pocket carry as a back up.

And on the other extreme, I prefer my 2 1/2" Model 66, 2 1/2" Model 686, 2 3/4" Speed Six, and my 3" Model 19 for IWB carry when I want to carry a revolver as my primary self defense handgun.

I like my J-frames, and they'll get the job done, but they just are not the best tool for the job.

Recently bought a 442 and I love it with the CT grips. I still carry the G42, G26 but....I do love this little guy.

Now you know the secret of "soft recoil".

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Certified Curmudgeon

When Walther was offering $100 rebate on the PPS M2, I almost took the bait as it is one of the best single-stack, striker-fired, polymer guns out there, IMO. But in the end, I didn't feel it offered that much of an advantage over my J-Frames to do the work to get it in the carry rotation. By the way, the work I refer to is taking it to the range to make certain it's reliable and shoots to POA with my carry ammo and to become familiar with a new manual of arms, 200 rounds or so I figure would do it. Then there's the need to source a few extra magazines (I like at least 5 for each pistol). And don't forget futzing with finding a holster that works.

I went through all of that with my Sig P250, plus getting a duplicate as a spare in case the primary goes down for whatever reason (which I'm glad I did since Sig doesn't catalog them anymore). As it turns out, I don't carry the Sig as much as I thought I would, and I didn't want to go down that road again since any J-Frame carries just fine for me. It also excels in the role of occasional pocket carry which I don't imagine the PPS would do as well. I don't even think an LCP does as well as a J-Frame for pocket carry. Sure it's slimmer and has a couple more rounds, but it's much harder for me to shoot well, seems ridiculous to carry on the belt, and in the case of a close quarters scuffle, the LCP is sub optimal for contact shots, is harder to retain than a J-Frame, and it is far less effective with a muzzle strike.

Is all of the above just rationalization to cover up the fact that I'm just too lazy and set in my ways to bother with a new carry gun, regardless of how good it might turn out to be? Probably. And that suits me just fine.

My most carried gun still remains my 642-1. Bought it NIB around 20 years ago.

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C & L

Funny you should ask. Just last week I sold my Glock 43 and bought a SW model 637-2. It does not shoot much better but it is a lot better to look at.

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USAF Retired/VN Vet

Not me. I have a pile of J-frames (and their equivalents, like the LCRs and SPs), and I have a pile of micro-nines. I shoot the micro-nines better, they hold more and they reload faster.

There'll be days when I just feel like carrying a J-frame, and my wife likes having them around, but - even through I keep buying them when I find a deal - I just don't actually use the things anymore.

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Now go make God proud...

I would never sell any of my generation three semi-autos, but I did buy two J frame revolvers. A model 60 and a model 637. I had an original model 60 and sold it, I have regretted it ever since.

I've looked at few pocket autos, but still opt to carry a J-Frame most of the time. The smallest autoloader I currently own is a Glock 26. I've yet to develop much of an interest in micro-pistols since their capacity usually isn't significantly greater than a snub and I'm not willing to trade away the reliability and ECQ advantages of the hammerless snub without getting something substantial and deemed necessary in return. There is the ability for much quicker reloads with the auto, but I can find no evidence that reloads happen with any regularity in civilian defense encounters. Everything I've found says they are astronomically rare with pretty much all being resolved one way or the other with what is in the gun with 5 almost always being enough.

A lot of folks say they shoot autos better, but I think much of that being factual could depend on the context and what actually happens in real-world scenarios possibly being very different from what is being practiced at the range. I'm of the opinion that most civilian encounters occuring in public are reactive close-quarter affairs and that's what I prepare for. I base that on available stats(although admittedly very limited) and what I think is common sense. In such scenarios, I feel the relatively fragile reliability of the auto could be a factor. Civilian gunfights are exceedingly rare, but seem to receive the most attention from armed citizens with the thought being that they are the most likely situation in which they would need/draw their weapon. I'm not so sure that is correct considering the commonness and prevalence of contact weapons(knives, clubs etc.) as well as just unarmed attacks by one or more attackers where there is disparity of force that justifies a firearm being introduced. It's really hard for me to envision a likely scenario where I'm shooting it out with armed assailants at distance, but not so difficult to come up with a realistic scenario where I would need to draw a weapon such as against a mugger with a blade or to deter multiple unarmed attackers who might target me because I don't fit a certain demographic.

Until I'm convinced that 5 rounds isn't enough, the ECQ attributes of a handgun are largely irrelevant or that an auto is adequate in such circumstances, that the small auto is close to being as reliable a revolver when shooting one handed from odd positions and that quick reloads are a very important factor, I'll continue to stick with my snubs.

I'm down to one J-frame myself, if you don't include the Taurus 85SSUL2 that my daughter "borrowed." So, if you need to get nice homes for any of your "unused" J's, just let me know. My wife prefers a 4 inch S&W 681 with Crimson Trace grips and +P .38s.

My primary carry guns are K-frames.

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Then it needs to go for frequent walks.

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Just because the forum needs more J-frame (and similar 5-shot equivalents!) pictures:

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Now go make God proud...

I used to carry a S&W Sheild 40, and switched to a 642 J-frame. I like my revolvers better in the smaller frame guns. Large semi’s are all Colt 1911’s in 45acp. My 8 3/8” 460XVR just seams a bit over the top for EDC.

That is quite a collection.

I’m not going to lie, I dumped my j frame over a year ago and
never carry it anymore .

Well, I love revolvers and as a matter of fact I'm picking up my mod 10 today....

However,
there's no question that 38spl/357 was the caliber of choice for law enforcement from the 1920's up until the 1990's. but there's a reason why LE dumped the revolver in favor of high capacity semi auto's. I guess for the average civilian, revolvers like anything else will get the job done in most situations

My son convinced me to try a P3AT, but I didn't like the fact that sometimes the mag release button would get pushed, and the mag would be sitting in the mag well loose. So since March it is back to a J frame in a Mika holster.