When S&W began making their aluminum frame autopistols with stainless steel uppers, I began to pester S&W with letters suggesting that they take the aluminum J frames they already were making, silver-color anodize them like the semiautos and assemble them with stainless steel other parts. I have several letters here from Roy Jinks and one from whoever was the law enforcement products manager at the time thanking me for my suggestion, but making no promises. The first replies indicated that their research didn't show there to be much of a market for such handguns!
I got really excited when S&W announced the new Model 642 and had my name in with several local dealers. I bought the first one any of them got, in April 1991. To me, this is the perfect small concealed carry revolver. Much lighter than a steel model of the same configuration but still heavy enough to control well with the heavier bullet weights in Plus-P loadings.
Mine has held up great to use. I have well over 1,500 rounds of factory-loaded Plus-P through it, plus probably at least that much standard pressure and mid-range ammunition through it. The only part I have replaced was the grip screw for the Uncle Mike's boot grips. I sweat like crazy and the screw would rust like mad! I would brush the rust off when I cleaned the gun but the rust finally ate so much of the steel that the slot got pretty shallow!
I was very alarmed when S&W put the lock on their revolvers. I haven't had any problems with one yet but I won't carry a revolver for serious use that has it, especially the smaller, lightweight guns that seem to have the most episodes with unintentional lock-up. I was really happy when they began to proudce them again without the lock and ordered another one, for a spare, in early October, 2008.
My new Model 642-1 worked just fine. I shot a couple of boxes of 50 through it, cleaned it and would generally only carry it when my older one was dirty from a range trip. The finish on the aliminum frame isn't anywhere near as tough as the finish on my old one. Perspiration has already spotted the finish on the left side of the frame around the latch and top edge of the grip. The wear on the new gun has almost caught up with the finish wear on the 19-1/2 year old gun.
I had department firearms qualification this morning and shot both the old one and the newer one. I was surprised and pleased that both shot to the same point-of-impact at 15 yards.
I had one unpleasant surprise. One of the chambers got hung up and the hammer wouldn't drop. I was mildly startled and released the trigger and fired the next round. I cranked until the stuck chamber came up again and this time, pulled the trigger really hard. It fired but I pulled the shot off the scoring area of the target by a couple of inches.
The same chamber still took a really hard trigger pull for the next couple of strings. Then it lightened up and, by the end of the 50 round course, was just fine. I can't tell which chamber it was, now.
Like I said, it didn't do this previously, although it only had a couple of hundred rounds through it. The armorer obviously pulled the sideplate and looked around inside, as one of the screws is slightly marred. I don't know what it could have been.
Not many in my department carry revolvers now. We transitioned to autopistols beginning in 1991 but .38 snubs were still permitted for back-up and off duty use until about 6 or 8 years ago. Finally there were so few of us still qualifying with them (maybe 4 or 5 out of 400 armed deputies) that they finally disallowed them, not wishing to stock .38 Special ammo and keeping an armorer certified. About 2 years ago, something prompted the department to change it's mind, probably a new sheriff, and we got the option back. I had tried a number of small semiautomatics but nothing else quite fit the size/power nexus of the J frame .38's and I never quit carrying mine. I am glad to be policy-compliant again.
Not many are carrying them still, though. I was the only one out of 20 officers to shoot one this morning. It apparently was a bit of a novelty, as 2 instructors watched me while one ran the qual.
Our department has really dumbed down the course of fire for snubs. When I started in 1981, no allowance was made for 5 shooters. The same course of fire was used with the same time limits then, which forced one to hurry to do the extra reloads and to count your shots. We shot the B-27 target. We shot from 7, 15 and 25 yards.
Now, the farthest we shoot is 15 yards. The closest is 3 yards; I just did all head shots there. There weren't apparently any time limits, or I just shot fast enough to not warrant keeping time. I used speedloaders for the first 7 reloads but rather than have me fill them back up, they just had me load loose cartridges from my pockets for the last couple of strings. We shoot a humanoid outline (the FBI Q target?) where shots are full score if you even break the outline of the bad guy. The miss irritated me.
We shot Federal 130 grain standard velocity FMJ for qualification. That stuff is really mild. It doesn't feel like a real .38 Special at all. The carry ammunition is issued and required, too. Right now it is Speer LE Gold Dot 135 grain Plus-P. We have used it for a few years but don't think anyone has had a shooting with it here. Before that it was Federal 129 grain Hydro Shock Plus-P. We get new ammo issued annually and usually shoot the old carry stuff up qualifying. The armorer asked for my old stuff back when he gave me the new revolver ammo and seemed mildly irritated that I didn't still have any, having shot up what little I had been issued before. I suspect he was wondering just what I had been carrying. He doesn't like old ammo out there, which is to his credit.
My department is in the middle of reorganizing our firearms training, adding quite a few new rangemasters (a secondary assignment) and telling us we will be shooting a lot more. I hope this is so. Our current rangemaster has had the job for about 15 years now. He has consistenly asked for more training time and ammunition but never got it. I hope this new promise is kept. Our budget for everything has taken a real beating for the last few years.
These Model 642's are tremendous guns, perfect for their intended purpose. If I was younger, I'd buy a couple more for when I get old, but I guess I am most of the way to old now and these 2 will probably last.
New, Old Model 642's
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