Picked up my Performance Center 442 today and thought I'd off up my initial impressions.

It arrived at my FFL in the silver PC box.



Had the blue tag specifying the "enhanced action".



A couple more (bad) pictures before my impressions.





First, let me get this out of the way. The grips that came on it might be the cheapest, most horrible set of grips I've seen on a handgun in a very long time. They are very hollow feeling and are made out of a hard plastic. And the little hook thing that is supposed to let you hook it on your belt or pocket or whatever really interferes with a proper trigger finger engagement. Personally, if I was in charge at S&W I wouldn't put these on any revolver I sold, especially something coming out of the Performance Center.

On to the revolver itself....

Fit and finish is excellent, lock up is tight with no discernible wiggle or end shake what so ever. I haven't checked the barrel to cylinder gap but my highly calibrated eyes put it on the tight side.

Externally, the things that differentiate it from a standard 442 are the stainless cylinder with the polished flutes, the polished trigger, the polished side plate screws, the polished cylinder release latch, and the PC logo on the left side.

Now, about the trigger...

Honestly, I'm not overly impressed. Although I haven't owned a 442 in over a year (and have also previously owned two 642's) the trigger pull on this "enhanced action" doesn't feel any different than a base model 442. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Just stating my opinion. The pull is smooth but just doesn't seem noticeably more refined than a standard model like I thought it might. The trigger return is snappy bordering on forceful. It almost seems a bit excessive and if I get bored one day I may experiment with a different rebound spring and see what happens. I like a firm, positive trigger return but this goes beyond what I prefer.

Anyhow, the grips stayed on for the ride home from the FFL but were swapped out as soon as I got home.



Might be a little while but once I get a chance to put some rounds through it I'll toss up a range report.

I'm jealous i'd love it if you gave those grips to me you change out too. lol

Attached Images

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Oh, I should have mentioned I paid $399 for it brand new.

I was just going to get one like the picture above but the PC one was pretty much the same price so I figured why not.

Ray,

I agree that those grips are about the worst I've seen on a J frame! But consider that I'm left handed. That puts my thumb on that hook so I can't get a proper grip to hold on to the revolver. Also if I stuff it in my pants that same bulge would be digging into my somewhat over sized gut and don't even think about finding a holster to fit it with those grips either. It's not all bad though - I do like the gold medallions.

It's a looker, imo. Let us know how it shoots.

The Grips look sweet. Let use know how they are for shooting.

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If they put a stainless or matte silver barrel on it then it would look like a full fledged pinto. I think that would make it look even better. Otherwise it still is more of a looker than the non pc version. Don't care for look of original grips either.

Very nice! Those grips, VZ?

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Yes. They're the "tactical diamonds" in their zebra color. I love the grips but thought the black and white color might have looked better on the black and silver revolver than it does. If the color doesn't grow on me I might swap them for either the black/gray version or maybe the black cherry (which looks a lot like wood to me).

Will do. They're going to work well for me. The checkering is very sharp which should lock it in tight to my hand. I imagine someone people would find them a bit too abrasive as everyone has different preferences for grip texture.

According to S&W's specs, the 442 has a stainless barrel. I suppose if a guy was ambitious he could pull the barrel and polish it to match the cylinder. Lucky for me I'm not that ambitious. Seems like a lot of work.

My 637 PC came with the same grips, and I had the same opinion as you when I first saw them.

Then I tried them out.

I have large hands and long fingers and those grips place my trigger finger right where it needed to be.

The clip works just the the way it should. It holds the gun securely in my waistband, while high enough for easy access, and does it with very minimal printing.

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Congratulations. I've looked at the 442PC but can't seem to find anything that would justify my trading in my old reliable 30 year old 442 for a new 442PC. Your review of the trigger (which in my mind was one of the bigger pluses for PC pistols) lowers it in my estimation dramatically. Given you didn't have a 442 and it was about the same price seems like a good deal for you and I hope it shoots well. Enjoy.

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If the barrel is SS, and the cylinder is also SS, shouldn't that make it a M642PC?
With a different finish.

Best,
Rick

I see what you're saying. I suppose they could have just as easily listed it as a 642 with a "blackened frame".

I bought 2 of these "Chattanooga Shooting Supplies" PC specials when they came out 2 years ago. Interesting that finally someone echoes my opinion of the gun. One gun is OK, but just that. The other has been back to S&W 2X. The DA simply gave up the ghost twice. Matter of fact, shot it today, and it, too, is OK, but just that.

The actions are nothing like those of other PC J-frames I own. No smoothness, but the feel of improperly fitted parts and/or rough edges. No need to dwell on the awful grips. Another poster opined that the reason for this model was to use up surplus parts from the Wyatt 637 PC guns, as the grip, cylinder, cylinder latch and the polished sideplate screws are identical to those of the Wyatt. He may be right.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

P.S. Almost forgot: careful with the grips: the escutcheons can loosen when firing and the tiny lug is very difficult to locate if it falls off.

I think it is a cool looking gun. Especially with the grips you put on! I agree the original grips are ugly and cheap feeling. But they are super light. Which is important on a gun designed to be light. Last I weighed some similar grips to the ones you put on, they weighed like 5 ounces! That's over 1/3 the weight of the actual gun. It makes a big difference on a light gun. Any idea what those grip weigh?

You make a valid point about the weight of the grips. The ones that came on it are definitely light. I'm not sure about the weight of the new ones but they are noticeably heavier. I don't really feel like pulling them off to weight them but maybe I could weigh my 442 and compare it to S&W's claimed weight and see what the difference is.

Well, even with my new grips it's still a light gun.

15.25 ounces empty.



I think it was listed at 15 ounces so if that's true then I guess my grips are about a quarter of an ounce heavier than the ones that came on it.

Loaded it comes in just a fuzz over a pound.

I think it kooks great with those stocks!

Yep, the enhanced triggers require more work to get right than regular line triggers. The return springs are too light and the finish work is just half assed. Like I said, regular line triggers are better IMHO.

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Update - rebound spring swap and first range trip.

Ok, I thought long and hard about just leaving the trigger alone but got bored and thought I'd swap out the rebound spring. Figured if I changed my mind I could put the original spring back in.

I dropped a 13# Wolff rebound spring in it and the trigger pull is noticeably lighter and the trigger return is still crisp and strong. While dropping the spring in I noticed the rebound slide and the sides of the hammer had been polished when this thing was put together at the Performance Center. I felt no need to screw with anything while I was in there and simply swapped out the rebound spring, lubed the contact points, and reassembled. The trigger now feels like I thought it should have felt straight from the Performance Center.

Took it to the range Friday and put the first hundred rounds through it. Took a few cylinders for me to get a feel for it as I don't shoot revolvers much these days but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

Trying to be realistic about the intended purpose of the j-frame, I set up two targets and did the majority of my shooting from about five to ten yards transitioning between the two targets. While I did several different drills, most of them involved drawing the revolver, engaging one target with two round, engaging the second target with two rounds, and re-engaging the first target with the last round all while moving backwards away from the targets.

Here is the first cylinder I put through it. I wasn't setting any new land speed records but was taking about two shots every second or so- basically "double tapping" each target. Two shots on first target center mass, two shots center mass on second target, and then re-engaged the first target with a head shot. Pulled my shots on the second target a little left from the transition.





Ignore all of the pasters in the next photos. I spent a little time messing around with my little NAA mini revolver and didn't have the best of luck with that thing.

Got better as I got more of a feel for the 442 and was keeping my shots centered better by the end of the day.





The last couple of cylinders I pretty much dumped about as fast as I could while retreating from five yards. I think I only see nine holes in the target but there's no way I totally missed the target so two of them must have pretty much gone through the same hole or something.



I likely could have made much smaller, more well centered groups if I took my time and slowed down or if I stayed stationary and wasn't moving back but I bought this to carry, not shoot tiny groups.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. For a carry piece it should do the job if I can keep a level head.