Just picked up a new 442 no-lock. Took it out and ran enough +p through it to remind myself why these guns are carried and not shot often. Ran a box of 50 wadcutters after that - that wasn't bad at all.

Super smooth trigger pull, fit and finish is perfect, I'm really impressed. Shot very accurately with slow fire at 10 yards. Shot as expected with rapid fire at 7 yards.

Here it is, shown with the '72 M38 it's replacing in my pocket.

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Looks nice.

But that M38 looks great too.

Hope you give the M38 a happy retirement with an occasional range trip.

I have a 442 no dash which I haven't carried yet.

Mine is finished in satin Nickel, so it looks more like a 642 than a 442.

Forged trigger, and I assume, internal parts.

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Funny how we do things differently from each other - people are definitely different! I stopped carrying my 642 and switched to my 649, when I am not carrying a 2" K frame.

I have a recent production 642-1, no lock. Those +P loads are no joke! If I don't get my thumb out of the way, the cylinder release skins me, fast.

The 442 is one of my favorites. Have a few “no dash” and a few current production. Not all pictured. Put a titanium cylinder on one of them.






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Very nice!!!!

So.... are you willing to show how it shot? I'm always trying to figure out if I'm in the ballpark with how I shoot mine. I need much improvement.

Your satin nickel finish was dropped the same time they went to MIM parts(1997) That satin nickel gun should be a safe queen!
Here's some Centennial eye candy for everyone!

jcelect

I have experienced that thumb skinning issue myself. Yeah +p from an airweight is definitely no joke.

Unfortunately the targets ended up in the trash. I'll post em next time. At 10 yards two-handed slow fire it shot a 2-3" group of five and at 7 yards rapid fire I hit an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with all five rounds.

I like my M&P 340, my daily carry. It is true that shooting .357 out of it is no picnic...LOL

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I’m very happy you recognized how undesirable that old M38 is and have replaced it with a 442.

Be careful not to get mixed up and grab that undesirable old M38 by mistake.

I’ll be happy to dispose of that awful old M38 for you so you don’t get into trouble inadvertently grabbing the old gun instead of the great 442.

As a public service I’ll even reimburse you for the cost of shipping the old M38 clunker to my FFL for disposal.

I like all the J-Frames. I only have 4 and the 442 is my favorite.

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Two Handguns every day

I've shot quite a bit of .357 over the years. I can't imagine doing it out of a gun in this weight class! I hope you carry .38 caliber in that!

Ha ha ha! I do like my M38 - it's a great gun. Trust me, it will be well taken care of!

OMG - wow!!!

Damn.....put a big grin on my face....

You bet I carry with .38 as a matter of fact it's Winchester 110 grain +P, that's stout enough. I was going to buy the 442 but this 340 deal came up at a great price...as new....I know why. LOL

Thank you. I'll try to remember this the next time I go to have a benchmark. I think MAYBE I could do that. But not sure. I might not be on that skill level yet. I feel like I'm kind of inconsistent with it and strangely enough, what grips I have on there has seemed to affect how I shoot.

I know ammo does too. But I've never really dialed in what exactly shoots well. Other than I know I've done decent with the PMC 130 grain FMJ.

A couple of things I did after I got a good abrasion to my thumb knuckle was

-immediately band-aid the abrasion;
-and file off a couple rows of checkering from the lower edge of the cylinder-release thumb-piece. I first removed the thumb-piece; put it in a vice; and either used a Dremel rotary tool with stone-type of bit (whether it was silicon- or aluminum- carbide, I can't remember) to get the thumb-piece how I wanted it.

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With a little gun like a J, grips can make a difference.

Dry fire practice helps a lot too. I use snap caps, but I've seen it stated it's not neccassary. I still use 'em. I have a tendency to push the gun forward in anticipation of the recoil, so with dry fire, it try to concentrate on not moving the front sight at all while pressing the trigger.

When actually firing, prior loading the cylinder, I try make a point to consciously think about the dry fire training and not moving the gun. After a while it becomes muscle memory and automatic.

Also, if you haven't done so, try out some different wadcutter target loads.

I like that - definitely a helpful mod.

Anyone have the Performance center 442? Is the action/trigger any better?

I dry fired one once. The trigger did seem very smooth with a nice crisp break.

That said, the trigger on the 442 I just got is very nice; I have zero desire to have any work done on this gun.

Mine was 13#'s. I got it down a little with just letting some oil drip in there and I do dry fire mine. At times quite a bit.

Here's proof. I eventually wore down my snap caps. I also used them in my Colt DS. But for what it's worth. I mostly use the for practicing reloads but then I'll dry fire them once I reloaded them.

Also, they sent me new ones free. Plus a rubber pad for cleaning and working on pistols. Lyman is a cool company.

And I thought I dry fired my AZoom snap caps alot! Damn... how did the rims get so chewed up? I've got thousands of dry fires on my .38Special, .44Mag, and .45ACP AZ-snaps; and while they look far from new... they aren't that worn. I'm impressed. I love the snap caps because they not only offer trigger time and technique but they also make for smoothing the double action trigger mating surfaces thru use. Every one of my triggers in my M36's, 625JM, 629, and M29's have shed a half a pound of trigger pull weight due to extensive dry fire practice. Learning the trigger break point of each trigger is paramount. More important to me is learning the staging point of each trigger effectively starting with a double action pull and staging it to a single action stage/set with just the index finger makes for a much more accurate DA experience... in my experience! YMMV.

I have never used snap caps, I have always used empty shell casings. Should I be using the caps?

I've had them for quite a while. I'm pretty sure I got them in the ballpark of 1999. So.... there's that. But I've used them a lot. Doesn't make me a super great shot with it though. I am pretty good at reloads from speed strips. If I don't fumble.

I've actually bested a buddy with his shield at the range a few times. He didn't have the best set up for his reload. It was in his front pants pocket and not a mag holster. But I figured, it's still a win when you're beating your buddies with 5 rounds from a speedstrip, time wise, against their autos.

Having said that, I get that he has more rounds in his gun to begin with. LOL.

Whoa man, you did wear that snap cap out! Never seen one like that, lol.

I don't know what the trigger pull is on my new 442. I have a trigger pull scale that goes up to 8lbs. I just tried it and it goes quite a bit past 8lbs, so... I have no idea, lol. It is smooth though. I've never owned an enclosed hammer gun, so I don't know if that super smooth pull is part of the deal, or I just got a good one.

J frames are kind of known for having heavy triggers. In comparison. At least when I fondle them at gun stores it proves out too. Except the PC ones.

I say yes for a couple of reasons:

#1 reason: Safety
Using empties means that they look exactly like live rounds. Now, I'm sure you're careful, and rightfully so, but accidents do happen. I mostly shoot wadcutters (that's what I load) and I've loaded 'em flush to the case mouth before (and seen several commercial offerings loaded like that as well). Snap caps are usually painted red and it's obvious they aren't live rounds.

#2 reason: snap caps cushion the hammer pin
The material in the snap cap primer hole is made of some type of rubber. While they do wear out, metal primers get an indentation and don't pop back. Repeatedly hitting the same spot on a spent metal primer means the hammer pin is not getting any cushioning.

I like to use the AZoom snap caps because they are maroon in color and easily identifiable as a cap as opposed to nickel or brass. I still open the cylinder each time I pick a revolver up to make sure it's loaded with snaps before pulling any trigger... It's just a quick ID thing for me. I've used empties in a pinch for a new caliber that I hadn't sourced the AZooms for yet. But it makes me a little nervous. Just a personal thing and YMMV.

Also, to practice reloads from speed strips and moon clips they are a must as empties will fight you in every way due to having no pills in them to align. So, they are a must for that "practice drill" for me. They are cheap, maybe $8 and they last and last. Amazon is where I get all mine and I don't waste my time on any other brand(s). The AZooms just work. Others, not so much...

They are also good to use at the range to show someone what they are doing wrong in regards to flinching in a semi-auto as well. Put one or two in random into a magazine with live ammo unbeknownst to a new shooter and it's eye opening to them how critical it is to let the pistol do it's job before they go trying to compensate for the recoil... again YMMV.

This has been my experience as well. Although I do have a set of Traditions snap caps in 9mm (the kind with the spring loaded primer) and have no issues with them.

I had a 442 no dash in satin nickel, first five shots out of it peeled away the nickel at the cylinder face (158 lead SWC). Sent it back fixed it in less than a week and never had another issue out of it until I (foolishly) traded it off some years later.

Those work ok in a revolver and I have a set too that I keep in a Colt for dry fire practice in .38Special. But I've had some for .45acp too I believe it was... Trying to cycle those in a 1911, pft… they broke in 3 pieces. I had another set of "off-branded" (Amazon's Choice), .22lr snap caps that literally disintegrated into the action/trigger/frame of my Ruger Mark II after 1 single trigger pull. I had to totally disassemble it (real pain in the butthole) to get all the plastic out of the trigger mechanism. I said never again will I buy anything but AZoom's and they are all I ever recommend because I don't want anyone here to go thru that! Most people probably would have had to take their Mark II to a pistol smith because the Ruger design is a miserable one!

LOL. I did actually take my Mk1 to the gunsmith early on to get back together. I forget which piece I was struggling with. I don't know if it was the take down latch or what. I had it apart though.... It was a long time ago.

I have a Ruger MKIII 22/45 - I have "field stripped" it and put it back together several times. I hate doing it. One time after several failed attempts I just left it on the bench and walked away for a day. Snapped right back together the next day. Those guns are weird like that.

WRT the 442 in the OP; took it to the range for another 50 rounds of light wadcutters through it. Shot great, feeling very confident with it. Really glad I picked this little J up.

I love mine,it's .442-2

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Life is short,live it fully.

Well, it's been just over a week and two range trips with the 442.

I'm very happy with it so far. I thought about, but didn't miss the hammer at the range and I feel like the grips help while shooting.

Gonna be a keeper!

For me, pretty much any gun slips less with rubber grips. In the summer it's not as bad when there's some humidity in the air. Even polymer guns don't slip much at all. But then when the humidity goes down in winter, everything slips way more. For me. So I usually have some kind of rubber on a handgun grip.

That being said, the checkering on a detective special that covers the whole stock is a good set up. Where I need the most amount of checkering is more towards the heal for my support hand to stay put. And magnas and a lot of grips have checkering right in the middle, but then not where I really need it the most.

Brother, you ain't kidding and I agree! People that don't think guns and cars ARE temperamental... have never really worked on them! I have a 12Gauge Mossberg that I've customized into a "Police Special"... Trying to remove the cylinder magazine/tube out of the receiver was so damned factory tight I thought I was going to warp the receiver in my bench vice. Walked away for the night. Next afternoon... sum bit(# turned out in my bare "Ham-Hands", hahahaaha! Same thing with Spark Plugs and of all things, a cabin air filter on my 3.5L Twin Turbo Explorer... Don't even get me started on a clutch disassembly/reinstall on an old Z28...

I must've gotten lucky. I tore down my Mossberg 500 and put it back together without watching any vids and all that. And it worked.... So... Sometimes you luck out.