Conicidentally, I've spent the day carrying a .380 pistol I'd considered carrying on a road trip requiring discretion. My subjective perception ( I didn't shoot anyone with it) left me with a feeling of inadequacy; I'm now planning to take something else on my road trip, most likely a J frame .38.

Whether I would buy a new S&W or a used one is a moot point, since I already have a lifetime supply. If this were not the case, I would not buy a factory new S&W. The last one I purchased a decade ago, while servicable, had the aesthetics of a cap pistol and appeared to be finished in a substance similar to congealed nasal mucus. From the frequent complaints about new S&Ws I've read on this board, it appears quality has declined since my last acquistion. By contrast, the S&Ws I purchased new three decades ago or more, and the used weapons of that period I've more recently acquired have my total confidence.

DISCLAIMER: The late Charles 'Skeeter' Skelton once wrote of an old desert rat who told him auto pistols and double action revolvers were bunkum, and that the perfect defense weapon was the single action revolver. It's been my life's observation that shootists extol the weapons of their formative periods...and I'm no exception.