Central Pa

Combination "Hello Forum" and range report with my shiny new no-lock 649

I love this revolver.

I can't believe that there are misguided souls who would refer to it as "ugly"

Fired a couple hundred rounds, mix of .38 & .357, flinched a few out into the 6&7 rings, but stayed mostly in the black @ 7yds...

A variety of .38s was like shooting spitballs.

Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel .357 Magnum 135 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point and
Corbon .357 DPX were both snappy recoiling but not obnoxiously so.

I'd carry with either of these and not feel undergunned.

Extra weight of the steel frame helps, I'm sure.

Hornady Critical Defense .357 is too much for this little revolver, IMO.

Powder is a bit slow in these for a snub, resulting in a watermelon sized fireball.
The recoil is more than I wish to deal with and I started shooting revolvers with a Model 29 a few decades ago.

All & all I love this thing ( already said that ).

I'm downsizing from a Colt Lawman Mark III which is a bit large for the pocket and
is starting to become too much of a rare artifact to be used for it's designed purpose.

I'm gonna shoot the 649 some more and see how the action breaks in before I start to think about action work.

The trigger is nowhere as smooth as my Colts have been, or as smooth as the bigger Smiths I've owned.

I might try a toothpaste tuneup and a set of Wolff springs before I send it out somewhere.

Seems as if it's settling in nicely, though, after some dry-firing and some bangbang. We'll see.

Only thing I definitely need for it is a Big Dot tritium front sight and maybe a pocket holster.

I'll probably try some wood boot grips eventually, but the stock rubbers are OK.

And lots more ammo... No more nuclear magnums, though.