My wife and I were at a intro to IDPA yesterday, she carries a 'J' frame 442. Along with being told the drawbacks of a snubbie for IDPA, (which while I get the limits of it for target work, the thought was to get better with the gun she carries AND there is a BUG class), we also got told the gun will wear out with a lot of shooting. I got to wondering what the actual life span of a 442 might be, any ideas?
Wear and tear on a 442
- Thread starter Jamie
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Sorry you got negative info at the IDPA club.
BUG DIVISION (class is your classifier scores, division is the type of equipment) is not used in regular IDPA matches. BUG Division matches are normally shot separately as a side match.
However, BUG revolvers like the 442 or model 60 are legal to shoot in Stock Service Revolver Division, and some people shoot them at our club matches just for practice, as you said. You do make extra reloads due to the 5 shot capacity, and probably will be slower than using a K/L frame. As the match director, I allow any legal equipment, including BUGs, in the stock Divisions.
I sometimes shoot a model 60 in SSR Division or a Kahr P9 in SSP Division at a club match.
As to the life of a 442 shooting the power factor 105 ammunition now allowed in SSR Division (recently reduced from 125), I don't expect any special problems. If you shoot 100 rounds a month at an IDPA match, you should still get many years of service.
My concern would be if you started shooting the volume of practice rounds needed to get really good at IDPA, you are going to significantly wear any revolver. In that case, I would get a K/L frame and save both the carry gun and your hands from the battering.
My IDPA revolver is a Model 66, and items like springs and cylinder stops get replaced regularly. The cylinder has endshake bearings to maintain headspace and endshake within specs. The IDPA revolver gets taken apart for inspection and any necessary repair annually, and is strictly a range gun, not a carry gun.
BUG DIVISION (class is your classifier scores, division is the type of equipment) is not used in regular IDPA matches. BUG Division matches are normally shot separately as a side match.
However, BUG revolvers like the 442 or model 60 are legal to shoot in Stock Service Revolver Division, and some people shoot them at our club matches just for practice, as you said. You do make extra reloads due to the 5 shot capacity, and probably will be slower than using a K/L frame. As the match director, I allow any legal equipment, including BUGs, in the stock Divisions.
I sometimes shoot a model 60 in SSR Division or a Kahr P9 in SSP Division at a club match.
As to the life of a 442 shooting the power factor 105 ammunition now allowed in SSR Division (recently reduced from 125), I don't expect any special problems. If you shoot 100 rounds a month at an IDPA match, you should still get many years of service.
My concern would be if you started shooting the volume of practice rounds needed to get really good at IDPA, you are going to significantly wear any revolver. In that case, I would get a K/L frame and save both the carry gun and your hands from the battering.
My IDPA revolver is a Model 66, and items like springs and cylinder stops get replaced regularly. The cylinder has endshake bearings to maintain headspace and endshake within specs. The IDPA revolver gets taken apart for inspection and any necessary repair annually, and is strictly a range gun, not a carry gun.
Shoot the 442 everyday, if it breaks send it back to the factory, it has a lifetime warranty.
My wife's M37 airweight is now about 35 years old, has taken a lot of rounds to include +P+. Those shook it loose but S&W fixed it. My 442 is a daily driver, now has about 1000 rounds through it. It looks worn but works perfectly. I suspect both will outlast the owners at this rate.
However if I did a lot of IDPA type shooting I would think about a steel version of the same gun to do it with; easier on everybody.
However if I did a lot of IDPA type shooting I would think about a steel version of the same gun to do it with; easier on everybody.
Thanks for all the replies, I know the BUG division is not a 'national' sanctioned class, just local which is fine by us, I didn't intend to mean that we got bad/negative advice, I took it as realistic and I think it was intended that way. The main purpose of doing the IDPA is more 'practical' practice, meet some people, have some fun, not all that interested in the scores, (knowing people in general and me in particular, sure that will change!!!). Good to know we don't have to worry much about the wear and tear on the wife's gun. We've already started thinking about the next one she might like, but since $ are old strangers to us, we'll work on getting the most we can out of what we have.
Ursoboostd
Member
I guess I'll find out. I carry mine and I've put at least 4k rounds through it and I don't plan on slowing down. -Wade-
xx78
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My 642 recently developed a crack in the frame. I sent it back to S&W and within two days of them receiving it I got a call from them advising that I would be getting a new 642. How's that for customer service.
sw44spl
Member
hey jamie you could pick up a used K frame at a good price if you look around.you will like the IDPA it is very fun and it beats just standing and shooting at paper.
Yeah, we're thinking about which way to go, not sure if she wants to get another wheel gun or an auto. Either way, it'll probably be just for IDPA and range stuff. We are definitely getting a bit tired of shooting paper so the IDPA seemed like the next best thing to do.
