Accuracy of 2" Kit Guns?

B

Bat Guano

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2004
Messages
3,259
Reaction score
2,527
Location
Wyoming
Am looking at a 2" Model 34 made circa 1980 which looks to be about a 99% gun. I have always been intrigued by these as a subcaliber practice gun to .38 caliber Js, plus they look like fun. A long time ago I had an early M63 4" that was pretty rough and not a particularly good shooter, and after that a postwar I frame Kit in 4" that was better.

The 80s were not necessarily good years for S&W quality, as I recall. Could any owners and users of 2" Kits from that era comment on their experiences? If one of my goals is to "have fun" I would certainly like to have an accurate little gun to do it with.

Any missing I do ought to be attributable to me, not pesky gremlins. I have enough of them around as it is.

Thanks.
 
Register to hide this ad
This isn't exactly an answer to your question but I have a 2" and a 4", both made in the 70's. You can see for yourself that the 2" does OK. That's 10 shots at 25 yards, off hand. The 4" does considerably better.

(Forgive the photo quality. I took it this AM very early.)

kit_zpsd5460b5e.jpg
 
I have this 34-1 made in 1960 I think. I havent shot it off the bench, just a plinker I have only shot a few times but I was surprised bouncing cans with it. I aint a great shot as I got shakey with age.
I notice extraction can be stickey. These guns have super tight tollerances.

IMG_1281_edited.jpg
 
Here is a model 51 .22 WMRF I used to own. I bought it new around 1970. Soon as I bought it I ordered another clyinder in .22 LR. They came out with that in their next catalog as a option for awhile. I dont know if I can take credit for that. I sure wish I would have kept it!

Gun.jpg
 
As shown by the target in the attached photo, my Model 34 is fairly accurated at 25 yards. A more practical example involves relating a rather silly behavior on my part. I occassionally toss a golf ball several yards or so in front of me and see how many times I can hit it with a cylinderfull of rounds, firing double action. I usually hit with the first shot; after that depends on how far the ball flies, but any difficulties are skill-related, not equipment related. For plinking, in my experience this revolver is the caterpiller's spats.
 

Attachments

  • M34 2 in w holster.JPG
    M34 2 in w holster.JPG
    124.6 KB · Views: 111
My 34-2 isn't my favorite .22 to punch paper with however it is great fun at the outdoor range. I regularly chase soup cans from 10 yard out past 35 yards with the little J frame. Great practice that hones your skills much better than just punching holes.
Shoot some Aguila Super Maximum .30 grain out of a 2 inch sometime! What a blast.
34-2-left.jpg

The grips came from my wife's 60-5 Ladysmith.
 
i'll sure let you know...i picked up a 34-1 2" from my LGS just this afternoon...has a trigger shoe and tyler t-grip...looks like fun and the action is great!
 
Hard for me to tell. I've only owned two 2" Kit Guns. One was a 34, rather picky about what ammo it would extract, and I traded it (for a C*** Agent, as I recall). I don't really remember the accuracy of that one. Probably OK, or I would have dumped it sooner. The other was a very nice pre-34 which had no trouble with any ammo, but I wanted to stay in the black on a standard bullseye target, and I couldn't do it very easily with that gun. However, I did run into a 43 that would do that. I ended up trading the pre-34.

I'm pretty much back to figuring that if I'm going to carry a 2" revolver, particularly a steel one, it might as well be .38 Spl. If I'm bound and determined to carry a light revolver and 206 rounds of ammo, it might as well be a 43 rather than a 2" 34.
 
When I first handled it, the weight was a bit of a surprise. Shouldn't have been, considering the small caliber.
Anyhow, it is also surprisingly accurate.
I've carried it on more than a few occasions, though, as mentioned above, a .38 is the usual choice:
34-1.jpg
 
I have one of these, made around 1976, and have put a couple hundred rounds or so through it. As others have indicated, the small size and short barrel really aren't that significant in determining accuracy. Mine hits where you aim it. But when I practice in double-action, especially one-handed, the difference between a J-frame and a K-frame becomes quite evident. I find it considerably more difficult to hit with the little guy. It just doesn't want to hold still when you press the trigger! Oh well -more practice is needed.

My impression, from limited experience and from listening to others, is that it's relatively rare for a modern name-brand firearm to have significant accuracy problems. The only Smith, for instance, that consistently is noted for that around here is the earlier model 25 with its overbored chamber throats(someone correct me if I've mischaracterized this issue). The major issues with accuracy, across the board, seem to be poor marksmanship and inconsistent ammunition.

Best wishes,
Andy
 
I have a M34-1 and I can't hit as much with it as I can with a 6" K frame but I didn't buy it for a target gun. It is good for shooting a sitting rabbit when I want one to eat. It is fun to bounce cans from the hip. It is cheap practice instead of using a .38 Spec. J frame. Larry
 
Pisgah said:
An average snubbie is no less inherently accurate than the average revolver with a 10" barrel, just harder to shoot as accurately. The shooter makes 100% of the difference.
Click to expand...

Yesterday on the TV show, Impossible Shots, Bob Mundin(RIP) hit an 8" baloon at 200 yards with a .38spl M60 with a 2" barrel.
 
Years back, a friend and I went in together for a Ransom Rest and a chronograph, trying to work up the best loads we could for our PPC revolvers. We ended up rounding up and shooting just about every J, K and N frame revolver we could get our hands on. We learned some interesting things.

One was, there was no correlation between accuracy and barrel length when the guns were clamped into the mechanical shooting rest. The device took most of the human variables out of it when used correctly.

I remember that the most accurate gun we found was a particular 5 shot J frame .38 with a 2 inch barrel. I forget now if it was a Model 36 or Model 60, but that thing shot R-P 148 grain target ammo into round, little 5 shot groups you could often cover with a quarter at 25 yards.

Guns like the Kit Gun are mechanically as accurate as others made by S&W, but they have a lot of features that make them harder to shoot well. They are small, have small grips, small sights, a short sight radius and are light in weight. Many of us have a hard time keeping a consistent grip on the gun through all 6 shots. The actions are typically a bit tougher, too, with the coil mainspring seeming to rarely yield as smooth a trigger pull as the flat mainspring of most of the other S&W revolvers.

I find I don't shoot my 2 inch snubs as well as my 4 inch guns, and only choose the shorter gun when portablity and/or concealment are important issues.

That said, 2 inch Kit guns sure are cute little things!
 
"Mike-SC Hunter" shoots bumble bees off his back porch with one.. That accurate enough ??
 
I second everything that has been said about them being intrinsically accurate but difficult to shoot well. The last time I had mine out, I was shooting minute-of-cottontail head at about 7 yards, using a two hand hold, single action.

That is the kind of shooting I would most likely do with the little gun- pot shooting at some unexpected target that wandered by. Cottontails usually run off a few yards and then freeze when you stumble upon them, so you can often get a shot at one. I shot one with my 4" m18 .22 lr once while leaving the woods after deer hunting, so we cleaned it, built a low fire and cooked it over the coals. My buddy was worried about parasites, so we cooked it until it was really well done, but it was still good. I feel confident that I could have made the shot with my 2" m34 as well.
 
Great little guns.I have several of them.All of them are amazingly accurate for their size.I have one model 34 that was made in the early 60's that is the most accurate 22 I have ever shot.Mine has been used to take a lot of small game over the years.Also is a great trainer for the 38 caliber snubs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top