340PD for CCW?

flundertaker

flundertaker

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I have been wanting to get rid of my current P3AT .380 summer carry gun. Its been 100% reliable and 7 rounds of buffalo bore .380 isnt anything to sneeze at but I want to switch over to a revolver. I wear shorts most fo the time or occassionally jeans or khakis. I want a pocket gun. I looked at a new S&W 340PD today. I love the super light weight and no IL. 5 rounds of .357 would not leave me wanting anything especially with a backup speed loader. The gun peddler advised strongly against wanting to go this route. He was really pushing either the LCR in .357 or one of the other J frame Smiths in .38+P. He said the 340PD was a bad choice simply because of the punishing recoil. Granted, I have never fired a 340PD but I have owned a .460 S&W and have a slew of .44 mags. It cant be any worse than these bruisers. Yeah, I know its a super light weight gun but its still a 158gr .357 mag. Besides its not a gun I would plink with nor shoot boxes of ammo thru at every outing. In all likelihood, it would be fired a couple rounds per year to stay proficient and blow the pocket lint out and thats it unless it came to a SD situation. I contend in a SD situation with adreneline flowing, I probably would not even notice the recoil. What say you?
 
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You'll be OK with the 340PD. If you have trouble with the 158-gr .357s you can always switch to 145s or 125s - or a bigger grip. The 340 with 125s is not that bad at all. 158s are pretty mean.
 
You'd be fine w/this light gun and could always go w/a heavy +P round. I can tell you from experience that you will not notice any recoil and most likely will not hear anything (I didn't). If that's what you want go for it.
 
You will most likely find any .357 cartridge punishing out of the 340PD. That being said, if you decide to go that route be certain to practice with it and when you are competent, practice some more. If you get into a situation that goes sideways, you will default to your lowest level of training.

I carry a 340PD off-duty during the summer months and have never felt "out-gunned" provided I carry an extra speed-loader and stay aware of my limitations. I carry the Speer Gold Dot 135 JHP .38 Special +P.

When all is said it comes down more to the person as opposed to equipment.....It's not the arrow, it's the Indian.

JM2C.

Joe
 
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I carry the 340pd no il all week. I have shot 2 cylinders of 158gr & it is punishing but the 125 gr cor-bon 357's aren't as bad which is what I carry.
 
I have 13 ounce 360J (scandium/aluminum alloy with steel cylinder) in .38 Special. I hate shooting it (and it's not even a 357). It's not that it hurts, but it is just plain unpleasant and not fun. I prefer carrying my all steel Model 60 with 2 1/8" barrel (loaded with .38 +P -- I have owned that gun since 2008 and have put only 5 magnum rounds through it and that's more than enough to suit me) or my 2 1/2" SP101 in .357.

It's not that I don't shoot magnum loads -- I do, but only in full-sized guns like a 686 or GP100. Now that's fun.

In conclusion, unless weight is a primary concern think about going with steel.
 
I carry the 340 PD as a New York reload to my M&P 340. I have only shot 38 special ammo through it. Recoil is not bad at all.







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I have the M&P 340, which weighs about two ounces more than the 340PD. I have shot it quite a bit. I currently carry 135 gr. Speer Gold Dot short barrel.357 magnum rounds in it. I have shot the 158 gr full house loads in it, and they are brutal. Mostly practice with 38 +p handloads (my own), loaded into .357 cases. The Speer loads are pricy, at well over a dollar a round, but you won't be shooting many of them, and they are about the best compromise between managble recoil and minimal muzzle flare that you are going to find. I had the opportunity to field test this combination when I first started carrying this revolver. A hunter had wounded a deer on my property (hunting there with my permission), and just as I had returned home, I was getting out of my vehicle, when the badly wounded deer came into view, quartering right in front of me. My guest yelled at me to finish it off if I could, as he was not in a position to fire because of farm buildings. I shot the deer with the little M&P 340, and the Speer 135 gr gold dot load. It stopped the deer, and when my friend dressed it out I was able to recover the spent rounds (2). They had penetrated about 15 inches, and had expanded perfectly, like something fired into ballistic gelatin. They had also both maintained almost all of their original 135 gr weight. I believe that they weighed in at less than a grain less than the original 135. This was phenomenal performance, and I have carried this firearm with great confidence since. By the way, I did not even notice the recoil when I shot that deer, and I'm sure that you would not notice recoil if you were using the firearm in a defensive situation. I have many carry options, as I am a collector, but if I were to only have one gun for carry, this would be an almost ideal mix of weight, caliber, power, accuracy and reliability. I have thought about getting the one that you mentioned, just to add to my collection, but you won't go wrong with either the M&P or the PD in the 340.
 
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attn OP

Before carrying a gun which I had "only fired a couple of rounds per year to remain proficient," I would want to make sure that I could control the gun and put 5 rounds on an appropriate close-range target, say, a piece of typing paper. The paper approximates the area of the human torso.

I have an early 360Sc from 2001 with titanium cylinder and it is a handful. I respect that you are well-versed in hard-kicking handguns, but the ones your mention have a much bigger grip than does the 360/340 J-frame and weigh 4-5 times as much. I intentionally refrained from firing my 360 for 10 years until this year when I fired some CCI Blazer 158gr JHP .357 rounds in the gun. BTW, I used a shooting glove and Sile rubber grips due to nerve damage in my shooting hand. These rounds were at least controllable for double taps; another poster reported 990fps in a 3" bbl with this load.

Another issue is "crimp jump," where the bullets in the yet-unfired rounds in the cylinder pull out of the cases under recoil. I believe there is still a warning on the bbl not to use magnum ammo with bullets under 120gr in weight. Follow this advice, but some experimenting in avoiding crimp jump is still in order.

A 340Sc as a CCW? Yes, but you should make sure you are able to handle it and a couple of rounds a year will not cut it. Good luck and good shooting!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
flundertaker said:
Granted, I have never fired a 340PD but I have owned a .460 S&W and have a slew of .44 mags. It cant be any worse than these bruisers.
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The typical .460 S&W and 44 mag nothing compared to the recoil of full power 357 mag loads out of an 11 oz snub nose.

The first day I got my 340PD I loaded the cylinder with 357 mag loads and was done after the 3rd shot. If you want to know what it feels like just hold your hand out and have a friend smack it with a baseball bat. Even with 38+P loads the recoil is more sharp and painful that the recoil of my superblackhawk 44 mag, but it is tolerable.

I carried it in my pocket quite often with 38+Ps. Even though it was very light I found it somewhat annoyingly bulky for pocket carry. I replaced it with a Kahr CM9 and couldn't be happier.
 
Well, flundertaker, as the last two posters pointed out, full power 158 gr .357 magnum rounds are a pretty stout proposition in an 11 ounce revolver. That's why I think that the 135 gr Speer ( I have no financial interest in the company), designed especially for the short barrel revolvers is a great compromise. They have manageable recoil, and are much more powerful than any .380 acp, and most .38 spls., and most 9mm rounds as well. And in the centennial body style, you are assured a smooth draw from the pocket or under covering clothing because of the lack of an external hammer. Also, there is no worry over the reliability of an auto-loader malfunction to clear. But DEG is right: full power loads are brutal. I honestly thought that I might have broken a bone in my wrist after I fired my first cylinder of full house loads. On the other hand, it might just save your life some day, if you can find the right cartridge to provide maximum power within your ability to tolerate the recoil. Don't forget, what ever firearm you choose, you must practice specifically with that gun. I too have a lot of other handguns, but the one that you actually carry is the one that you need to focus your training on. Not to lecture, but after forty years as a police firearms instructor, I sometimes get carried away.
 
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I have a 340sc and I love it ,very nice to carry . This is not a go to the range target pistol that you shoot 25-50 rounds at targets with. This is a carry pistol and it is great for what it is designed for , self defense ! It is a bear with full power magnum loads but you can load it down for practice and carry it everyday with a good Gold dot load or whatever you feel confident carrying. Odds are you will never need to use it in self defense but if you don't have a pistol with you because it is to heavy or to hard to conceal and you leave it at home why have it. I want a revolver that will do the job and go bang when I pull the trigger and not have a doubt in my mind that my semiauto may not cycle or not pack enough punch.
 
I've got an m&p its a fine gun. The recoil is aggressive to say the least and I'm a fan of practicing with your carry gun. I carry a 4" 329pd in cooler weather and the little m&p in the summer. I load it with a 158 gr swc at about a 38-44 level. The photo below was shot at 7yds, 35 rounds of my hand load and 5 rounds of some full power 125 gr factory rems shot has fast as I could load and pull the trigger. When I was done there was a small patch of skin missing from the web of my thumb and blood was coming out from under 3 finger nails. Now I limit myself to 3 or 4 cylinders a month. I couldn't imagine protecting my family with a gun that I've only shot a few times a year!



 
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340 PD is my carry piece. 148 gr target loads are punishing I don't actually mind recoil. It's just the nature of the two finger hold.. I carry 38+p but will try mag load soon to see if I want to carry those I will chronograph them and check the flash.
 
The thing to remember when buying a 340PD is that really it is just another lightweight J-frame that CAN fire .357 - IF you need to. The gun works just fine with any .38 Special you put in it. If you never need to fire .357s and don't, no harm done! :)

Really, it seems to me 9mm +P would have been a better choice for this gun. I am no great fan of .357 in a gun like this, but I still like the gun. Maybe S&W made it in .357 instead of 9mm because they knew a lot of shooters would be using .38s and there are no commonly available "reduced loads" for 9mm... ? ;)
 
I carry a 340PD with 158 gr .357mag rounds when I'm in the woods hunting during archery season (private land).

One time I shot a 200+lb. wild hog up close with it, I never felt the recoil because of all of the adrenaline pumping through me.

For everyday carry, I use Speer Gold Dot 130gr. .38 Special +P ammo.

I have replaced the factory grips with the (ERGO Grip) Delta Grip, it takes a bit of getting use to but does help with recoil of the 340PD.
 
M29since14 said:
The thing to remember when buying a 340PD is that really it is just another lightweight J-frame that CAN fire .357 - IF you need to. The gun works just fine with any .38 Special you put in it. If you never need to fire .357s and don't, no harm done! :)

Really, it seems to me 9mm +P would have been a better choice for this gun. I am no great fan of .357 in a gun like this, but I still like the gun. Maybe S&W made it in .357 instead of 9mm because they knew a lot of shooters would be using .38s and there are no commonly available "reduced loads" for 9mm... ? ;)
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A 9mm scandium j-frame sounds interesting. I like the concept of having a small revolver and the idea of ammo commonality with my 9mm Glocks although I'm not at all a fan of being dependent on Moonclips. I wonder if S&W just might consider trying another 9mm J-frame in response to the ruger LCR in 9mm. I'm not sure I'd necessarily be interested, but would still like to see them manufacture one nonetheless.
 
dentkimterry said:
I have a 340pd. I shot one cylinder of 357's in it. Never again. Damn near broke my hand.
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I know of a judge who carries two of these. Had a miscreant who didn't like the judgement he levied against him. Long story short after the incident he noticed his hand hurt like the dickens.

The mean little bugger broke the bones in his hand during his rapid fire emptying of the cylinder.

FYI.
 
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