I picked up a used 642. I’ve really begun to enjoy carrying it. However, I’m curious how long these last.



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In your pocket... a lifetime.

On the range... shoot something else.

Depends completely on how much you shoot it and what you pump thru it. If you never shoot it, it will last pretty much forever. If you feed it a steady diet of light weight bullet high speed loads, not so much. Won't do your hands any good either.

Unless you are exposing the firearm to some kind of corrosive environment it will last much longer than you or I

It will take more abuse than your shooting hand.

A year and a half. After that, buy a new one and send your old one in for disposal. I’ll PM you the address to send it to.

I am pretty sure I remember, in the mid 90's, a gun editor writing about putting 5,000 rounds of plus P through one of the Airweights, without harm. And, I don't think the revolvers were plus P rated then. Probably some wear, but the gun was still functional. They spread the pain around the staff! Took awhile!
I don't worry about gun wear, since ammo costs are much greater.


Best,
Rick

Since bought new in 2000, I've only put ~3850 rounds through my 642-1 gun and it hasn't broken. I do use the same Pachmayr grips as the OP's photo shows; good choice. This was my main backup gun until I switched to a Glock 43, shortly (~2 years) before I retired. That's a pretty low round count for me. I'll make it a point to start shooting it more than once or twice a year.

I had a similar 442-1 (don't recall when I bought that one, maybe ~2015). The 442-1 had an internal stud break at ~500 rounds; S&W replaced that entire gun, which I then sold off to a friend (since I lost some confidence in that year, make, & model at that moment). I suppose I might try another if ever need to replace my current 642-1 (the -1 is just the no-lock frame version).

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432UC/638/642/60 + more

[QUOTE=oss117;140545703]It will take more abuse than your shooting hand.[/QUOTE

Well put. I was going to say it will outlast your hand. Mine is carried much, shot little.

I used to shoot 50 rounds at a time with my 637. Just to make sure I was in the 9 ring at SD distances.
I think you wanna shoot it, till you're confident that you can make the hits. But it's not alot of rounds.
Even now with my 442, I've only run maybe 15 rounds at a time. I know I shoot it better than my Shield 9 (sadly).
What I'm getting at is, I dont think your gonna shoot alot of rounds(Hey! It's an airweight!, lol). And it may last a long time.

On the m4carbine.net site there is a long thread titled”Project: Break my J Frame”. Poster Greg Bell ran 6005 rounds through a Model 642 before he traded it off. If that’s a good indicator they should last most folks a lifetime. I shoot #442’s. I have a backup and a backup to my backup and a backup to that backup. One stays in my pocket. One’s by the bed. One goes to the range and the other stays in the truck. They all have the Magna service grips on them and get carried with Hornady 125gr. XTP JHP. Works for me.

Best Regards,
ADP3

Here's the link if you want to read more:

Project: Break my J frame.

Think of it this way -- you are given your choice of two hammers, one steel and one aluminum. Now, the aluminum hammer will definitely be lighter to carry around all day long, and easier to swing, too; but if you plan on doing more hammering than toting, the steel one will outlast the aluminum one.

So, if you always want a hammer with you, but only plan on pounding an occasional nail, that aluminum hammer will last a long time and hammer quite a few nails along the way, and you'll barely know you're carrying it -- but the steel one will pound nails all day, every day and still be useable when you pass it on to your grandson.

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Pisgah

RiverRat may be remembering Walt Raush who took an airweight that was not +p rated and did all the critical measurements then went out and shot a bunch of +p rounds. After the shoot they again did all the critical measurements and found that nothing changed. From that he (and whoever else was with him) concluded that such shooting was OK. Interesting what ADP3 says. Seems to be the pattern for people who try to wear these out.

I am not man enough to shoot one enough to wear it out.

Nor dumb enough to try.
; )

And check out the Desantis Superfly holster. I like it far better than the one you have. Way worth the extra couple dollars.

And, hey, while we're at it, be look at the recent threads for the titanium cylinder and laser grips.

I have a 14 year old Model 442 with thousands (3500+) of rounds down range. It looks good. Feels good. A favorite carry gun. Solid.




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I wore out a used M-37 in about 10 years. A vast majority of the rounds I fired were standard .38 Spl, but I would shoot a cylinder of my carry rounds through it every 6 months. I have no knowledge of what the previous owner put through it, in number or power of the rounds. When I got it it was in very good shape and didn't seem to shot much.

Eventually, the Ejector shaft hole on the Recoil shield went from circular to ovate and when the spur on the hammer broke off and I "bobbed" the hammer, the timing went off and the gun wouldn't fire every round.

No gunsmith would touch it and when talking to S&W by phone, neither would they! A machinist friend said he would make me an aluminum "tophat" style bushing and machine the recoil shield so it would be flush and would take off the barrel, machine the receiver and re-anodize the "tophat" and receiver, but he wanted more to do it that it cost to buy a replacement!

I sold it for parts and used the cash as a down payment on a replacement.

As mentioned above, what usually goes is the ejector pin hole--they egg out way faster than steel frame guns. But it will take years to wear out. I have just about worn out a 442 I bought in the early 90's, the ejector pin hole is egged out. Probably 10k rounds through it.

Great post! In his book on airweight J-frames. Stephen A. Camp quotes a LEO (p 109-110) who regards the 642 highly. This individual owns 3, in case one breaks or is placed into evidence. Having endured the "Saturday Night Special" ordeal of the 1970s when the antis tried to outlaw quality snubs, I am a firm believer in owning more than one J-frame. This spreads the wear around many guns: I rarely have to shoot more than 25-30 rounds to be dialed in. They all shoot alike, at least in my hands.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

The real answer.

If you want to shoot your AirWeight a lot, load your own.

I find that my 637 and M60 (Talo .38 SPCL), both shoot to POI with a 158gr Speer LSWC, using a load of Red Dot dropped back 10% from max charge, which decreases pressure by almost 20%. Both handle +P load levels with the same bullet and Unique.

Edit: my apologies...I just noticed that this was already discussed above.

I don't want to potentially violate forum rules by linking to another forum but if you Google "Project: Break my J frame." and m4carbine.net, you'll find a thread where the OP kept a log of his range sessions with a 642.

I believe he got to over 6,000 rounds (and it was still going strong) but he decided to trade it away for something else.

A few other people chimed in on the same thread with their round counts...a few were in the thousands as well.

I am amazed this thread is still alive and breathing! Unless a person has limited funds - I think the trick would be (as mentioned above) to have one for practice and one for carry. I would add the caveat to handload very mild practice loads and carry with not-so-mild defense loads. I test fired my last (sold one last year) 442 with mild loads and have been carrying it, occasionally, since. My 360J - with CT laser grips - sees a lot more usage though.

Edited to add: Fortunately, the 360 and other Scandium framed versions have the steel bushing for the cylinder center pin to lock into. Way off-topic, but Ruger saw this as a potential problem area years ago and even the .22 versions of the LCR have the steel bushing...

I own a 642-1 and a 638-3 with over 3000 rounds through the pair. Most through the 642 as I have had it longer and carry it more. Most of the rounds are standard and wadcutter rounds only a few hundred +P. Both still tight with some finish wear, but no issues.

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I'm not sure about this, but I think my 642 finish showed some degradation after carrying it for several years. I may be making this up, memory isn't what it used to be. But in my memory, the aluminum outside of the gun was (apparently) coated with some clear coat finish that started to wear at the trigger guard.

But this may be a false memory. I don't remember what happened to that gun, traded it.