35 Year Old 10-5 Snub's Accuracy

[usmcgunny0369]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I traded my brother a Taurus Model-85 Ultra Light for his S&W Model 10-5 (2inch). He isn't a gun guy so I knew it was hardly fired if ever. It does exhibit a lot of holster wear where he removed it and reinserted in the leather holster through the years. He bought it new in 1975' when he went to work for the Railroad in East St Louis. After he became a Yardmaster, he stopped carrying it and it sat in a closet for years. When I traded him, he warned me that it wouldn't fire everytime. His exact words were it would go "Click, Click, Bang!". This made me suspect it was out of timing. When I got it home, I couldn't detect any signs of this. It seemed to lock-up just fine. I did notice the cylinder was hard to open though. I cleaned it up real good with CLP Breakfree and gave the extractor rod a couple turns and it alleviated that problem. Yesterday, I took it shooting for the first time. It fired every single time without a hitch. My biggest surprise was how accurate this 2-inch was. I fired it at #3 Silhouette targets at 7, 10 and 15 yards as I believe this to be the realistic extended range of a snubnose revolver. No matter which I fired, I kept a nice group in the 10 ring when firing center chest and kept every shot in the head when firing at the head. I started out firing slow fire and once satisfied, I fired rapid fire drills as this would be how I would use the the snub in a self defence scenario. The weird thing is that this snub seems to like being fired fast. The groups actually tightened during rapid fire. I was already pleased with the trade. I'm even happier now. If the Socialist State of Illinois ever gets on board with the 48 others, I believe this will be my CCW weapon.

 

[CWO USN]

I'm with you Gunny. I have a Model 10 snubby that I'd put side-by-side against my other snubbies, running .38 SPLs. Great and well-balanced. Quick target acquisitions and follow-ups. It's a keeper for sure!

 

[Farmboy]

snubby

I recently came by a transition M&P 2". Shooting double action I had no trouble keeping all 6 shots on an IPSC target at 50 yards. That is my standard test for guns I might want to carry. Passed with flying colors. That said, 2" guns are more accurate than most believe. I can do the same with my 442 and my own and the wife's 431 32 Mags.

BR

 

[usmcgunny0369]

I recently came by a transition M&P 2". Shooting double action I had no trouble keeping all 6 shots on an IPSC target at 50 yards. That is my standard test for guns I might want to carry. Passed with flying colors. That said, 2" guns are more accurate than most believe. I can do the same with my 442 and my own and the wife's 431 32 Mags.

BR

I haven't had the chance to fire it at 50 yards yet but from what I seen yesterday, I have to agree with you. This might sound crazy to some but I was left with the impression that this little Smith likes me and likes to shoot. Maybe because it was put away for so many years and I liberated it like a Mustang that longs to run.

 

[Srigs]

I love my 10-5 2" snubby. It does shoot great and the trigger is like butter. I backs up my 66-1 2.5" so a perfect NY reload gun.

 

[Alk8944]

Gunny,

Back in the day when I was actively shooting PPC on my departments team I was shooting in NRA Master Class. With my 6" K-38 I averaged in the mid-high 580s of 600. I also shot a 12-2 RB in snubby matches and only giving up 15 points to the 6".

Even today at 66 with vision much worse than 35 yrs ago I took out a recently purchased 2" 10-5 RB. Shot it with my 10-4 6" and got better groups with the 2". One of the most accurate revolvers I have is a 640-1. In the mid 90s when it was new, and my eyes better, friend and I would go to an old Limestone quarry and shoot shotgun targets at 100 yds with revolvers. Using the 640-1 I could break 40-50% of the clays with the first shot. Some were probably close misses that spattered on the rock, but the still have to be pretty close to break a clay. There is nothing wrong with how a snubby will shoot except the people who believe they aren't accurate and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[FlYFiShErMaN]

I enjoy shooting my 10-5 as much as the 14-2. At 15 yards I get the same groups.

 

[fyimo]

Congratulations on trading for the 10-5 snub nose as they seem to suprise about everyone who fires one.

 

[Scary Gary]

I was pleasantly surprised / shocked at how accurate my old CPD Cleveland Police Department 2" Mod.10 was. So I got another. It's an OSP, Oregon State Police 2" Mod.10 and It's just as accurate. So I got another one and It's just as accurate. The CPD is late 50's and looks like it was carried alot and it came with what looks like a brand new barrel and old yellowed stag grips. The OSP is early 50's it had never been fired but the grips are diamond and all beet up. The other one I got off the net.and it was part of a bunch of snub nose 10's that a department turned in. It unfortunately looks like it was only fired once and then was sealed in an evidence bag. It's got deep corrosion on the left side and the grips were incapsulated in silver spray paint. In cleaning the paint off my boy and I found what appeared to be dried blood, tissue and scull fragments. As nasty as that sounds it cleaned up well and shoots just as good as the others. I'm absolutely sold on snuby 10's .

 

[TNDave]

Those are great guns. I am not sure why they are just now seeming to get their due. I had to leave a good one at a pawn shop yesterday. It was pretty cherry but he wanted almost $500 for it.

 

[Calfed]

I carried a 2 1/2" model 10 and a 2" (1 7/8"?) model 49 for years and had no trouble at all qualifying out to 50 yards with either.

For some reason, a meme that the snub nose revolver was only good at "card table" ranges has always existed. But not with people who actually carried and fired them.