A tale of two 38 Special 4” “Target” guns….

71vette

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A good ten years ago I purchased a 4” Colt Diamondback from my preferred LGS. An older gentleman had sold his collection of Colt revolvers and I did my best to buy as many as I could. I’ve always been a Smith fanboy but I wasn’t about to walk away from the situation. Over the last decade or so it hadn’t come out of the safe much. Covid changed that for me. My “Covid hobby” became reloading. Thankfully I already had purchased a Dillon 550 and a decent amount of supplies. 38 Special became my “go to” round for the last couple years, usually shot from my collection of 2.5” 19’s and 66’s.

Fast forward to this year. I’d been looking for a nice Smith model 15 to replace a model 14 I stupidly parted with about six years ago. Well I stumbled across a 67 no dash at a new FFL in January. Worked out a deal and brought it home.

Over the last three months I’ve shot a decent amount of rounds through both and they are fine examples of the breed. I’m not sure I can pick a winner for accuracy but if I was forced, with MY handloads and this nut on the trigger I am SLIGHTLY more accurate with the Smith. I’ve been working my way through 2500 Acme 125gr TC bullets I bought when Covid hit and with that load the Smith seems slightly more accurate. I haven’t shot enough 158 SWC’s or any 148 DEWC’s yet to comment.

Trigger is the Smith all the way around. The single action is crisp and light, double is smooooooth. The Colt single is good, but the Smith is better. Double is no contest. I’m not a fan of the Colt stacking double action anyway so that’s really not fair.

Sights goes to the Colt. Nice flat rib and all black. The Smith is an early no-dash with the stainless sights. I need to put some nail polish on the front…..

Factory grips goes to the Colt. The Colt targets fit my hands better than magnas. It’s a reasonably thick set of magnas, but I’ve been thinking about picking up some targets. It just won’t look right with that light barrel……

Anyway, they are both extremely fun to shoot and they both make me look good if I do my part.

The Colt:

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The Smith :

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My sickness continues as I’ve got a 2” Smith 15-5 coming in this week. Been looking for a nice one of those for a while,,,,,
 
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Black finger nail polish is available for the front sight. For the rear, either hit the blade with a black sharpie or consider replacing the blade with the proper height S&W rear blade kit. The sharpie is the easy way out and it is matte. Easy to remove with some acetone on a q-tip.
 

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