Chiefs Special

redsfan2

redsfan2

US Veteran
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
296
Reaction score
16
Location
Western NY around Niagara
Went to the local gun shop last Saturday, and walked straight into a stainless Chiefs Special in .45 cal. I'm not big on stainless or even autos for that matter .... but I just plain liked the way this one looked. The guy got it out for me and when I picked it up it was all over. This gun just really feels good in your hand. From the size of it, it should also be great to carry. Its dirty, but looks to have been fired very little.
I hope it isn't unseemly to talk about price, but I gave 550.00 for it with a little knocked off. Is that in the realm of being reasonable or should I try to get some back on my next purchase.
This will be my first auto since my service issue when I was in the Marines ..... can't wait to get it home.
 
Register to hide this ad
A Chief's Special in 45 cal for 550 is very reasonable and it is a fine CCW.My first Semi-auto is a CS9 that I had night sights put on and a DAO Conversion.I had major issues with the rubber hogue grips that printed out.Look at Big Dog's Delrin Grips to silm the profile even more.Please send pics cause we love gun porn.For factory mags and parts go to Midway....God Bless.....Mike
 
Last edited:
I recently purchased a CS45 for around the same price, with 2 extra mags and a set of Big Dog grips, and was glad I did . Though a bit "blocky", I love it. Highly concealable, powerful, super accurate, and utterly reliable.

Sorry for the poor pic

100_0470-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think that $550 is reasonable. Prices have gone up and it seems that Chiefs models cost a little more than most other models. I recently traded two pistols for a CS9. It had a price tag of $595. It's in like new condition. Less than two years ago, when I bought my first S&W auto, I was finding them (not chiefs models) for $300-$400. Now the ones that I see around here are about $500. Yesterday I saw a beat up, scratched and pitted 659, for $439+tax. I wouldn't have given them $300 for it. I guess someone will though, otherwise they would price it lower.

I really like my CS9. I think you will be happy with that .45
 
Great choice on the Chief's Special! I own two: the CS45 and CS40. Great firearms as they are super reliable, great ergonomics, and great CCW!

Personally, these pistols are great for investment potential since S&W is no longer producing the 3rd Generation Metal frames.

At some point or other, I will complete the Triad with a purchase of a CS9!
 
Thanks for the responses. I've bought a couple of guns from the same place, so I was fairly sure that it was at least a decent / fair deal. It's also good to get experienced input as well as verification.
I had never seen a Chiefs Special in auto .... only in revolvers which is all I've bought till now.
As a mahine gunner, I carried a 1911 Colt, so I already knew that I liked .45's .... and I haven't seen much in the Smith line that I didn't like as well.
I like shooting with my kids and friends & I carry pretty much all the time. BUT if I don't like the way a gun looks and feels then I won't buy it. Like I said above tho ... as soon as I picked it up I knew I was going to buy it. Good to find out from you guys that my first impression was a correct one.
PS
I'll post some pix as soon as I get him home and cleaned up a bit.
 
I strongly agree with installing the Big Dog grips on your new pistol. The rubber grips can be a little irritating against the bare skin if one carries concealed. There is almost no difference in handling with the Big Dog grips

It's hard do better than the 3rd generation Smith & Wesson pistols for reliability.
 
I'm new at this forum, I have a S&W Chief special which is the Stainless Model 60 revolver 5 shot .38 cal. Are there 2 Chief Specials?
 
That seems to be the going price of those weapons.......And YES- get the Big Dog Grips for it....
 
Timewise said:
I'm new at this forum, I have a S&W Chief special which is the Stainless Model 60 revolver 5 shot .38 cal. Are there 2 Chief Specials?
Click to expand...

There are a lot more than 2, if you count different models. M-36 is original, M-37 is the Airweight C.S., M-60 is the stainless C.S.

The semiautomatic Chief Specials were introduced in 1999. There are 3 semiauto Chief Specials, one in 9mm, one in .40 S&W and one in .45 ACP. Actually, if they were numbered like revolvers, there would be 6 of them, as they come in both stainless and matte blue.
 
I've had a CS45 for several years. Bought used, full of mummified grease and dust balls big enough to raise, but easy enough to clean up.

Mine's got the big rubber grips on it.

Recoil is straight back, mostly - more of a "push" than anything else.

I don't carry it much - it's one of my "airline travel" guns - something I wouldn't mind a check for (on the return leg!). But it shoots well enough when I'm wherever.... About the only downside is the nasty double action pull, and the backwards (I'm a 1911 guy, mostly) thumb safety.

(Some models are set up so that the thumb safety is just a decocker. Got my vote....)

About $450 in 2005. Not really used much, but carried often.... Stainless....

IMHO, the 9mm version may be a better choice. I think the .40 might be a little tough to shoot. I wish I'd kept the M36 I had years ago, too. I had a chance to grab one for very little a few years back, but it got past me.

Regards,
 
Nasty trigger pull

The nasty double action trigger pull you spoke of can be taken care of from S&W, I sent my CS45 to them for the 3rd generation auto pistol performance tune and when I got it back lets just say Wow. I love all the CS pistols but this offering from S&W turned my 45 into a lifetime keeper.
 
Timewise said:
I'm new at this forum, I have a S&W Chief special which is the Stainless Model 60 revolver 5 shot .38 cal. Are there 2 Chief Specials?
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I did a double take when I saw this one. After the fact ... I came home and looked in the Smith & Wesson Catalog. Amazing what you can learn when you read information ... that you already have. I just hadn't read anything past revolvers before.
 
After shooting a S&W57 41 Magnum, I dont find the CS40 to have stiff recoil at all. My problem with the CS40 is that it is a 40S&W, which seems a near unreloadable round. It seems that everyone has a 40S&W reload horror story, which is the greatest single argument in favor of the 45ACP, which is easily reloaded.
 
surveyor47 said:
After shooting a S&W57 41 Magnum, I dont find the CS40 to have stiff recoil at all. My problem with the CS40 is that it is a 40S&W, which seems a near unreloadable round. It seems that everyone has a 40S&W reload horror story, which is the greatest single argument in favor of the 45ACP, which is easily reloaded.
Click to expand...

Late last year ... or early this year, I got a model 66. When I told the shop owner that I'd take it, he said ... before you do. It doesn't like reloads. Odd ... Some do ... some don't.
Only reloads I've used have been factory ... and they've been no problem so far.
 
A S&W 66 that doesnt like handloads: BALONEY! I know the ins and outs of the 66, 19, 13, 65, 586, 686 and have loaded for every one of them. The one gun that I ever had that didnt like a 38 target load consisting of 158 grain 358 diameter cast lead bullet with Bullseye at about 700 fps was a S&W 19 2 3/4 inch and it likes 148 grain HBWC with Bullesye at about 700 fps- shoots like a laser gun. These guns also like Remington jacketed bullets, particularly the 140 and 158 grain at about 1000 to 1100 fps with Unique powder- a light to moderate 357 load.

The one thing you have to watch with a 66 or any other K frame is velocity. 110 and 125 grain bullets at high velocity - about 1300 fps- can crack the forcing cone. You have to avoid certain powders such as Lil Gun, because it can push a 158 grain bullet in excess of 1300 fps. If these guns cant take a 125 at 1300 fps, they sure wont stand a 158 at 1300 fps. Limit your velocity with 357s to about 1100 fps and I dont think you will ever have a problem.

I dont like shooting factory ammo, because I consider it a waste of my money. My ammo is much cheaper and more accurate, tuned to the guns.
 
Last edited:
surveyor:

I've never really done any reloading.... Can't say how the .40 would be any more difficult, other than an idea that the working power range might be rather tighter than most people are used to. In short, there are only a few good loads, maybe. I know (I've been reading about this stuff for more than 40 years) that the .38, for example, can be loaded in ways that are difficult to describe without blushing :D.... (Or running from the range....)

redsfan:

The M66 should be fine with anything that's happy in that design.... I'd suspect that your dealer (or whoever told him) just didn't know what was necessary. You don't have to get silly about absolutely matching the load to the gun, but you do need to deal with the "well, you really didn't need that forcing cone anyway" issues....

You might run into a semi that gave you problems - very wrong loads or somebody tinkered with something or other, but the usual suspects ("suggested loads" from the various manuals) all ought to function reliably. (YMMV with respect to the guns willingness to feed various sorts of projectiles, though.)

It is possible that some manufacturing defect (stacked tolerances maybe) cause some reloads to have primers that project too far out of the case to let the cylinder, or case head thickness issues, or even extractor problems, but a good smith ought to be able to at least diagnose these.

A buddy of mine lucked into a beautiful Springfield EMP (9mm near-clone of a 1911) a couple years back. The original owner paid full price, more or less, put a few rounds through it, and returned it - swapped for something else. My friend got it for about $400 under MSRP!

He brought the gun out to our club range and basically couldn't get two rounds out of it in succession without much cursing and a stick....

Thinking about limp-wristing, he asked me to try it. I put some WWB through it with no problems. (My XD9SC does some interesting things with my favorite reloads :D)

Then the light came on.... The thing wouldn't extract.... Dirty or small chamber? Close.... Joe's casings came from a sort of random cache that included a lot of cases that came out of Glocks.... Glocks have an area of the chamber that's essentially unsupported, and the result is a bulge in the case. The EMP didn't like those at all.... Joe's other 9mm, a Beretta M9 variant, didn't care....

Something under $30 for a special full-length die to clean up those cases! (He also bought one for .45ACP 'cause he was occasionally having minor problems with a 1911. Fixed that, too.)

Anything can happen.... :D

Regards,
 
Surveyor & Associates .. Thanks for your input. I generally stick to the routine loads for what little shooting I do. I don't usually put more than a box thru the gun at a time .. and I usually only shoot every couple of weeks or so ... so abusing a gun or any part of it with the wrong ammo just isn't going to happen to me. I do put +p's in my model 36 when we go out .... and I've also shot +p's thru it just to practice and see the difference. ( didn't really see any ).

One thing that I have learned ( among many here ) is that shop owners don't always know as much as I at first assumed they did. I took note of what he said ... but didn't really consider it imporant enough to follow up on. Out of manners, I won't argue or question a man in his own shop. Its unseemly I think. If I don't like the item and / or I think he's pushing junk and lying ... I just don't do business with him.
I'm not anticipating any trouble with my 66 or my ( not home yet ) CS45. When I do get him home and take him shooting ... of course I'll let you guys know how it went. You can also be sure that if I do have a question ... I'll ask here first.
Thanks again.
 
For reasons I dont fully understand, the 40S&W seems to be a real oddball, because the case design makes the taper crimp very difficult, both for reloaders and manufacturers. There have been a number of cases where 40S&Ws have gone KABOOM!, destroying the gun. This has happeened with borh factory and reloaded ammo. It seems that crimp friction is sometimes insufficient to prevent bullet setback into the case, as in the case of a police officers gun, unloading and reloading the same round daily. When the bullet is deeper into the case, it results in a pressure spike. This round is a high pressure round to start with, so there isnt a lot of safety factor for a deepsly set bullet. Some people have successfully loaded this round and some of these same people have reported "I only blew up one gun" (too many). I think that I will stick to reloading tamer rounds, like the 357, 41, 44 Magnums, 9mm, 45ACP.
 
redsfan2:

+1.... The dealers counterstaff may not know anything! To be honest, there are just too many models even, if you specialize in one brand. (My Kimber Compact Custom is a case in point. The thing was "out of print" - not on the web site and the dealer had no idea. It'd just turned up while somebody was looking for something else. I expect it'd been back there for several years. What he really didn't know was that it was a Pre-Series II and lacked the magic Swartz safety. Which probably is a very good thing to NOT have in a gun....)

I don't mind arguing with the owner of my favorite shop. He's a lot of fun.... And doesn't take any of this sort of thing personally. He and his crew just sometimes don't know.... Like the Kahr that nobody could get apart. It went to an auction....

(Then there was the time his sister - a good friend of mine too - gave me a very good deal on a P3AT. He was crying.... "How am I going to pay the rent?...." I reminded him about the case of .45's I'd purchased the week before.... Ooooops..... :D)

(Or the time I was having a problem with a gun. He came out from behind the wall and suggested that I should buy better ammunition. I told him that I would as soon as he started selling it....)

Surveyor:

Hadn't heard about that problem with the .40.... (Now he tells me - I've got two of 'em :).) I have heard the general problem though - I generally rotate the top two rounds in the magazine when I need to unload and use two separate magazines for the range. That means that only the first two rounds in the carry magazine are rotated in any way once the magazine and load are "certified" or it's time to shoot them off and put in new stuff.

Still something to think about....

My .40 sources thus far have been Mastercast and UltraMax and some "American Eagle" or something like that. Decent stuff overall. The Mastercast comes from a mom & pop "factory" about a half-hour down the road (two beagles to pet - no waiting) that's big enough to be safe. I'd have to look to see what I bought for carry though - generally I buy what I can find at the store. JHP of some kind.... Good enough :D....

Regards
 
The only reason I own a 40 is that a relative died and passed along a case of Federal Hydrashocks, more high performance ammo than I will ever shoot in the next 20 years. I didnt have a gun to go with it, so I bought a CS40. I like the CS9 a lot better, because it fits my hand much better, its easier to conceal and I shoot it much better. I find the CS40 too wide for my hand because of the rubber grips. There is a fellow on this board who sells 3rd generation plastic grips adapted to the CS guns, which make them thinner, so one day I will buy a pair.

The 40 Kabooms seem to be pretty much a Glock thing, having to do with chambers that do not fully support the case. I think the CS45 and 45ACP are a much better round. In the long run, I would have been better off selling the ammo and buying a 45. Be glad you bought a 45, becuase you can easily reload for it.
 
Hm.... You bought a gun to fit a caliber you had ammunition for.... :D

IMHO, the CS9 is the best of that lot, but the .45 really isn't too bad. The CS45 is one of my "airline travel" guns - one that I wouldn't mind getting a check for (at least after the return leg :)). My two M&P's and an XD9SC are also in that group, but one M&P is going to get a minor re-work that may move it into the "I'd really rather not" group....

IAC, the "travel" guns are good performers and can be trusted....

If you actually use a gun, odds are you'll never see it again, or not want it back.... (Remember those New Orleans guns?) If I actually need it, I'm not going to care as much, but an airline trip is more of a roulette spin even if you never take the gun out of your luggage....

I expect you're correct on the Glock problem.... The expectation seems to be that anything that goes into the chamber will be fired or rust solid in there :(, and none of the setback issues will happen.

Regards,
 
Associates ..... You seem to know and be on good terms with the owner of the shop you mention .. & thats good. That kind of back and forth is good and I do the same with guys I know.
I was talking about numbskulls that walk in and start telling the guy behind the counter he doesn't know what he's talking about and so on.
Even if true, they're making themselves look worse than the guy they think is a dummy.
 
redsfan:

Yup.... Mike's sort of a bit hard to get used to, but his sister is an old friend (she also taught my kid's Sunday School many years ago), and she sort of keeps an eye on the place. The result is that there aren't any secrets. (I don't know their pricing code, but I'm pretty good at guessing :D. Probably could get that, too, if I asked.)

I do find instances where they don't know what they're talking about :), but I'm not that much better - mostly my expertise is in working with the stuff they've managed to talk me into :D - finding all the goofy quirks, either here on the web, or on my bench. (I'm no gunsmith - I claim only to be able to occasionally get the grips back on the proper sides, but I'm also not afraid to try, and enough of an engineer to make some sense out of things that don't quite come out self-evident.)

The good news, I guess, with this dealership (and two others I've been known to spend time at) is that those who want to discuss things are welcome. About the only problem I've run into is a tendency to sell newbies airweight snubbies.... The price is right, and the guns are of excellent quality, but they'll end up on the nightstand....

Regards,
 
I have found that women tend to shoot S&W K frames with 38 Specials extremely well and after shooting them usually want nothing to J-frames. I have also noticed that women shoot the Ruger SP101 (with 38 Specials) extremely well. I believe that shops are doing women a disservice by selling them airweight J-frames. I think that most would be far better served with a good steel frame 38/357 with a 2 1/2 to 3 inch barrel. In fact, I think S&W got it right when they put out a 3" S&W 65 and called it a Ladysmith. If they want to buy a J after becoming proficient with the larger gun, so be it.
 
surveyor:

+1....

The Concealed Carry class I attended four six years ago had quite a few new shooters with cute little J-frames.... I'm sure most of those guns ended up on a nightstand someplace.... No idea how many people "upgraded".... (Actually, IMHO, a 3" J-frame ought to work well, too.) I took my old M10HB to class because I didn't trust a couple of semi's I had at the time. It just worked.... 'Course, it's bigger than a breadbox, but....

(I've been carrying for about 42 years, but hadn't had to "qualify" in this Century, and hadn't shot much for a long time. That M10's a perfect "starter". Gun goes bang, hole appears in target, and a half hour later the recoil gets back to your hand.... :D)

"Interesting" name notwithstanding, the Ladysmith (and a semi with that name about 15 years ago) is a great way for a new shooter to get into carry guns. Same for the SP101 if you can stand to look at it :D.... Solid anyway.... One of my irregular range buddies brings one out regularly.

IMHO, a full sized M&P in 9mm (or even .45) would also fit this criteria. Bigger than a breadbox, too, but if you carry one a bit you'll see why the LE market likes 'em. You still need all the usual skills, and the triggers aren't nearly up to the old S&W standard, but they seem to be able to get the job done. If you're competent with the .45 (either in the M&P or a 1911), then the Compact versions of the M&P9, .40, or .45 would be roughly suitable.

(Other than that fool DA first shot, the CS45 is a fine shooter, even if they forgot the barrel. The big Hogue grips help.... I expected a lot worse, but it's no more difficult than my two smaller 1911's. In a 9mm, it'd be quite good for anybody. I expect the .40 would be a little much for some, though.)

Regards,
 
Hi.I know I am repeating myself but you need Big Dog Grips.I am a guy with small hands and had trouble with the hougue rubber grips.Big Dog's Grips are Delrin and look like they were what came with the gun.You will not be disappointed....Mike
surveyor47 said:
The only reason I own a 40 is that a relative died and passed along a case of Federal Hydrashocks, more high performance ammo than I will ever shoot in the next 20 years. I didnt have a gun to go with it, so I bought a CS40. I like the CS9 a lot better, because it fits my hand much better, its easier to conceal and I shoot it much better. I find the CS40 too wide for my hand because of the rubber grips. There is a fellow on this board who sells 3rd generation plastic grips adapted to the CS guns, which make them thinner, so one day I will buy a pair.

The 40 Kabooms seem to be pretty much a Glock thing, having to do with chambers that do not fully support the case. I think the CS45 and 45ACP are a much better round. In the long run, I would have been better off selling the ammo and buying a 45. Be glad you bought a 45, becuase you can easily reload for it.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

steamloco76
That "Chief's Special" Feeling
Replies
9
Views
2K
steamloco76
steamloco76
Stu1205
You Just Might Be A Gun Nut If.....
Replies
22
Views
6K
Golddollar
Golddollar

Latest posts

Back
Top