Clueless

[thndrchiken]

No sir, you titled your thread wrong, you are not clueless. You recognize that you do not have the knowledge about your fine pistol. You came hear and asked questions, that puts you ahead of the game compared to many. As has been stated, find a NRA certified instructor in your area and take a first steps pistol class. Just about any gun shop or range can point you in the right direction on who to contact. I have always felt that gun ownership includes a responsibility. If you have young ones in the home by all means, once you become educated teach them. The children that know what the gun is, what it does and how it does it are not mystified and curious, they are educated and will not seek out the pistol when your not around. We all can go on and on with tips. But your in good hands here, very knowledgeable people on this site. Like I always say, the only stupid question is the one that is not asked.

 

[Stevens]

First thing to do is thank whoever it was that gave you the gun and club membership they have done you a great favor.!
Steve W.

 

[venomballistics]

First thing to do is thank whoever it was that gave you the gun and club membership they have done you a great favor.!
Steve W.

and the second step is to find an instructor to help familiarize yourself with the fine art of handgun marksmanship.
Guns are nothing to fear for the most part .. most would agree that cheaply made Saturday night specials might be an exception
what is to be feared is ignorance ... you can fix that.

 

[snowman]

Sir,

Welcome to the forum and to responsible gun ownership. Keep asking questions; we WILL treat you well(WON'T WE, FRIENDS).

I always tell people that are unfamiliar with and/or afraid of guns that I feel safer carrying a loaded gun through the house than I do carrying an opened bottle of bowl cleaner or some other household chemical. Let me explain:

The rules for handling firearms safely are few, simple, and extremely easy to practice(You heard them more or less enumerated above by previous posters). Young children have learned and practiced them for generations. And they overlap in such a way that even if one of them is violated, a tragedy will be averted simply by practicing the others(don't do this, though). I would explain further if I weren't pressed for time right now.

Let me suggest that you take the pistol course already suggested as soon as you can, and start practicing with the gun. If there is a home invader on the loose, don't put things off.

Keep us informed how things are going, will you?

Best wishes,
Andy

 

[Tom K]

I would also recommend handling the gun a lot (unloaded, of course). Always make sure it is unloaded, each time you pick it up, even if you haven't bought ammo yet, even if you put it down just a minute ago. It's a good habit to get into - vital, really.

As long as you don't flip the cylinder shut like they used to do in gangster movies, there is little you can do to harm it. Dry fire it a lot, both double-action (by just pulling the trigger) and single action (by cocking the hammer first.) Dry firing even thousands of times will not harm this gun - if it does, something was defective! Become intimately familiar with its feel. Try handling it and dry firing it with your eyes closed. When you pull the trigger, try to move your trigger finger and nothing else. When you dry fire with your eyes open, focus on the front sight. It should not move when you pull the trigger (or at least very little).

Learn how to de-cock the gun after you've cocked the hammer. That will be something that you will undoubtedly need to do at some point, and it's best to learn it at home with an unloaded gun than at the range with a live round under the hammer. (Briefly, to uncock a revolver hold the hammer back with your off hand and pull the trigger. Then keeping control of the hammer, ease it down to rest against the frame, releasing the trigger after the hammer starts to move.)

When you do go to the range with your gun, go with someone who is familiar with firearms and can help you out with regard to stance, sight picture, etc. Under ideal circumstances, go with someone who owns a S&W .22 revolver so that you can start with that instead of your .38. It's much easier to learn on a .22 than anything else because recoil and muzzle blast are negligible (with proper ear/eye protection of course).

First time, don't even worry about accuracy. Turn your target around so that it's just a blank sheet and just aim to the middle of it. Don't worry about where the holes appear. Load a single round and without looking where it's at, close the cylinder - like Russian roulette, with a target. Aim at the blank paper and focus on the front sight. When you pull the trigger try to move only your trigger finger so that when the hammer falls on the empty chambers, the gun should not move at all. When the hammer falls on the live round it should be a complete surprise. This is a good way to detect whether you're "flinching" or not. Once you've graduated to fully loading the gun, leave one round out every now and then as a check.

That'll get you started. By the way, shooting is a lot of fun!

 

[Krogen]

Would it be possible for the person giving you the gun to provide some training?

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

You have gotten a lot of good replies. There is not much to add to them. You could hardly have gotten a better first gun for the stated purpose. As others have stated, never point that thing at anything you aren't considering killing, even if it is unloaded. [The reason for this is that if you think it's loaded, of course you're not going to point it at anything you aren't considering killing. It's when you know it's unloaded, but it isn't, that you are ready to have an accident. Thus the rule applies even when you "know" it's unloaded.]

If you end up getting a holster, be very sure that when you holster the gun, the edge of the holster doesn't catch the trigger. There are probably several ways to do this, including picking the right holster. The way I do it is to hold the hammer down while holstering, so that if holstering started to cock the hammer, I would feel it and stop immediately.

Good gun, good friend!

 

[EchoBravo]

I don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but there is an extra rule for revolver safety- don't put any part of your fingers across the front end of the cylinder (the "cylinder gap") when you do shoot it. There is a slight gap that will let a burst of flame/gas out when you fire and could do serious damage to anything that crosses that plane. Nothing to be afraid of if you hold the gun correctly.

Here's some more info: Mind the Gap: Cylinder Gaps on Revolvers and Their Effects on Power (and Fingers) - Gun News at Guns.com

 

[HERMAN.40]

If you contact S&W, they will give you a free owners manual for your gun. You can either phone or E-mail them. Good luck with your new revolver. Also, visit this forum often. It's amazing what you'll learn.

 

[Kmacdaddy]

Thanks for all the great information. I have read and appreciate every post. I am definitely going to contact S&W for that owners manual.

We did meet yesterday and we did get to fire it quite a bit. My son and two daughters all went along and got to fire it. A great deal of practical pointers. All of us kept missing high, but got better as time progressed.
Couldn’t get my wife out, too many Christmas things to do…

I bought the Rem Oil and hit all the points that moved with it. It came with an old leather holster and I will be careful with it.

Thank you all very much, I will keep checking back and may hit you guys up for some additional info.

Merry Christmas, we have had snow all night, and it is supposed to snow all day and all night and on and off tomorrow. We are going to have a White Christmas!!

 

[jlrhiner]

Your welcome back any time. And no question is too dumb, but you may have to take a little ribbing with it (Hey! We don't get out much!)

And remember, pictures or it didn't happen!

Merry ChrIstmas to you and your family!