J-frame cracks
I did not check for the crack! I'll stop by and check for it, get pics, and serial number. I knew that +P were a no-go in early Airweights.
I am guessing if it is cracked, it is non-repairable.
I love mine!
I paid IIRC $450 in a local RRRMSLIST sale. I have found it to be worth twice the price in practical value because I carry it as my NY reload because it is so lightweight.
The barrel shroud is not about snagging when you draw from a pocket, it is for shooting FROM the pocket. With another j-frame you can learn to put your thumb on the exposed hammer and draw just as fast as me, but I can shoot from a coat pocket, which does NOT ALWAYS set the coat on fire. If it does you can pat the fire out pretty easily
Mine is an early 80's model and somebody scared me about the cracks, so I studied extensively on that issue. There is a guy here on the forum that took pictures of his when it cracked, so it did and does actually happen sometimes.
Proposed solutions were:
-Mas Ayoob wore out numerous ones even using +p ammo, no cracks.
-One guy kept shooting his for hundreds more rounds after the crack appeared. Everyone said he was a fool to do this. He saw no change in the accuracy of the gun.
-More than one person who was worried about cracks bought a model 49 to practice with and put the lighter 38 in the pocket. This pleases the "carried a lot shot a little" crowd and causes grave concern amongst the "shoot what you carry, carry what you shoot" crowd.
-It seems to be caused by "over torquing the barrel" during manufacture and the crack will appear quickly. There is said to be greater chance of this if yours has been a safe queen but if it has not happened in 200 rounds, or 500 rounds, or 1000 rounds, or whatever number you please, then it ain'ta gonna happen.
-A woman claiming to have worked in some development capacity at S&W, who knows? TIFWIW, said that the problem is the differing expansion rates between the steel of the barrel, and the aluminum alloy of the frame. In her opinion it is the number of rounds that you shoot at once that matters, how hot the barrel gets, not the total round count that matters.
-We hear about this a lot because so many people own these guns. We don't know why it happens because it doesn't happen often enough to get us reliable data to isolate a significant cause. It does happen often enough that S&W has a protocol for dealing with the issue for this model and all their airweight guns. Do a search on "Glock frame cracks" before you get too upset about it.
Mine has a real preference for Federal 130 grain FMC ammo.
It tumbles in human targets, though sometimes not in gelatin or so they say.
Reloads are wayyy easier with FMC. Wadcutters even SWC won't work either in strips, too slow, or in speed loaders, no way, not for me!
This round is better than any 380 ACP HP round or so they say.
Even 38spl +p hollow points do not reliably expand or fail to penetrate or so they say, especially after the polyester filler of my now flaming parka pocket has plugged the nose of the bullet.
My plan is to throw the burning jacket on him while I draw my second gun!
Sorry I was wordy.
Kind regards,
BrianD
