scruffy
Member
After a few days of ownership and a short 75 round range session to test function, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I took the new M640 to the range again and first put 50 rounds of 130 grain standard FMJ .38 special through it to warm up followed by 125 full house 158 grain and 125 grain .357 magnums. The 357's were a mix of PPU flat point FMJ, Remington JSP and PPU JHP. For the most part it was rapid fire strings of five shots, reload, repeat.
My hand didn't hold up as well as the gun. Wedding ring (impossible to get off after 31 years) chewed up my strong hand pinkie providing lots of blood along with a nice blister on the top of the web of my strong hand. Things I learned:
1) I short stroked (light click no bang) the gun several times. I chalk this up to much practicing with a Sig P365 for the last year and riding the trigger. Also griping the 640 for dear life while shooting rapid fire to get back on target quickly. Once I made sure to let my finger come off the trigger there were no further problems.
2) The sights are next to useless in bright daylight when firing rapidly. If you waited to obtain an acceptable sight picture you'd be dead. I mostly just kept the barrel pointed at the center of the target and pulled the trigger rapidly. The effects of this can be seen in the attached target. It was the last 10 shots of the day, hands were killing me and managed to get 8 of 10 rounds landing in an 8" circle at 21' with a second or less between shots. Vertical had a lot of spread as I couldn't see where the sights were on follow up. Horizontal was not as bad. The Sile grips did their job. They were PPU 158 gr JHP. The barrel was so hot my skin nearly stuck to it. I'm ordering a XS standard dot front sight for a smith to install.
3) At home I wiped the gun down and took the side plate off to have a look. Disassembly was easy as the rapid fire of 125 357s loosened the extractor rod, and side plate screw which holds the cylinder assembly in, in spite of the factory red Loctite. The inside of the gun itself looked perfect. See all the S&W QA problems of metal shavings, caked up gunk and poorly machined surfaces.... me either. Wiped it down, put a drop or two of Weapon Shield oil on the rebound slide, sear face, springs and buttoned it back up. Trigger pull on my Timney Gauge is consistently a little over 10 lbs.
Overall very pleased with the performance and quality of this little hand cannon. It's ready to enter my EDC rotation. I'll keep up practice with it, but won't be shooting that many .357s out of it for anytime soon.
My hand didn't hold up as well as the gun. Wedding ring (impossible to get off after 31 years) chewed up my strong hand pinkie providing lots of blood along with a nice blister on the top of the web of my strong hand. Things I learned:
1) I short stroked (light click no bang) the gun several times. I chalk this up to much practicing with a Sig P365 for the last year and riding the trigger. Also griping the 640 for dear life while shooting rapid fire to get back on target quickly. Once I made sure to let my finger come off the trigger there were no further problems.
2) The sights are next to useless in bright daylight when firing rapidly. If you waited to obtain an acceptable sight picture you'd be dead. I mostly just kept the barrel pointed at the center of the target and pulled the trigger rapidly. The effects of this can be seen in the attached target. It was the last 10 shots of the day, hands were killing me and managed to get 8 of 10 rounds landing in an 8" circle at 21' with a second or less between shots. Vertical had a lot of spread as I couldn't see where the sights were on follow up. Horizontal was not as bad. The Sile grips did their job. They were PPU 158 gr JHP. The barrel was so hot my skin nearly stuck to it. I'm ordering a XS standard dot front sight for a smith to install.
3) At home I wiped the gun down and took the side plate off to have a look. Disassembly was easy as the rapid fire of 125 357s loosened the extractor rod, and side plate screw which holds the cylinder assembly in, in spite of the factory red Loctite. The inside of the gun itself looked perfect. See all the S&W QA problems of metal shavings, caked up gunk and poorly machined surfaces.... me either. Wiped it down, put a drop or two of Weapon Shield oil on the rebound slide, sear face, springs and buttoned it back up. Trigger pull on my Timney Gauge is consistently a little over 10 lbs.
Overall very pleased with the performance and quality of this little hand cannon. It's ready to enter my EDC rotation. I'll keep up practice with it, but won't be shooting that many .357s out of it for anytime soon.
“A few years ago” I considered myself a decent hand with a Chief’s Special. Not so much these days, for lack of practice, and the P365 has sort of taken over that role because it is so much easier to shoot accurately. Large grips on the J-frame do help, but they sort of detract from the purpose of the gun, IMO. Anyway, congrats on your new .357! 
