The Snub Nosed Sniper

[Ferrari]

LOL...

Bought my first carry revolver not long ago... a used 642.

I've been shooting a lot of double action semiauto over the last year and a half, so I kind of knew the drill... but the rap on the snubbies is... real hard to shoot accurately.

Many will tell ya it can't be done.

So I put up a paper plate... make a dot perhaps the size of a dime... measure out 7 yards... take careful aim... squeeze... hard... BANG!!!... huh... no hole?

Ruh Roh I'm thinkin... I can't even hit a paper plate at 20 feet... zoiks... There's $295 down the wastepipe.

Still, on a whim I walk over and look closer... Theres a hole darned near centered in my magic marker dot.

I'd love to tell you that I can shoot the center out of every bullseye that I put up, but that has not been my experience.

The short barrel obviously does magnify your mistakes... but when my technique is good... when my pull is smooth and my hold is steady, this 642 shoots all over my point of aim.

I'm real happy with my new carry gun.

 

[TACC1]

I got mine more on a whim than otherwise, and was not real
impressed until I needed it for a training session. Nowhere near as good as your results, bit It trained me to shoot DA. It's plenty
accurate. Too bad the operator isn't.
Glad you got yours, and nice shooting! TACC1

 

[Old cop]

The myth that snubbies are not accurate has been around for awhile. I practice w/mine often and find that technique combined w/ consistent practice is the ticket. My hat's off to you for discovering the "secret" so early. Keep up the good work.

 

[wheelyfun66]

No doubt that snubbies can do the job...
If the operator can do their part!

The best part of my Ruger SP101's crappy trigger pull?
It allowed me to shoot my 66 snub like it was a 6" target revolver in .22 caliber!

I'm going J-frame for carry, as soon as I can afford a 340 M&P, or perhaps a 640 Pro!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[gkitch]

DA Shooting

When I was young and reading more about shooting than actually doing it ( late 1970s), it was a common truism that DA was difficult and snubnosed DAs were almost impossible to hit with.
Then I joined the Geaorgia Bureua of Investigation (GBI) in 1985 and was issued a Model 60. They poured ammo on us and had us run the course again and again. We got where we could shoot those Smiths as well as our bigger guns.
I still commonly carry a Model 640, its Airlite Ti cousin, or a late model Detective Special. They are good guns and the DA revolver is not so hard to master if one puts some time in.
The snubnosed 38 Special debuted in 1927 when Colt began to offer their Police Positive with 2" bbls. While most inventions of the earlier part of the 20th Century are now quite obsolete, the 38 Snubbie remains a state-of-the-art balance between power and size for a highly concealable handgun.

 

[photoman]

I resisted the J frame "force" for years. Refused to buy one as I was an N frame guy. If I was feeling generous, I would give in to buying a lowly K frame but never a J.

Once I started taking my license to carry serious, I quickly found out that carrying three pound guns was not going to work with my cancer damaged back so I "gave in" and bought some 642's. The rest is history.

The best part of the process was finding out how challenging the small guns are to shoot and how one can overcome that with the right training and equipment.

 

[Martya]

Ran into a buddy (Colt fan) at the range last summer. He mentioned his daughter was looking for a carry gun, and I showed him my brand new 642 I was about to try out. He tried it, put 3 in the dot at 7 yards!! He carries a compact Colt semi something, never handled an Airweight before. I waited till he left before I tried it out....

 

[JF3D]

Smallest that will fit my mitts is a K frame 10 or 15. Colt Detective would work but I sold it. Shot my IDPA classifier with the 2" 15 for SSR. Hey Greg, How's it going. John F. B Coy 83.

 

[crsides]

LOL...

Bought my first carry revolver not long ago... a used 642.

I've been shooting a lot of double action semiauto over the last year and a half, so I kind of knew the drill... but the rap on the snubbies is... real hard to shoot accurately.

Many will tell ya it can't be done.

So I put up a paper plate... make a dot perhaps the size of a dime... measure out 7 yards... take careful aim... squeeze... hard... BANG!!!... huh... no hole?

Ruh Roh I'm thinkin... I can't even hit a paper plate at 20 feet... zoiks... There's $295 down the wastepipe.

Still, on a whim I walk over and look closer... Theres a hole darned near centered in my magic marker dot.

I'd love to tell you that I can shoot the center out of every bullseye that I put up, but that has not been my experience.

The short barrel obviously does magnify your mistakes... but when my technique is good... when my pull is smooth and my hold is steady, this 642 shoots all over my point of aim.

I'm real happy with my new carry gun.

How did you know exactly where to draw that dot ?

 

[M1Lover]

I go back and forth between the 640 and a 2" Colt Lawman, a seriously under-rated revolver. I wanted to carry the 3" 625 I traded for but then reality set in. I bought a 99% Lawman on GB for 475, then found a perfect carry one with dept. numbers engraved in it for under 300 bucks! My wife likes to shoot the 640 with 38's in it and she qualified for the AZ CCW easily with it. Long live the snubby. Good on ya for getting out and SHOOTING it. H.

 

[Iggy]

Many many moons ago, I attended a SWAT school in CA. As part of the introduction, an instructor took a bolt action scoped .308 and shot a gong at 200 yards. Then he took a Winchester lever action 30-30 with iron sights and did the same thing. I was duly impressed.
THEN, he grabbed a S&W model 10 with a 2" barrel and did the same thing. He now had our undivided attention!!

He said he did the demonstration just to prove that mechanically speaking, if the shooter does his part, the gun will do it's part very well.

Now granted, this guy did the same thing day after day and he knew exactly where to aim to make things work, but I sure found out you can't blame a snubby for missing the target.

It will shoot just as well as the nut behind the sights will allow it to do.

 

[HiCap]

For most of us, far most of us, the snub is all we will ever need and ever use, unless we're out to play all the wonderful gun games at the ranges. So, learn to use it, and carry it often, if your safety is the reason for having a hand gun.

HiCap

 

[everettstiles]

Not too many years ago I shot a buddy's .357 J-frame 2 inch at milk jugs @ 150 yards. Out of the five shot cylinder, I recall hitting at least two of them... (It must have been factory loads, normally wheel weights don't shoot that close..)

 

[msnden]

After completing the CCW course I purchased a S&W 442 (no-lock) for carry, it is the perfect carry for me. That said, I have been going to the range to get comfortable. & yes it takes awhile, I am getting very proficient at 7 yds, & am working on the 15 yd, I would not have believed it a year ago, but now I am confident with enough practice 50 yds may not be out of the question, (I know-I know) but what the heck, I am going to set the "bar" and have fun trying. I have really fell hard for this 442, who says it is not a range gun??? msn

 

[mc5aw]

It feels great when you get to the point where you can shoot a J-frame fairly well. Takes time and a lot of practice, but for us J-frame aficionados, there's something special about knowing that little snub tucked away in a belt, pocket, or ankle rig, is a trusted friend that can save your bacon.

Here's a video clip of Bob Munden performing a long range snub shot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tied-t1fFsk