Wanted, your advise on J-frames

[flagman1776]

I own a 3" M36-1 which I added the S&W banna grips at purchase (new). This gun just feels good in my hand, shoots fine, carries easily in a proper IWB holster. I guess this explains why I still own it 20+ years later.
Russ

 

[stevieboy]

I'm very partial to Ks, Ls, and Ns, and only recently bought my first J, a 3" 36 no-dash. Before even firing the first shot I replaced the manufacturer's wooden grips (mine's a round butt) with a set of S & W full length rubber grips. These grips are excellent! I find the gun to be pretty comfortable to shoot, firing only .38 special. I love the gun's lightness and the ease with which it points. The trigger is not as good as it is on my larger revolvers but others tell me it's actually very good for a J. My only real problem with the gun is the sights -- at my age (63) visualizing the front sight on any handgun can be problem. On my 36 that problem is made much worse by virtue of the gun's incredibly narrow front sight. When I shoot, I sometimes feel as if I'm trying to see a razor blade turned sideways.

I'm reasonably accurate with the gun out to about 10 yards. At that distance I generally can put five rounds into a circle about the size of the palm of my hand. I'm not exactly cloverleafing my groups, but I'll take it, given my vision problems.

One little tip: watch the Jerry Miculak clip on utube about revolver gripping. He recommends a somewhat unusal grip for Js. Instead of using the thumb of the supporting hand (left in my case) to lock the shooting thumb to the gun, he recommends bringing the supporting thumb back around the backstrap of the gun and just slightly below the base of the shooting hand's thumb. I've tried it and it works! Perceived recoil is much less with his grip.

 

[SilkyDAO]

Hi All,

Well today I had a chance to go to the range with my 66-4 3" K-frame (ported) and 686+ 3". I rented two J's, a Model 640 Centennial and Model 60 3". I put a box of .38 Specials through the two revolvers, mixed in a few 125gr +P Gold Dots and .357 110gr HP.

What a kick !! None of the loads presented a problem. The guns shot to the point of aim at 7-yards. I was required to use range targets which were Police Silhouettes blue w/ 4" white CM bull. Out of the 60 to 70 rounds, five were out of the bull's eye. One a .357 anticipation/flinch which I was able to correct on the subsequent rounds.

I was truly surprised by the Mod 640 - the first four holes were ragged with one small outlier. I was suspecting to be all over the "map" but I'm impressed on how these guns shoot.

I can feel a little tightness in my wrist, no pain and the standard synthetic grips on the 640 were certainly adequate. The M60 looked like it was gripped with Uncle Mike's Boot Grip - I use one on my K-frame - and it too did a good job.

As I was check out, the range master pointed me to a J-frame "Pro". A 3" Model 60 with slabbed barrel and some other extras like night sights. That wasn't a rental, but a nice looking firearm.

I'm in the process or re-reading all your input and integrating it with my experiences of today. I also did that before going to the range and tried to incorporate as many of your tips as was possible.

Added in edit: I'm sure comparisons of these two J-frames to the other guns shot today alongside the J's are obvious. I won't belabor the points, but will say that in terms of loudness and muzzle blast, the two J-frames seemed to be quite similar to the experience of shooting my ported 66. In terms of handling, the ported 66 does do what it's supposed to when you hit the .357s and it's a bit better behaved on that experience, but the flash from the porting is another detractor. IME today, the J-frame and ported K-frame sound and flash quite comparably.

Thanks Again,

Best Regards,
Roger

 

[BobK]

I find myself carrying the M-36 2" almost all the time for carry. It's small size and 20 oz. weight are the main reasons. I use rubber combat grips to tame the recoil with +P ammo during the cooler months. But, in the summer, I put on wooden Spegels for carry under a T shirt with the same ammo.....so it's not THAT bad.

I rarely use my K frame snubbies, though they are good carry guns. They are in excellent condition......and I keep them that way! Bob