Snubby Revolver - Follow-up Story:

I got this follow-up story from a dealer-gunsmith who worked in North America - in response to my piece about the merits of carrying an "old fashioned" snub-nosed revolver - when you might have a 'modern' semi-auto of similar size and shape.

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My personal choice for a ‘carry gun’ has almost always been the .38 Special S&W M60, here in the US.  Whilst I have carried other guns such as the M1911, 9mm S&W M469, and even a P38, my S&W Chiefs Special has been my favourite (and I still have it).  My reasons are;  total reliability, sufficiently accurate (I used to able to clean the plates at 25 metres, double action), and adequately powerful with +P 125 grain HP’s.  I am pleased to say that in all the years I carried (here and overseas) I never once had to put my hand on my gun in a tense situation, but knowing it was there was comforting.

 

The S&W M60.

Tastefully Engraved

 

Auto pistols are OK, and some are reasonably accurate, but NONE of them compare to a good revolver for reliability, accuracy and power.  In my hands over the years I have learned that a good auto will shoot about 4-5” groups at 50 metres when I am having a good day (and many will only do that at 25 metres).  On many occasions I have double-actioned 2-3” groups at 50 metres with a revolver (and shot a few single-action, one-handed, one-hole 5 shot groups at 25 metres) and I have also shot a 1-3/4” group at 100 metres with my S&W M29 .44 Magnum, single action, resting both hands.

 I have attached a scan of a target of which I am rather proud.  I supplied a shipment of .38 Spec S&W Mod 10 revolvers to the local Police back in the 1980’s and two detectives came into my shop one day with one, complaining bitterly that it would not hit a figure target at 10 metres.  They only had three rounds left and I fired them standing, double action, in the 10 metre range at work.  All three shots seemed OK to me!

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The target has the three .38 Special hits at ten metres as one tight vertically elongated hole.

 

Well done and Thank You -

Here's a wee video comparison of two .357" Magnum  snubbies - one 6 shot, the other 5 shot:

 

 

Marty K.