Posted on 09/04/2015 3:13:14 PM PDT by TheDandyMan
Perfect for a ccw. No . springs to.wear out. Tops in reliability. Ruger LCR is lighter. It’s not a trainer or fun gun. A ruger gp100 or SW 66 in 4” is an ideal practice gun.
LOL...I know, huh.
Next they'll be mandated to warn against Russian Roulette, it never ends....
A family friend was sold a Ruger LCR as a "first gun," and they found it to be a difficult gun to get good results with when compared to larger handguns with more useful sights. The "helpful" clerk even recommended some FMJ ammunition to go with it as self-defense rounds! Madness. (I avoid that particular shop, myself.)
Even as a self-defense gun, a 4" Ruger SP101 or a Smith & Wesson Model 67 loaded with LWC Target loads would have been far more useable for this individual.
Mr. niteowl77
Sorry I sold it... but that was the 95% side, the other side had been in contact with something wet and the top strap was pitted.
The 642 has a total of 6 springs. Main coil, hand spring, cylinder stop spring, hammer slide spring, cartridge ejector rod spring and thumb piece spring. ;)
I had not thought about it but now that you mention wad cutter target loads, they would not be bad in a 642.
I used to use them in a Colt Agent and they were really mild.
No arguments here, I wish I could have a stash of each.
I just happened across the Kimber, fine weapon. Not easy to take down but a beautiful piece of machinery and precision.....fires pretty accurate too ;)
This is a nice pistol too, mostly unknown but an inexpensive alternative to Berretta, even though it is the same tooling and manufacture, and a great practice as well as defense weapon. Easy take down, shoots like a dream, feels good in the hand and no jams or stove pipes to date:
http://www.stoegerindustries.com/cougar-pistol
First gun.
Revolver is a good idea.
I’d go with a Charter.
And spend time at the range.
Magazine springs go bad if you keep them at full capacity in a year or two. A relvolver lay at rest for years and fire. A semi auto needs regular maintence. I have some glocks and love them, but it is pretty common knowledge that a revolver is tops in reliability. There is no perfect gun but a 642 or LCR are tops for conceal ability. Most people have 2 or 3.
Then you have your dress evening guns, zombie guns, a man must know how to accessorize too.
You don’t have to shoot .357 mag in a .357 mag you can shoot .38 special.
The recoil with all steel 4” barrel shooting .38 special is going to be less than what he was looking at.
High quality magazine springs will last a lot longer than 2 years fully loaded.
I have some Argentine military Browning Hi-Power mags which I have kept loaded for maybe 15 years. I am hoping to weaken the springs which were so strong I could not fully load them without a tool.
They still are too strong.
They do eventually weaken a little but not something to really worry about. I read an article maybe in the 80s where a guy found some .45 auto mags which had been loaded and wrapped in newspapers since WWII and the springs were still good.
After 40 plus years of shooting I’ve never seen a spring in a S&W fail.I’ve got Mauser rifles that are 100+ years old and never saw a spring fail on them either.
After 40 plus years of shooting I’ve never seen a spring in a S&W fail.I’ve got Mauser rifles that are 100+ years old and never saw a spring fail on them either.
148 grain wadcutter and 2.8 grains of Bullseye.Recoil is hardly noticeable.
The only failures I’ve had in an S&W revolver were unburnt powder under the extractor star causing it to lock up (Unique powder) and a pre-1961 ejector rod backing out and locking things up. In 1961 they changed them to a left hand thread to prevent that.
I’ve had the ejector rod problem too.I wrapped a piece of rawhide around the rod and tightened it with pliers.
The S_W 642 Airweight is not bad for first handgun, if she spends time at the range.
It is not bad as a first handgun, because when loaded with 148 grain full, flat top of cartridge wadcutters, it is accurate, with low flash, enough bang, and not much recoil, for that second shot, and was a load of big-city plainclothesmen, from the 1950’s, forward.
She will need to acquaint herself with “the manual of arms”, which is the loading and unloading process, and with the various speedloaders, to decide which she prefers to use.
IF, she cannot get to the range often, you can buy her some A-Zoom snapcaps, to practice at home, the loading and unloading process. She CAN access YouTube, i hope? If yes, then she can look up the videos by “Michael deBethencourt”, the Snubbie guru, and watch his explanations of things snubby.
For a first handgun, and first time exposure to the world of firearms, i would NOT load her snubnose with Plus P ammunition. It was designed, in the last millenium, to handle standard pressure 158 grain ammunition. Believe me, wadcutters and semi-wadcutters - without the hollow point - can do a great job, and will have enough energy for the 10 yards and less of today’s world.
Lastly, for a first handgun, a double action hammerless snubnose revolver, is a very safe handgun. It was also the choice of the C.I.A., over the Browning Hi Power, which says a lot.
And yes, i own both!
LOLOL!!! 
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