S&W Revolver: Performance Center or Not

I can only comment on PC versions as that is all I have (686 and 627). I absolutely love them. I have handled and shot the non PC versions, no where near as smooth in my humble opinion.
 
ruger22 said:
Rod said:
You may want to consider looking arouind for a good used S&W N-frame for 357 shooting. Pinned and Recessed, pre-lock models will serve you well.

I have a N frame 27 - 2 for sale if anyone is interested.
It has a pinned barrel.

PM me if interested...

What is recessed?
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Recessed . . . The rear of the cylinder, on magnums, have the charge holes recessed to enclose the rim of the cartridge. This was thought to add strength and narrows the gap at the rear of the cylinder. S&W revolvers chambered for 38 special only usually did not have the recessed cylinders, but the barrels were pinned. Near the end of the 1970's early 1980's you's sometimes see magnums with pinned barrels and no recessed cylinders and vise versa until the old stock was used up.

Pinned and recessed are sought after because it signifies a quality made S&W revolver. Cost cutting, at S&W, eliminated both the pinned barrels and recessed cylinders and added the retarded lock and began using moulded cast internal parts. The quality of these later revolvers are hit and miss interally show an external finish lacking in hand polishing. They still are S&W revolvers but to one who has used the older ones with 5 screws and diamond magnas and diamond targets, I appreciate machined quality in a revolver that functions like a heintzman piano. The new ones are last on my list. .

The 3 screw models of the 1970's, during the "Bangor Punta" ownership of S&W, are pinned and recessed and on the whole still pretty decent revolvers with less duds. The reality of the world we live in with sue happy lawyers and liberal judges has forced S&W and others to build a revolver with locks and heavy trigger pulls. Factor that into high production costs and heavy union demands it's a wonder the new S&W revolvers are as good as they are. Colt just said to hell with it and ended double action revolver production. The UAW, legal demands and high productions costs ended DA revolvers including the Colt Pythons and Diamondbacks.
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Before you jump on the 627 or other options with more than 6 rounds be sure to check the rules for your local events. Many revolver classes do not allow you to load more than 6 rounds in order to keep the playing field level. So realistically you're better off with a 6 shot gun over an 8 in order to keep your competition options open. For those with 8 shot guns they are only allowed to load 6. And obviously having to deal with two unloaded chambers would be a total pain in the backside.

There's a number of reviews out there about folks that have tried using .38Spl or .357Mag with moonclips. All but a few were of the opinion that it was a waste of time. With the rimmed cases there's no groove to hold the cases positively in register. So they wobble. And then combine that with the extra length vs shorter semi auto "rimless" casings and you have lots of troubles with loading them.

If you're commited to getting into a moonclip revolver then you want to look for a Model 625 that shoots .45acp using moonclips. Or a Model 610 which is chambered for 10mm but can shoot .40S&W just as well. Both of these guns come from the factory set up to use with moonclips.

To get the best out of any speed loader or moonclip reload you'll also want to stick with simple round nose ammo. Avoid wadcutter or even semi wadcutter. And in fact I'd go so far as to suggest you even avoid flat nose truncated cone ammo as well. The ogive shape of simple round nose ammo is going to "funnel" itself into the chambers by far the best of any of them.

The stiffness you felt with that 627 cylinder lock may have been due to the ejector rod working itself loose on the threading. A quick turn to tighten it back up may have cured the stickiness. Alternately any powder residue buildup between the ejector star and the cylinder body will do the same thing. To avoid that sort of issue it's a good practice to aim the barrel strongly skyward when ejecting empties so that any powder flakes left over stay in the casings or have a better chance of falling free.

Good luck with getting into the revolver classes. It's great fun even though folks around you joke about timing your stages with a calender instead of a clock.... :D
 
I'd go with a stock gun and have it worked, I have a Charlton PPC gun and it's just magic to shoot. If you have Murray go over the revolver you'll have a gun built for you by a true expert who isn't sweating production schedules, or unit cost evaluations. Just in case you hadn't heard, Murray has left MD Charlton, he's at murraycharltonenterprises dot com.
 
As far as speed-loaders go;

The Safariland Comp 3 is the way to go. They are the really big ones. They are actually so big they look kind of silly. But they work awesome.

The large size makes them very easy to grab quickly. They have a big internal spring that catapults the rounds into the cylinder, rather than relying on gravity.

I've seen a few guys using them with .38 Specials. And I'd swear they are as fast as a moonclipped .45ACP.
 
These are the speedloaders you want.

ht tp://www.midwayusa.com/product/400282/safariland-comp-3-revolver-speedloader-ruger-gp100-s-and-w-581-681-586-686-38-special-357-magnum
 
As for moon clips I was going that direction but Murray talked me out of it. I love the speed of the moon clips on my 625 but I've never used moon clips on a 357/38 and it makes sense that they probably won't work as well as the 45.

Nestor,

I don't like the bulk of the square framed stocks, the round butt just feels better in my hands.


Tactical111

As for the ball detent lock it shouldn't make the cylinder hard to open. As mentioned you may want to check the ejection rod and make sure it hasn't come loose.
 
I have a 627 vcomp and I know exactly what you mean About the detent ball making the cylinder hard to open, it was at first but after a bit of range time it has loosened up quite nicely. The 627 is such a nice gun to shoot now that it is broke in and it is so easy that my eight year old even shoots it with 357 not 38. And he shoots it quite well in fact.
IMO the 627 is worth the money but I really like the look and it fits my hand very well.
 
" I have a better idea "


Good price. But those aren't the spring ejected speed loaders.

Those are gravity powered only. They work okay, but not as fast as the Comp 3 spring loaded ones.
 
Getting back to the round butt / square butt topic I've been thinking about this and I think the reason I like the round butt is because I hold the revolver really high in my hand and don't really have a use for the bottom 1/3 of the stock.
 
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