Snubbie day at the range

I bought a square butt model 37 once upon a time, these are so light you would swear they will float away if you let go.

I was really disappointed I never purchased a round butt.

After finding this thread I rummaged through the pile if snubies I had.

Much to my surprise it appears I did buy a round butt at some point, damned if I can remember when.

Happy I found this thread.

q27Xq8el.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Ganderite said:
As I said, I took some of my snubbies to shoot so I could compare them and get a feel for the differences. I also shot them double action, something very new to me.

I discovered that I could shoot fairly well double action, which was a big surprise to me. I also discovered that although all the guns felt about the same in single action, double action had a lot of variations.

I was shooting at 8 yards at 1" black patches. Groups were about the size of a playing card, with a few being noticeably better. I started the test with a heavy barrel Smith m10 in 4". It shot a group about the size of a business card. All (except one) of the snubbies was bigger than the 4".

The exception was a M38 with a Crimson Trace laser grip. The grip looks like this:
xYaU4Va.jpg


It projects a laser out the side of the grip, by that red lever (the on/off switch).

Installed, it looks like this:
vrc8L1u.jpg


I wrapped the smooth plastic grip with hockey tape.

The performance was outstanding:
nMl0pej.jpg


This was a double action group. In single action, it would be a nickle-sized group.

In poor light, or when shooting very, very fast, the laser sight is much better than anything else. And the irons are still there if needed.
Click to expand...

Buddy of mine has a set of these on his 66. Groups not as well as the iron sights, but it's fast, very fast. - dan
 
wrangler4867 said:
This is my 640. I can slide it out of my sock without a hiccup. Lol

yd56yXel.jpg
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

That's such a neat gun, and a pre-lock model at that. I had -- for a short time -- an original Model 40 Centenial but I had just picked it up for a friend who desperately needed a snubby so I didn't have it long. I did have it long enough to take this photo of it, along with my Heavy Duty and my son's Model 10-5 and of course, my own snubby Model 49 on one of our equipal chairs on our old patio in San Miguel, Mexico. The Model 40 and my own Model 49 are "no dash" models, early manufacture with the old flat latch cylinder latches. All my Mexican friends have a snubby, or two. I always wanted to fill a straw fruit basket with snubbies and take a photo of them all brimming over the basket, but we just never did.

j3LteV0.jpg


Recently, my wife and I have started watching the Get Smart, Remastered series from beginning to end. I never knew Maxwell Smart carried and used a Model 40!!! (At least, for the first 3 seasons it's his most common sidearm.) I'd have never let my friend get it had I known. They are such a neat little gun: it has a grip safety, yes. But it comes with a factory installed pin you can just install into a hole in the safety and the safety stays "pressed in" permanently and thus deactivated as you choose. You access the pin by removing the stocks. So neat.

I got my snubby back last March while visiting San Miguel. I had left it in the care of our San Miguel Club secretary. She went sort of flakey in the 8 years I'd been away and gotten herself into a bad relationship. I got my snubby back -- but the grip adapter disappeared. That's okay, I've decided I want to try some Compac Pros anyway, enough of this grip adapter look. Yes, they look great but powerful loads -- the only ones I use because the guns are mainly for self-defense (after all, they are in Mexico). I took this photo of my gun the day I got it back to George's house along with some other snubbies and a Walther PPK/S George happened to have in his safe. The nickled gun is a S&W Model 37 and it would probably really hurt to shoot with a powerful load -- if it's even rated for +P, which it may not be.

ZGRn51V.jpg


There's a real sickness in this country: the Government tried to push an expansion to MAID but prohibits the law-abiding from snubnose revolvers. The left-tardism extends from the friggin' North Pole down to the border of Guatemala right now, and it can't be terminated soon enough for me.
 
calmex said:
That's such a neat gun, and a pre-lock model at that. I had -- for a short time -- an original Model 40 Centenial but I had just picked it up for a friend who desperately needed a snubby so I didn't have it long. I did have it long enough to take this photo of it, along with my Heavy Duty and my son's Model 10-5 and of course, my own snubby Model 49 on one of our equipal chairs on our old patio in San Miguel, Mexico. The Model 40 and my own Model 49 are "no dash" models, early manufacture with the old flat latch cylinder latches. All my Mexican friends have a snubby, or two. I always wanted to fill a straw fruit basket with snubbies and take a photo of them all brimming over the basket, but we just never did.

j3LteV0.jpg


Recently, my wife and I have started watching the Get Smart, Remastered series from beginning to end. I never knew Maxwell Smart carried and used a Model 40!!! (At least, for the first 3 seasons it's his most common sidearm.) I'd have never let my friend get it had I known. They are such a neat little gun: it has a grip safety, yes. But it comes with a factory installed pin you can just install into a hole in the safety and the safety stays "pressed in" permanently and thus deactivated as you choose. You access the pin by removing the stocks. So neat.

I got my snubby back last March while visiting San Miguel. I had left it in the care of our San Miguel Club secretary. She went sort of flakey in the 8 years I'd been away and gotten herself into a bad relationship. I got my snubby back -- but the grip adapter disappeared. That's okay, I've decided I want to try some Compac Pros anyway, enough of this grip adapter look. Yes, they look great but powerful loads -- the only ones I use because the guns are mainly for self-defense (after all, they are in Mexico). I took this photo of my gun the day I got it back to George's house along with some other snubbies and a Walther PPK/S George happened to have in his safe. The nickled gun is a S&W Model 37 and it would probably really hurt to shoot with a powerful load -- if it's even rated for +P, which it may not be.

ZGRn51V.jpg


There's a real sickness in this country: the Government tried to push an expansion to MAID but prohibits the law-abiding from snubnose revolvers. The left-tardism extends from the friggin' North Pole down to the border of Guatemala right now, and it can't be terminated soon enough for me.
Click to expand...

Wait until you drive a Tiger like Smart does. I agree wholeheartedly with your last paragraph. - dan
 
Dukester said:
View attachment 743667

Carried this J frame chiefs special alloy for 5 years , when concealment was a priority. 5 shots of 158 SWC +P's and the fight better be over.
Unless you have handled one you don't realize how light it is. I won't be selling this little friend.

When concealment wasn't an issue it was a 2 inch K frame Model 15 Combat Masterpiece. If they had sent me back to uniform and told me I had to carry the 2 inch I wouldn't have complained a bit. Great shooting little gun.
Click to expand...

I like a J frame in 3" configuration, too.

S&W 05 1024768.jpg

---------
NAA.
 

Attachments

  • S&W 05 1024768.jpg
    S&W 05 1024768.jpg
    141.5 KB · Views: 86
NAA said:
I like a J frame in 3" configuration, too.

View attachment 743872

---------
NAA.
Click to expand...

Not that anyone will care, but even the wrap-around rubber grips will stop a 5-shot J-frame from fitting into the "Snubby Box" and push you up into the Super-Snubby class. Also, the 3-inch barrel with it's full-length ejector rod same-same. Stupid competition rules, I know, but we were trying to figure out how to have Snubby competitions without a lot of gamesmanship.

When I was just out of my teens I had a 3-inch Model 36 for like a weekend, and shot it enough to decide it wasn't the snubby of my dreams. Other than that one instance, I've only seen one other 3-inch snubby and that's a fairly uncommon Colt Detective Special 3-incher that one of the Mexican guys has. At least his is a 6-shooter so he never objected to being moved into the "Super Snubby" class, where the courses are 6-round strings instead of 5.

But I'm sure nobody cares.
 
I wonder if the 3" M36 is a Canadian thing? The first M36s I bought were all 3" Never saw a 2" until recently.

But all the M37s and M38s and M60s are 2". Never 3"

I have a 3" Cobra, too. A nice gun.. It is in 32, not 38. Very nice to shoot.
 
calmex said:
The nickled gun is a S&W Model 37 and it would probably really hurt to shoot with a powerful load -- if it's even rated for +P, which it may not be.

ZGRn51V.jpg
Click to expand...

I didn't find the Model 37 painful at all firing +P's but you certainly knew they were strong loads. Did some research since you posted and see where +P's can stretch the frame on the Model 37. Thanks for pointing that out calmex, gonna go easy on the old girl now she is retired.

NAA said:
I like a J frame in 3" configuration, too.

View attachment 743872

---------
NAA.
Click to expand...

Don't know if I have ever encountered a 3 inch revolver. With the J frame likely very nice to carry and shoot when concealment wasn't priority #1.
 
Massad Ayoob one time fired a pile of rounds of +P through a S&W Airweight (like a Model 37 from back in the day). I think -- but don't really remember -- that he got close to 2,500 rounds through the gun and gave up with trying to stretch the frame. The point was, like, use +P if you gotta. But for regular practice, I'd say go ahead and use wadcutters because +P out of an airweight hurts my little girly hand.

We once tried to double-action fire a few 160 grain Lee SWC's loaded over 4.5 grains of Bullseye (a universally accepted +P Maximum .38 load even if Ganderite says it's above that) out of one of those 14.2 ounce S&W Bodyguard revolvers and it brought tears to my eyes. Screw that, you need to be able to shoot down the bad guys without crippling yourself in the process.

My feeling on it, anyways.
 
Ganderite said:
I wonder if the 3" M36 is a Canadian thing? The first M36s I bought were all 3" Never saw a 2" until recently.
Click to expand...


I "heard" that back in the day 3" Model 36 was an issue gun for OPP white shirts (rank of Inspector and higher). Not sure if that is true but may explain why so many in your neck of the woods.
 
calmex said:
Massad Ayoob one time fired a pile of rounds of +P through a S&W Airweight (like a Model 37 from back in the day). I think -- but don't really remember -- that he got close to 2,500 rounds through the gun and gave up with trying to stretch the frame. The point was, like, use +P if you gotta. But for regular practice, I'd say go ahead and use wadcutters because +P out of an airweight hurts my little girly hand.

We once tried to double-action fire a few 160 grain Lee SWC's loaded over 4.5 grains of Bullseye (a universally accepted +P Maximum .38 load even if Ganderite says it's above that) out of one of those 14.2 ounce S&W Bodyguard revolvers and it brought tears to my eyes. Screw that, you need to be able to shoot down the bad guys without crippling yourself in the process.

My feeling on it, anyways.
Click to expand...

I don't have girly hands. But the airweights (M37, M38 and Cobras) are uncomfortable to me with standard pressure loads behind 158 gr bullets.

As I write this, I have a scab on the web of my right and from broken sin from the last session.

My plinker load gets 750 fps in a 2". I prefer to use those in 4" guns or the all-steel snubbies. The reduced load (for comfort) is only 700 fps in a 2". (3.5 gr of 231)
 
NAA said:
For some reason that gave me a ...lol...

--------
NAA.
Click to expand...

Thinking on it, yes I can see that. The term was coined in Spanish of course, and although there's an almost infinite number of slang terms for the same anotomical region in Spanish like there are in English, "box" really isn't one of them as far as I know. So it just was the "Cajita" but we usually just used the English term "snubby box". I just never thought about the possible double-meaning actually, until now. I don't even know who has those boxes now, I imagine they're in the scoring room on the Queretero range but I don't really know.
 
calmex said:
Not that anyone will care, but even the wrap-around rubber grips will stop a 5-shot J-frame from fitting into the "Snubby Box" and push you up into the Super-Snubby class. Also, the 3-inch barrel with it's full-length ejector rod same-same. Stupid competition rules, I know, but we were trying to figure out how to have Snubby competitions without a lot of gamesmanship.

When I was just out of my teens I had a 3-inch Model 36 for like a weekend, and shot it enough to decide it wasn't the snubby of my dreams. Other than that one instance, I've only seen one other 3-inch snubby and that's a fairly uncommon Colt Detective Special 3-incher that one of the Mexican guys has. At least his is a 6-shooter so he never objected to being moved into the "Super Snubby" class, where the courses are 6-round strings instead of 5.

But I'm sure nobody cares.
Click to expand...

3 inch barrels hang better for me than 2.5 and 2 inch or less. Not a huge difference though. I recall the size being used for some ipsc matches here in the 80's, though can't for the life of me remember what the criteria were. Ipsc was a lot of fun in the early days. - dan
 
Ganderite said:
I don't have girly hands. But the airweights (M37, M38 and Cobras) are uncomfortable to me with standard pressure loads behind 158 gr bullets.

As I write this, I have a scab on the web of my right and from broken sin from the last session.

My plinker load gets 750 fps in a 2". I prefer to use those in 4" guns or the all-steel snubbies. The reduced load (for comfort) is only 700 fps in a 2". (3.5 gr of 231)
Click to expand...

I ran some S&B fmj 158 gr loads through the ones I posted. It felt hotter than the 158 gr +P swchp load did. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
I ran some S&B fmj 158 gr loads through the ones I posted. It felt hotter than the 158 gr +P swchp load did. - dan
Click to expand...

Around the end of the 20th Century, I made many, many trips to Mexico City of various sorts of business -- most of it personal, either my Ice Cream Store meetings with the franchinse owners or my many side-business tour-trips to take Gringos and Canadians to the weekend bullfights in the Plaza de Toros, Mexico City. I often went by the Mexico City "Army Store" and ordered my allotted 200 rounds of .38 Special ammo and picked up the last month's order. I had to buy whatever they had on hand, be it Remington or Winchester 150 grain LRN, or Federal 130 grain FMJ and once or twice the S&B 158 Grain FMJ Conical shaped bullets.

I chronographed all of it, and most of it was pretty lackadaisical stuff but the S&B stuff was really quite powerful. As I recall, low 900's or high 800's fps out of my 6-inch K-38. If you had to go with factory ammo you could buy, for just raw power with no expansion, that would be the stuff. I imagine it still is. Perhaps the Czechs never got the memo that they could "load down" once the change from PSI to CUP became standard in the loading industry and nobody would ever notice?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom