First Smith wheelgun

[JAB]

Well, I bought my first ever Smith & Wesson wheelgun today. I traded my blued Rossi 461 six shot .357 snub for a NIB hammerless 632 Airweight .38 Special (+P). The only other Smith I own or have owned is my 22A. The Rossi was actually a good gun and I liked it but wanted something lighter and less bulky for the times I want to carry a revolver. I really only carried .38 +P in it most of the time, anyway and I still have my 4 inch Taurus 66 in .357.

I intended my next gun purchase to be a Henry .22 and had pretty much given up on finding a used one. As I walked in the shop, though, lo and behold a guy was trading one that he just bought about a month ago. I am not sure he ever even shot it and it looks like NIB. I didn't even give the store owner a chance to put it behind the counter. I guess because I deal with them a lot and was buying two, he sold me the Henry for less than he had allowed the other guy in trade. All told, trading the Rossi, I got out the door with a brand new Smith and basically brand new Henry for $405. Not too bad, I thought.

I hope to shoot them tomorrow and will try to get pics up soon.

Edited February 12, 2011 by JAB

[eapking]

Pic of your S&W?

[Mykltn]

Got my first S&W wheel gun the other day also. Hope yours shoots as well as mine. Congrats on the new rods!

[gregintenn]

Could it be a 642? I believe the 632 is a 327 magnum. It would sure look cool in one of these.

[JAB]

Yeah, it is a 642. Sorry, I was (and am) typing on my phone. Guess I got all the models mixed up, hit the wrong key or something.

[DMark]

.... I still have my 4 inch Taurus 66 in .357......

And I bet it won't be long until its replaced by a nice S&W Model 19 or 66.

BTW, good deal on both firearms!

[Caster]

You'll never regret the Henry. I have never been much of a 'western style' gun lover, but I was given one a few years back and my 10/22 gets out of the safe once a year now to check for rust. Someone could steal my Ruger and I'd get over it. Touch the Henry and I'd be ready for war. Enjoy, you dun good.

[JAB]

Here are a couple of pics of the new Smith. In the first one, I decided to put a few 'accessories' in the pic, as well. I already had the speed strip. I also already had the five-round speedloader from a Rossi five-shot .38 that I used to have. The speedloader pouch is one I made to go with a holster that I made for the Rossi .357 that I traded for the Smith. That holster won't work for the little Smith but we actually have a stainless Rossi that belonged to my wife's late father that, other than being stainless, is just like the blued one I traded so the holster (not pictured) is not useless.

The second pic just shows what it looks like from the grip end.

I got to try it out a little bit yesterday evening. I wouldn't want to show the target, though, as it was getting dark by the time I got to try it and I couldn't see the front sight very well and was shooting high. Mostly, I just wanted to be familiar with how it felt to fire it, the trigger, etc. in case I need to use it. I only put fifteen rounds through it and will want to put it through its paces a little more, soon. The rounds I put through it were all +P WWB 125 grain JHP. The recoil surprised me a little bit on the first cylinder as I have never fired a .38 +P gun as light as this one and through my heavier revolvers I usually don't really even notice the recoil of .38 (or even .357) all that much. I was ready for it on the subsequent two cylinders, though (which is part of the reason I wanted to go ahead and fire it - so I would know what to expect from the recoil.)

It would sure look cool in one of these.

It surely would - that is a nice looking holster. I am turning over a design for a holster for it in my mind. I was getting ready to make a new holster for the Rossi that I traded (the one I have that I made for it has a thumb break strap for retention and I wanted to go to a strapless design) so I had already been thinking along the lines of what I want to do. I am not sure exactly what I will come up with but I know that I want the holster to come up pretty high and cover the revolver almost to the grips for maximum retention without a retention strap. Designing that isn't the challenging part, though - the challenging part is that I am trying to come up with a simple way to allow the holster to also carry at least one speed strip in a manner that will be securely retained yet easily accessible without compromising concealment of the whole package. I like the idea of a self-contained unit and don't like having to wear a lot of separate things on my belt when I can avoid it - especially if my mood/where I am going dictates that I carry something as small as this revolver in the first place. I have a couple of ideas so we will see what I can come up with.

I already have a FOBUS that I had for the Rossi five shot .38 I used to have so I will not be without a belt holster for it until I can cook something up. Truthfully, though, I foresee it doing at least some ankle duty. I already have an ankle rig for a small revolver and, although I don't ankle carry very often, I have thought that I'd like to have a good ankle wheel gun for road trips where something that is easy to access from a sitting/driving position makes a lot of sense. Pocket carry is not my first preference but I also picked up a Blackhawk pocket holster for it and it works really well in my strong side front pocket, although it probably won't replace the P3AT for that - or at least not entirely.

Edited February 14, 2011 by JAB

[gregintenn]

Just stick a couple of speed strips in your front pocket. That's what I do.

[ftncityfatboy]

so from whence did you acquire this little beauty?

[Guest mbushell]

so from whence did you acquire this little beauty?

Two can play this game

[JAB]

Just stick a couple of speed strips in your front pocket. That's what I do.

Problem with that is, when I am carrying in a holster (no matter which gun I am carrying), I carry my NAA mini in my weak side front pocket as a weak hand BUG and I don't put anything else in that pocket. This means my cellphone, pocket knife, lighter (I don't smoke but habitually carry a lighter - never know when you will need a fire source), loose change and anything else I have to carry goes into my right hand front pocket. When I wear jeans that have a watch pocket and carry a revolver, I just slip a speedstrip into the watch pocket. I don't wear jeans all that often, though.

[JAB]

so from whence did you acquire this little beauty?

I got it at Farnsworth Firearms in Vonore. That is my favorite LGS. They had the Smith I bought and another that was pretty much the same except that it had the shrouded hammer (I don't know the model # - it is the one that has a shroud over the hammer and, instead of a traditional-type hammer spur it has a little, squarish piece that is used to pull the hammer back if you want to fire single action.) Both were brand new and both were priced at $399 before tax and TICS. Rob (the store owner) told me that the prices on those revolvers are almost $100 less than they were just about a month ago. He said that Smith and Wesson is making an effort to be more competitive with other manufacturer's market prices on some of their models, hence the price reduction. That was a big part of my decision to trade.

I went back and forth over which model I wanted. I liked the idea of having the option to fire a single-action shot if I wanted but ultimately decided that I would probably never have any need to do so on this type of revolver and that the channel in the shroud that the modified hammer rides in would probably just be a good place for lint, etc. to collect.

I was in Gander Mountain (which I call 'Gouger Mountain' because their prices seem gouged so much) last night and noticed that they had the same two models and both were priced right at $450 before tax and TICS.

Edited February 15, 2011 by JAB

[MphsTiger1981]

IBoth were brand new and both were priced at $399 before tax and TICS. Rob (the store owner) told me that the prices on those revolvers are almost $100 less than they were just about a month ago. He said that Smith and Wesson is making an effort to be more competitive with other manufacturer's market prices on some of their models, hence the price reduction. That was a big part of my decision to trade.

I was in Gander Mountain (which I call 'Gouger Mountain' because their prices seem gouged so much) last night and noticed that they had the same two models and both were priced right at $450 before tax and TICS.

I was in a pawn shop in downtown Memphis today and saw this same model (642) for sale for $489.00. Apparently, not everyone is marking theirs down. Perhaps this is old stock and when they get some new ones in they'll mark them down to what you paid for yours JAB. Nice pistols. congrats on such a nice purchase.