Changes to my 642

[JAB]

I ditched the terrible, horrible, no good Uncle Mikes boot grips that S&W put on my 642 from the factory in favor of a set of Pachmayr Compacs (not the Compac Professionals that leave the back strap exposed.)  The difference is night and day and, while many are of the opinion that no one will ever say that a lightweight j-frame is fun to shoot, I have to say that with the Pachmayrs it actually is fun.  More importantly, I can get a better grip and the covered back strap means that I no longer feel like someone is hitting my palm with a ball peen hammer when I shoot it.  Until I changed grips I didn't even realize how much of a flinch I had developed when shooting this gun.  That translates into more accurate shooting with potential improvement through practice (I was never going to get better - or even good - with it while it wore the original grips.)  As for pocket carry, in the three pairs of pants (actually, one pair of khakis, one pair of denim shorts and one pair of cargo shorts) I have tried it with since changing grips, it was no more difficult to pocket than with the originals.  In fact, although I use a pocket holster, it shifted a lot in my pockets with the tiny, almost vestigial factory grips while it stays in place a lot better with the Pachmayrs.  Also, when I put my hand in my pocket it just naturally falls into a good grip position with the Pachmayrs.  I think the Pachmayrs look better, too.  Honestly, I believe these are the grips that S&W should be putting on the 642 at the factory.

 

I also painted the sights on the 642.  A little florescent orange along the top edge of the front sight and rear sight notch with a little florescent green behind the orange on the front ramp (to show when I am holding with the front sight too high) makes them a whole lot easier to see and line up properly.  I used a black Sharpie to fill in part of the rear sight notch in order to give better contrast.

 

Here is the 642 with first the original grips and then the Pachmayrs, lying on top of my Ruger GP100 to give some indication of the difference in size.

 

 

 

Here is what the sights look like, now.  No, the painted sights don't look 'cool' or 'bad-a**' or whatever but this is a case where I'll take improved function over appearance.

 

Edited September 8, 2014 by JAB

[Patton]

I toted the same ones on a 642 for awhile. IMO, they are a little too big. The best is the Uncle Mikes banana grips that come on 357 60/640/649; they are perfectly concealable with a thin strap covering the rear and a lot to hang onto.


The Compac grips are nice for my magnum loads though.
Edited September 8, 2014 by Patton

[Bassoneer]

I like those painted sights...looks very good and easy to see.

[TNWNGR]

Yep. I painted a lot of front sights on fixed sight S&W J & K Frames in the 1970's and 1980's. You'll probably get a better sight picture if you use some flat black paint on that white front sight. That's what I ended up doing  with the nickeled and stainless wheel guns I was shooting.

 

The only downside to the grips your using is they're a bit clingy on fabric so you have to work around that, I gave up on them and went back to wood grips.

[JAB]

I toted the same ones on a 642 for awhile. IMO, they are a little too big. The best is the Uncle Mikes banana grips that come on 357 60/640/649; they are perfectly concealable with a thin strap covering the rear and a lot to hang onto.


The Compac grips are nice for my magnum loads though.
 

 

Those banana grips do look like a good option.  I was actually kind of trying to find something like that in either rubber or wood, at first, but couldn't find anything I liked at a good price point.  Had I come across the Uncle Mikes before finding the Pachmayr's there is a good chance I would have given them a try.  I think I am going to be well pleased with the Pachmayrs, though, as they feel just about perfect in my hands.

 

I like those painted sights...looks very good and easy to see.

 

Thanks.  I got all of the high tech materials required in the craft section at Walmart.  I used a white paint pen to put down a base coat wherever I wanted color.  The black in the rear sight notch was done with a black Sharpie (over the white base coat.)  The florescent orange was done by first using a neon orange Sharpie (also over the white base coat) and then covering that with a couple of coats of glow-in-the-dark florescent orange paint.  I will probably need to do a couple more coats if I want it to glow brightly enough in the dark to make a difference but as it usually rides in my pocket I guess it really wouldn't get exposed to enough light to activate the paint under most circumstances, anyhow.

 

Yep. I painted a lot of front sights on fixed sight S&W J & K Frames in the 1970's and 1980's. You'll probably get a better sight picture if you use some flat black paint on that white front sight. That's what I ended up doing  with the nickeled and stainless wheel guns I was shooting.

 

The only downside to the grips your using is they're a bit clingy on fabric so you have to work around that, I gave up on them and went back to wood grips.

 

My next plan, if the Pachmayrs didn't work for me, was to go to a gun show and try to pick up a used set of the old style, wooden factory grips and get a Tyler grip to go with them.  Thanks fr the warning about potential clinginess.  I did have some concern about them 'dragging' while trying to draw from a pocket but - having run through doing that several times with the gun onloaded - I haven't seen it as being a problem.  I think my hand mostly covers any part that might drag.  In addition to the Pachmayrs I was also considering the Hogue Monogrip but it seemed to be a little bigger and many people who reviewed them said that the 'squishy' material they are made from is really bad to drag.  I also read that the Pachmayrs and, even more, the Hogue could sometimes be bad about catching the fabric of a pant leg when carrying in an ankle holster.  I'll have to try it out and see but I rarely carry on my ankle and if I do I am more likely to carry my P3AT there as it is more thin and comfortable in that position, for me.

Edited September 9, 2014 by JAB

[hipower]

Nice, well thought out changes, JAB. That pretty well addresses all my concerns with J-frames. They'd be great with a bigger grip, at least that's always been my thinking.

[JAB]

Nice, well thought out changes, JAB. That pretty well addresses all my concerns with J-frames. They'd be great with a bigger grip, at least that's always been my thinking.

 

Thanks.  As for the grip, I do think it is a fine line between what feels/works well in an individual's hands and what will fit in that individual's pockets.  Even as well as they fit my hands and as comfortable as they make shooting the 642 if the Pach's didn't work for pocket carry I'd have to go back to the drawing board.  Luckily, they fit my pockets (but might not fit someone else's.)  I might carry the 642 on my belt, sometimes, because it is still very easy to conceal (although I usually go for a larger, higher capacity semi-auto if I am going to belt carry) but if I were constrained to only belt carry by the size of the grips then I had might as well trade the 642 for something bigger - like at least a heavier, medium frame, 6 shot .357 snub or one of the 7 or 8 shot snubs that are out there.

Edited September 11, 2014 by JAB

[TNWNGR]

Surprisingly enough you can shoot a J -frame S&W just fine w/o oversized grips and its a whole lot easier to carry. The key thing is to learn and "dial in" a functional hand hold of said grip while shooting. Then practice it until it becomes instinctive. It behooves one to realize the J-frames were and are pants pocket and coat pocket revolvers to most shooters. Aside from crappy sights they're also capable of accuracy far in excess of their stubby little barrels.

[JAB]

Surprisingly enough you can shoot a J -frame S&W just fine w/o oversized grips and its a whole lot easier to carry. The key thing is to learn and "dial in" a functional hand hold of said grip while shooting. Then practice it until it becomes instinctive. It behooves one to realize the J-frames were and are pants pocket and coat pocket revolvers to most shooters. Aside from crappy sights they're also capable of accuracy far in excess of their stubby little barrels.

 

The real problem occurs, however, when in addition to the small grips not only making it difficult to get a good grip (or impossible - there was no, such thing as a 'functional hand hold' with the original grips in my hands) the exposed backstrap slaps the nerve just below the thumb and makes the entire hand go numb and physically lose the ability to grip tightly.  I'm talking about the same effect as a 'pinched nerve' and even shooting a couple of cylinders full of .38+P would leave my hand and wrist numb for a couple of days.  I have quite happily and comfortably fired full-house .357 loads through other snubbies (including a similarly sized but obviously heavier Ruger SP101) with no ill effects so it isn't that my hands are overly recoil sensitive - it was just that the original 642 grips were terrible.. 

 

Everyone's hands are different so, while it might be possible for some people to 'make it work' with the vestigial, grip-like devices that come original on the gun, others simply cannot.  Believe me, I tried for a couple of years.  I tried adjusting my grip, adjusting how tightly I held the gun, adjusting the angles of my wrist and so on - those grips were never going to work.  Besides, I believe that if one has to take an entirely different grip on one gun than on all others that probably shows a deficiency in the gun/grip design not to mention that it negatively impacts the ability to grip other guns correctly if you train your muscle memory for some, oddly held piece.  Of course, the Pach's aren't exactly 'oversized' grips.  They are still compact grips that fit just fine in my pocket.  They are simply real grips, unlike the sick joke posing as grips as perpetrated by the Smith and Wesson factory. :nervous:

Edited September 12, 2014 by JAB