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I was at academy last night and saw a s&w lightweight. looks pretty nice and was very light (hence the name). it fit in my pocket nicely and am thinking of getting one for a BUG. Anybody have any experience with these? any input would be great. thanks folks.



stay safe,
robert




sorry folks i was mistaken. the model i saw was the s&w airweight model 637 .38 spcl.

rguerra911 wrote:I was at academy last night and saw a s&w lightweight. looks pretty nice and was very light (hence the name). it fit in my pocket nicely and am thinking of getting one for a BUG. Anybody have any experience with these? any input would be great. thanks folks.

Which model was it? I don't know what the "lightweight" series is - I have heard of the "airweight" series, but that covers a lot of ground.

I carry a 642 (.38Spc 5 shot snub hammerless revolver) that works great for me, except when I try to shoot more than about 30 at the range. Great carry gun. Not so great range gun. I would rather touch off my .44Mag all day than the 642 all day.

Check out Stephen Camp Corner. He has a lot of reviews on revolvers including the S&W 642.


http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... m.php?f=39

Just about everything you'd want to know about the S&W 642, 442, and other J-Frames can be found here:
The 642 Club thread on The High Road
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=138658

and here:
The 642 Club thread Part 2 on The Highe Road
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=314422

For her own birthday, my wife just purchased a S&W 638 which is lightweight, shrouded hammer. The guy in the gun store told her that it would not be a pleasant gun to shoot because of the light weight. But after about 150 rounds at one session, she was very comfortable with it. We did some draw and shoot, get off the X drills, etc for over an hour and a half and she had no complaints. The interesting thing about the morning episode was that she put about 25 rounds through my full size 1911 and shot it better than the revolver. Her comment was, I like my little lightweight, but that 1911 is a sweet shooter. I didn't know whether to kiss her or to fuss at her for calling my 1911 "sweet". I also had a very favorable impression of the S&W lightweight.

Kalrog wrote: I carry a 642 (.38Spc 5 shot snub hammerless revolver) that works great for me, except when I try to shoot more than about 30 at the range. Great carry gun. Not so great range gun. I would rather touch off my .44Mag all day than the 642 all day.

I second that! I have a 642, and if I had to shoot someone with it, you would KNOW that they really needed stopping! Lots of other people have shot it, and they always hand it back to me after 5 rounds... or less.

Nice to carry. Not so nice to shoot.

My "always" gun is an S&W 340Sc - it's a hammerless lightweight .357 Magnum. I outfitted it with Crimson Trace CT-305 grips and slicked up the action myself, after watching the Jerry Miculek "Trigger Job" video.

I like this little revolver a lot, but you DO notice the recoil when shooting .357s.

sailormanCGA72 wrote:For her own birthday, my wife just purchased a S&W 638 which is lightweight, shrouded hammer. The guy in the gun store told her that it would not be a pleasant gun to shoot because of the light weight. But after about 150 rounds at one session, she was very comfortable with it. We did some draw and shoot, get off the X drills, etc for over an hour and a half and she had no complaints. The interesting thing about the morning episode was that she put about 25 rounds through my full size 1911 and shot it better than the revolver. Her comment was, I like my little lightweight, but that 1911 is a sweet shooter. I didn't know whether to kiss her or to fuss at her for calling my 1911 "sweet". I also had a very favorable impression of the S&W lightweight.

I have a new S&W 638 too, fired 150 rounds myself at the range last week - and the dang thing ripped off a nice patch of skin on my thumb. Might be the CT laser grips, I don't know - but I would definitely recommend a set of shooting gloves for range practice.

I have the 637 also. Great little gun. I wear a thin leather glove when at the range and putting a couple of hundreds rounds though it at a time. It will wear the skin if you shoot it alot in one sessions as just about everyone finds out for themselves.

This particular one does not have the CT grips. I've had them on another one, and I will admit, it is a useful addition.
I think I just talked myself into buying another set.

tvone wrote:This particular one does not have the CT grips. I've had them on another one, and I will admit, it is a useful addition. I think I just talked myself into buying another set.

Crimson Trace has recently released the Defender series, which is very similar to the original Crimson Trace grips.

When they went to the over molded models, their prices jumped significantly.

The Defenders are hard polymer. I bought a set for my 642 at the last GRB show for $159. Someone posted a link a few days ago for $152. So there is a lower cost option. In my opinion, they were forced to do this because LaserMax has been offering J-frame laser grips in that price range.

My better half has the black, hammerless, 442.

It has been nothing but wonderful.

Im not going to elaborate, see for youself, its a great gun!

But one thing, the LASERMAX grips are worthless.

Get crimson trace or dont bother with laser grips.

llwatson wrote:

Kalrog wrote: I carry a 642 (.38Spc 5 shot snub hammerless revolver) that works great for me, except when I try to shoot more than about 30 at the range. Great carry gun. Not so great range gun. I would rather touch off my .44Mag all day than the 642 all day.

I second that! I have a 642, and if I had to shoot someone with it, you would KNOW that they really needed stopping! Lots of other people have shot it, and they always hand it back to me after 5 rounds... or less.

Nice to carry. Not so nice to shoot.

Agreed. I sold a barely used 642 on this forum with only 20 down the pipe for 300 bucks. Would be a good BUG, but that DA on it killed my accuracy.

S&W 642 is my always carry gun. Sometimes, it is a BUG and sometimes it is primary. However, it is great weapon for CCW as it is easily concealed. I also have the CT grips and they are very nice.

Shooting it doesn't really hurt at the time. At the end of the session, you will notice some wear and tear on the web of your hand. The amount of wear will vary by shooter. The 642 really feels like it has a 2 stage trigger. If you do a lot of dry fire, you will begin to feel the point at which the break will happen. For target practice, it is easy to stage the trigger for great accuracy. For SD purposes, it hits hard and in the torso. The DA is not that bad IMO.

I love my 642.

A 642 is a fine pocket gun. Yes, if you shoot a box or two, you get a sore hand for a bit. I recently shot an IDPA match in San Antonio with mine for grins. It is not a fast reloaded and the distance shots need some work but for close to moderate ranges, it is more than accurate.

I've heard nothing but praises from the 642/442 revolvers. I tried one out myself at the range a few weeks ago and loved it. It's just what I'm looking for...a small, reliable, hard hitting self defense carry gun. As I've heard many people say, if you need it in a self defense situation, you won't even notice the recoil.