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The Annoyed Man wrote:

Dusty Harry wrote:For those who still live in caves, ride horses to get around, and sometimes prefer firearms that function in a circular fashion, help me decide. I currently have a S&W 640 that has a custom ported 2 1/8" barrel, dovetail front sight and slicked up action that Bill Weigand dod for me years ago, that is a very nice little gun. NO vertical recoil with +P loads, even wearing slick wooden Speigel boot grips.

But, I have to admit that I have always felt a bit undergunned with it for daily carry, even with +P loads, given the 5-shot capacity (...and Lord Only Knows how much velocity is venting out of those four ports!).

Sooo... I've been looking at J-frame options that can handle .357 loads. Yes, I know that isn't a pleasant thought in a +/- 24 oz. gun, but I would feel better about 5 rounds of that vs. 38 +P, and I'm not particularly recoil-shy. What really got me thinking hard about this was after I shot some Hornady Critical Defense 125 gr. FTX (#90500) the other day, and it was pretty easy to shoot for being a .357 load - seemed like it would be perfect in a snubbie...maybe a +P++ .38 VERY Special compromise.

After much research, I've kinda got the hots for a 640 Pro Series, which has good tritium sights fore and aft, full length extractor on a 2 1/8" bbl, and is relief cut for full moons as an added bonus. But, I am also very fond of 3" barrels (I've got a 3" 686 round butt that is amazing but too honkin big for easy carry). I have handled a 3" 60-15 that seemed very well balanced and also had adj. rear sights.

Given the pro's and con's between the two, which would you go with, and why? OR, is this just much ado about nothing, and should I just be OK with +P's in my current 640?

(and no, I'm not interested in a SP101, and even IF you could find a short barrel K frame in .357, well,might as well just carry the 686...).

And, I just don't know enough to consider the .327 versions of these models - you get 6 vs. 5 rounds in the same package, but I'm concerned it's gonna be a fad and it seems the jury is still out on street cred.

Thanks in Advance!

I have an M&P340, which is basically your pistol with a scandium frame and black stainless cylinder, and a BIG dot night sight on the front which lines up quite perfectly with the rear notch. It is actually the most intuitive sight system of any pistol I own. It weighs 13 oz unloaded (about half what a 640 weighs). It is chambered in .357 magnum and I carry it with Hornady Critical Defense 125 grain .357 ammo. I have fired this ammo in that gun. It causes my hand to sting, just a bit, but all things considered, it is surprisingly easy to shoot.

I also own a 640, just like yours in every respect except the porting and dovetailed front sight, and I never carry it. It's too heavy for pocket carry, and not enough gun (for capacity reasons) for belt carry. But the 340 pockets like a dream and I carry it with some degree of regularity.