I just got a "new" .357 revolver...

[The Annoyed Man]

Fickman came over today, and he and my son and I spent a good couple of hours drooling over one another's pistols, AR15s, and whatnot. Then we traded pistols.

I put up a year old, low round count 642 Airweight .38 Special plus a little cash, and received a 5 year old, low round count Stainless 640 .357 magnum. It is a J-Frame pistol, very close in size to the 642, except it has a 2-1/8" barrel and a slightly bigger set of grips — pictures below:



I can't wait to unlimber it a little bit.

[cougartex]

Very nice, congratulations.

[puma guy]

Nice dealin' and wheelin'. Congrats!

[Dan20703]

To quote a "Dances With Wolves" line
....Good... trade! ......

[longtooth]

Congrats TAM,
We will need a full Range Report on first outing.

[The Annoyed Man]

Congrats TAM,
We will need a full Range Report on first outing.

Oh yes. I'm going to try to get over to DPC tomorrow. I can hear the steel ringing already.

[Embalmo]

I bet it'll be really loud.

[fickman]

Hahaha! It's DEFINITELY loud! I had a great time, too. . .and I agree. . . an equitable trade for all parties.

I'm excited about the new 642 and already miss the 640. In an ideal world, I'd have both now. My punishment for giving up the 640 will be having to put the remainder of my .357 magnum ammo down range via my 340PD. (If you've shot one, you know what I mean.) The reward for me is that I'll be armed a greater percentage of the time now that I have a suitable "pocket" BUG.

BTW, keep an eye out for TAM-Jr. - this kid is a whiz with firearm components! I predict many of us will be purchasing his custom firearm creations or services one of these days.

[The Annoyed Man]

BTW, keep an eye out for TAM-Jr. - this kid is a whiz with firearm components! I predict many of us will be purchasing his custom firearm creations or services one of these days.

I kno' huh? That trigger job he did on my 5" Springfield is a delight.

[The Annoyed Man]

OK. Here is my range report. My son and I went to DPC this afternoon and ran 50 rounds of WWB 110 grain JSP ammo through it.

This diminutive pistol earns a big WOW!!!, followed by

Me like. Me keep. Me carry.

OK, now the stats... Heck, I don't know. There was a match there today, and the back shooting bays with the steel plates were all taken, so I shot 50 rounds at 25 yards on the bullseye range. I shot at a used target that someone else previously had pretty much worn out. I know I hit the target; I just don't know which holes were mine, and which were the previous owner's. I had one miss pretty dramatically emphasized by a big puff of dirt from the berm where I obviously jerked a shot low. But that was it. Otherwise, I am pretty sure I can hit a man sized target COM at 25 yards with this 2" snubbie, if I can just convince the man to hold still long enough for me to draw a bead on him. I am pretty confident that I could hit COM with regularity at 15 yards without much difficulty. In other words, I think that I am nearly as good a shot with this pistol as I am with a full sized 1911, which makes the accuracy acceptable for my purposes.

Recoil was actually quite manageable for such a small pistol. I found shooting the 110 grain magnum loads in the heavier 640 to actually be easier than shooting 158 grain loads in the lighter 642. I didn't bring any .38 Special ammo with me, but I'll bet that .38 Special loads in the 125-135 grain range would probably be pretty soft shooting in this pistol. I originally thought that, when carrying it, I might carry with a high end +P .38 load, but seeing how manageable the 110 grain magnum load is, and given its published velocity/energy of 1295 fps/410 ft lbs, I think I'll stick with the magnums.

That's about it. Whenever I get a chance to punch some paper on a clean target with different loads, maybe I'll post a more detailed report.

[Dragonfighter]

Hey TAM,

Looking at the pictures, aren't you holding it in the wrong hand?

[The Annoyed Man]

Hey TAM,

Looking at the pictures, aren't you holding it in the wrong hand?

That's fickman's hand. Those pictures were taken before I purchased the pistol.

[Dan20703]

You just have to love snubbies and a .357 magnum snubbie is the king!

Might as well use 125 grain magnum rounds to feed it. That's supposed to be the king of rounds too.

I'm jealous now and this may cause me to hunt down one for myself.

[The Annoyed Man]

Might as well use 125 grain magnum rounds to feed it.

I was kind of thinking the same thing.

[PUCKER]

TAM - Very nice, I like the 640! What type of holster will you be getting for carry?