Thinking about a Smith J frame for the wife

The old ones dont have the lock. All of the new ones do. I have a few of both. I dont use the lock. It hasnt caused a problem for me yet. I have put many many rounds through mine.

Find a gud used one without the lock if you can in time-
If not buy a new one & don't worry about it - forget the lock is there-
You'll have a excellant weapon either way.

S&W does offer some new J frames w/o the lock; the 442 is one. Check their website or your LGS.

This is a great choice for your wife. I got my wife this exact model for her birthday and she loves it. S&W also has a lifetime warranty.

I picked up the 642 airweight DA only. Wanted to get a ladysmith as that was the one she really liked but on somewhat short notice I couldn't get my hands on one. The only difference I can see is the rosewood grips, I will probably order a set online and put them on then it will be identical to the ladysmith.

fupuk said:

I bought my wife a 638 and she carries it everyday, so I think its a great purchase and a fine firearm.

Click to expand...

I got one of those for myself. It is my hiking gun. 1st round is snake shot and the rest are 125+P. Only 16 oz loaded.

We did some shooting with the wife's new J frame today and boy do we both need practice, I haven't had time to do much pistol shooting this year and it really shows, both of us were pulling shots to the right of the target pretty badly, I doubt very much the fixed sights on the gun are off, I'm thinking we had some serious poor mechanics going on, lol. Oh well, practice, practice, practice.

blucoondawg said:

We did some shooting with the wife's new J frame today and boy do we both need practice, I haven't had time to do much pistol shooting this year and it really shows, both of us were pulling shots to the right of the target pretty badly, I doubt very much the fixed sights on the gun are off, I'm thinking we had some serious poor mechanics going on, lol. Oh well, practice, practice, practice.

Click to expand...

Good to hear you are out there!

I usually recommend one that can be put in single action as well as double action for teh reason that learning to shoot a snubby is hard at first. Learning to shoot double action is even more dificult. I usually don't recommend a snubby revolver for newer shooters or women for that reason. They really are for experienced shooters.

But, stick with it. They can be mastered. Try staging the trigger through the initial double action stroke and then giving a final squeeze after the cylinder has stopped rotating. Also try different placement of the trigger finger while dry firing with snap caps until you can pull through without moving the front sight to the side as you pull.

SSGN_Doc said:

I usually recommend one that can be put in single action as well as double action for teh reason that learning to shoot a snubby is hard at first. Learning to shoot double action is even more dificult. I usually don't recommend a snubby revolver for newer shooters or women for that reason. They really are for experienced shooters.

But, stick with it. They can be mastered. Try staging the trigger through the initial double action stroke and then giving a final squeeze after the cylinder has stopped rotating. Also try different placement of the trigger finger while dry firing with snap caps until you can pull through without moving the front sight to the side as you pull.

Click to expand...

I felt more comfortable with the wife having DA only simply because if she is ever attacked all she has to do is pull the trigger, she doesn't have to remember to cock it in a stressful situation, also the hammer isn't there to make her think she has to waste precious time cocking it when she really can just shoot DA anyways. It is also mostly snag free. And from her point of view, its the one she liked the feel of the best, so couldn't really convince her otherwise. Believe me I had her handle many different models and she shoots my full size pistols, however she hasn't really shot enough of any pistol to develop solid mechanics, I'm gonna have to get busy at the loading bench so she can keep practicing. I will look into getting some snap caps as well, can't hurt to wear the trigger in some either.

I have a J38, .38 special. It is light, but has a great deal of bite when shot. Make sure your wife will deal with the recoil before you buy her one of these J frames. If she won't shoot it, it is not much better then a paperweight.

My wife shot mine once. Fires three shots of standard ball .38 special, and handed me the gun. Said she was done with that thing.

Daoust_Nat said:

I have a J38, .38 special. It is light, but has a great deal of bite when shot. Make sure your wife will deal with the recoil before you buy her one of these J frames. If she won't shoot it, it is not much better then a paperweight.

My wife shot mine once. Fires three shots of standard ball .38 special, and handed me the gun. Said she was done with that thing.

Click to expand...

We don't have that problem, my wife has shot many guns and not complained about any recoil, I already bought it for her for Christmas, she's fine with it.

I got my wife the 642 back in June for an anniversary gift. It has the rosewood grips. 18 lb trigger from the factory...... Yes it sux and a trigger job to bring it down to 8 lbs is in the works.

It shoots well and conceals easily.

Longrange said:

I got my wife the 642 back in June for an anniversary gift. It has the rosewood grips. 18 lb trigger from the factory...... Yes it sux and a trigger job to bring it down to 8 lbs is in the works.

It shoots well and conceals easily.

Click to expand...

That's the one I wanted to get but couldn't find one locally so I just got the plain rubber grips, I will probably hunt down a set of the wood grips and put on for her since that was the ones she really liked, she likes it how it is though too.