Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Your favorite smith and Wesson 357

Stick,
I have 3x .40's lol

So, in short, your pussy hurts if the question ain't answered the way you think it should be answered. Must be tough being a [bleep].

Not at all, just thought you'd have some intelligent logic behind your statement...I was wrong, my apologies.

Fotis: DO NOT have any "new" (lawyer lock!) Smith & Wesson revolving pistols - never have, never will!
My all time favorite 357 Smith & Wesson would be my Model 66-1 6" with target trigger target hammer.
I bought it new way back when and used it to "qualify" with, while on the department I worked for.
I qualified "Distinguished Expert" probably 20 times out of the 30 times I used it for qualifications.
My second favorite (and shoot it a tad better than with my Model 66!) is my wonderful 6" Model 686.
I pray for the day the dimwits at Smith & Wesson will realize their mistake (like the dimwits at Remington did with their "J" locked Model 700's!) and rid their handsome revolvers of the useless, disconcerting, value destroying and ugly lawyer locks!
Alas I am sure there are enough older "lock-less" Smith & Wesson revolvers out there to keep me "shootin" for the rest of my life.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I've owned 2 S&W .357s. The first I sold years ago but it may come back to me in time if I am patient. It is/was a pre-war, pre-27, N frame, probably was a registered gun. 8-3/4ths, not 8-3/8ths, inch barrel. I got it from my grandpa, shot it a lot as a kid, and sold it to another close relative who is getting up there in years and doesn't fire more than a handful of centerfire shells in a year now. It was, IMHO, "over-tuned" by some past gunsmith / gunsmith wanna-be lightening springs for smoothness and speed. Combined with many decades of wear, it needs some internal TLC to be truly reliable. SA trigger pull is plain wicked though, don't want that loused up.

The other is a pre-lock M60 3" .357 with adjustable sights. It is a miserable beast to shoot but it is also incredibly accurate for its size and recoil. If you can hang onto it, manage the sights, and forget what a beating your hand is about to receive, it's capable of 2 inch 50 yard groups from a rest with Federal 125 grain JHP factory ammo. Because I don't like shooting it to sight it in again, I don't mess with lighter loads, I just hope not to pull the trigger.

I wish S&W would offer a half-lug 4" 686 or 586. I guess that means a 4" model 19 would be a good contender ... never owned one so that's just guess work.

Tom

I've only owned an early stainless steel 642. Carried M10 and M19 as duty revolvers.

Don't currently have any S&W, but wouldn't mind having a Model 10, four inch, heavy barrel, round butt.

The 3" 60-10 is a great shooter....125s are what I settled on for a load also....

As to a 1/2 lug 686...have you looked at this one? I have a 686-7 (one of only two Smiths I have with a lock) that is this same gun in .38 Super and it balances beautifully....

https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/performance-center-pro-series-model-686-ssr

If I HAD to buy a brandy new S&W .357 today this is what I would probably buy....

Bob

Nice! I've never seen a half-lug 686 but shot a 4" Security Six for a few years and liked the balance. I'd be surprised if they weren't in the same ballpark for handling. In the same ballpark would be one of the GP100 "match champion" guns ... again, something I haven't shot yet.

Funny but I don't like the 586/686 full lug guns but much prefer the standard full lug 4" GP100 over the Match Champion...

My favorite Smith .357 Mag? Hell thats all of em but if I had to choose just one it would be a Model 627 Pro 4" ...A close second is a 686 plus 4"......👍.....Hb

I agree on the Ruger, I had both and liked my standard GP100 full lug 4" better than My match champion....Hb

My old M19...

this actually makes sense!

My Dan Wesson 715 (the gun that S&W corporate wouldn't let him build).

I like mine too!

And my 44 but that is a different story! LOL

Agree with Steely...Model 23 or its precursor.....the noise and racket and inability to use some really good bullets make my favorite 357 a 38....

Favorite is the M19, I have a 4" and a 2 1/2", not fond of recessed cylinder, makes reloading with speed loaders difficult. Like narrow smooth triggers and bobbed hammers, great firearm for sure.

The only DW I ever owned was one of those models. For some reason, it came in the small pistol pack with two barrels-both being six inch, one with a vent and one without.

The only 357 Smith made during that time period, that I'm aware of, was the N frame model 27. I don't remember what year the model 28 came out, but it's simply a more spartan version of same anyway. A 5" model 27 was always one of Skeeter's favorites. Do you have his book, Good Friends, Good Guns Good Whiskey? If not, I highly recommend it. I very much enjoyed Skeeter's stories. No offense to old Elmer, but much more so than his. My second choice for that era would be a 3 1/2" "FBI type" model, like the early agents carried. I've never been fortunate enough to own either barrel length. My personal model 27's that I can remember, were 6 and 8 3/8" barrels.

I trimmed the stable a few years back and got rid of my model 19 and GP 100's. Now the only 357's that I remember having are a model 28 in near new condition, that I inherited and my wife's Colt Magnum Carry (a Detective Special in 357 that Colt only made for a short time before one of the times they went under). I traded her 38 Special Detective Special on it so she'd have more versatility. It is wicked with 357's though.

I guess they used to convert model 20's (the 38-44 Heavy Duty) to 357, but I've heard they were not of the same steel as the model 27 and that this was not a good practice. I have no idea of the truth to this statement.