Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .38 Special As a Carry Gun

I prefer DAO over an exposed hammer on guns like these, they don't snag on anything.

MM a buddy of mine bought a 4" light barrel model 10 a couple years ago and we were amazed at how well it shot. A 10" plate at 50 yards was fairly easy. Cool pics!

I keep one in the battery of carry weapons, mines a bodyguard.

Mike

An Airweight Bodyguard (J-Frame .38, not the auto pistol S&W calls the Bodyguard nowadays) lives in my bathrobe pocket.

“Spray and pray” is fundamentally different than realizing the bad actors are in packs now, and five shot revolvers have the utility of a short stick.

Reality is, if you’re not one-on-one with that thing, you’re outnumbered and out gunned and you brought it on yourself.

Great Pictures. Oh, to be young, dumb, and woodpecker hard again.

It's easy to get rusty hitting things with any particular snub.

There's no revolvers as small as an LCP. The CT-9 holds 8 in the mag, one in the chamber. Biggest advantages, quick reloads, flat profile, light weight.

I have an LCP, also, but just the other day I decided to occasionally carry a pocket auto (in a proper pocket holster), for particular purposes, and I was deciding between the LCP a the Kel-Tec P-32. I laid them side by side, weighed them, etc.. I decided to go with the P-32. It's lighter, slimmer, no larger in any proportion than the LCP, and carries one more round than the LCP. And a loaded spare mag fits in the change pocket of my jeans just about perfectly ... but that true for both of them.

But if someone wants to carry a revolver, it's their business. I briefly contemplated exchanging the CT-9 with one of my 4" Model 10s. (which I like very much) But the model 10 is noticeably heavier and thicker than the CT-9 and gives up 3 rounds of capacity.

In my opinion, with proper loads the LCP is as effective as a J-frame .38 in a real world confrontation and it holds 2 additional rounds. Also, I can shoot the LCP better than I can a J-frame snub.

The LCP and other sub compact .380s are the best idea to come from the firearm industry in a while.

They're nice appliances.

There's a 2" M&P on my hip right now.

Pre-Model 10?

No, this one is a 10-5. My other 2" M&P is of '49-'50 vintage.

I guess you can still call a Model 10 an M&P. People call the 19 the Combat Magnum, and the 15 the Combat Masterpiece still.

When S&W added model numbers, they did not discontinue the original model names.

Huh. I thought they did.

1964 S&W ad.

I bought an LCP II for my wife to carry in a pocket holster. I can shoot it pretty good inside 21 feet. I just like the extra horsepower that my G43 loaded with 147 grain Federal HST provides. She wouldn't carry a bigger pistol than the LCP at this juncture.

Ron

My primary carry gun is a Glock 43 but I still carry 38’s quite often.
Sometimes, wardrobe dictates and it’s easier to shove the 642 in my pocket. Whenever we are wading the creek on a fishing trip, I have an old 4-inch barreled Model 10 that I carry because it is so battered and worn I don’t feel as bad if it gets “dunked”.
I also like to carry my Model 15 from time to time while out prowling around the farm.
I have a Smith Model 18 that I’ve hammered thousands of rounds through over the years so my familiarity with K-frames makes me reach for them more often than not and usually it will be the Model 15.
I love my 38’s.

All this talk of Model 10's makes me want another one.

When you’re dealing with a mob of fanatical Democrats bent on murdering you and your family you will need a semiautomatic pistol with 33 round magazines or an AR with 30 round magazines.