Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Does anyone still carry .38 Special?

My 638 is loaded with 125 grain hornady hollow points.

Nice little piece that doesn't print or take up much room.

Ah, it’s story time! And, the opportunity for a bit of a stroll down Memory Lane.

I was a member of the prestigious Blue Team my last two years on the California Highway Patrol. When I left the CHP, too many years ago, I sold my two PPC match revolvers to fellow officers who were PPC competitors, because I didn’t think I’d have much use for them anymore.
BIG mistake.

One of those PPC revolvers was built for me by (then Officer) Bill Davis on my 4” Model 15 using an Apex barrel. The other, I built myself using a Douglas barrel blank I got from Numrich Arms, which I turned on my Sears Craftsman lathe and fitted to a 2” Model 15. I picked the 2” Model 15 because the top line of its frame continued straight all the way to where it met the barrel, instead dipping down as on the Model 14 and the 4” Model 15. The performance of the two revolvers was nearly identical; which one shot best depended on the day. They both Ransom Rested 5 shots into about a half inch at 25 yards.

A few years ago, I finally decided I needed to correct my BIG mistake. Before I went to Afghanistan for the State Department, I had been using a 2” Model 15 to shoot Steel Challenge (a real hoot, as I couldn’t get away with more than one miss without suffering huge time added during reload). So, when I returned to the U.S., I ordered a pre-cut and threaded Clark PPC heavy barrel with 10” twist (Douglas, I believe) from Brownells. It was fitted to the Model 15 frame, with the cylinder gap set at .003” by lathe turning the cylinder face. A slot, 1/8” wide, 1/8” deep and 1” long, was milled into the barrel for a front sight, which I filed to shape from 1/8” cold rolled steel and epoxied into place only after the surface finish was completed. A standard length ejector rod replaced the snubby version. The barrel was also drilled and tapped to take Weaver scope bases. For a very hard, rust resistant finish, the revolver was Black Nitride treated by H&M Metal Processing of Akron, Ohio.

The completed revolver is an exact match to the one I built so long ago, except for the tighter twist, the Black Nitride instead of bluing, the scope mount holes, smooth combat trigger, and Hogue rubber grips instead of the wood.

The 10” twist really likes Hollow Base Wad Cutters with the old standard charge of 2.7 grains of Bullseye, and whatever Federal uses in their .38 HBWC match ammo:



Still scratching my head about this 2-and-3 group shot at 50 yards over sandbags.



Full disclosure: The fifth shot above dropped down into the seven ring at 6 o’clock and is concealed by the scope’s ocular housing. Sorry, I just couldn’t bear to keep looking at it.

Here’s the new revolver, pictured wearing my old grips and resting on a B-27 target I shot with the CHP San Jose Area Office Team at the Tracy P.D. Match in 1975, before being invited to join the Blue Team:

Very cool. Thanks for the background info. I knew there had to be a story behind it.

442

got to handle a 649 with wilson combat springs in it Saturday, dont know what configuration springs were in it but it sure was nice. Better be careful letting the hammer down though.

442

got to handle a 649 with wilson combat springs in it Saturday, dont know what configuration springs were in it but it sure was nice. Better be careful letting the hammer down though. I may put a set in my 442. I did put the oversized hogue grips on it, a little less concealable but a lot better to shoot.

642 w Wilson spring kit.
Dont think it helped much if at all.
Was fine before, why i bought it.

I like the 442, as well. I have the more recent rendition of it that I bought from Grabagun several years ago really cheaply. For some reason, it's one of the only revolvers they make with no key hole. I guess their lawyers figure the double-action-only feature sufficiently inherently safe to cover them in case of a lawsuit.

I suspect the key lock was intended more to impair unauthorized users, than to prevent negligent discharges. Though I suppose they’re both kind of the same thing.

Still carry a 442 everywhere. Carried daily when I went to narcotics, as a primary when purchasing rock cocaine and a backup when serving warrants.

I must admit that I've been playing with a Glock 43 lately, though.
Bob

Here’s a S&W Model 60-4, which WAS a pretty reasonable concealed carry J-Frame revolver with a 3” barrel:





Not so easy to conceal, anymore, and clearing a pouch holster on the draw ain’t like it used to be.

That's pretty cool.

For my 3” J-Frame needs, I’ve now switched to this 9mm:

I'll second this!

My summertime EDC is also a 442 and I too have started carrying a Glock 43 in a Garrett IWB when the over garments come out. I might switch to my recently acquired S&W 3953 TSW, but it needs a good action job before I do that. It carries 2 more rounds than the G43.

That's a beautiful revolver, chips. You've had some nice work done there.

Hauled my 642 around in my back pocket all day today.

Thanks, local_dirt.
It handles well too, very good balance.

But, its 5” Shilen barrel, with 14” twist, doesn’t seem to like the Hollow Base Wad Cutters quite as much as does the Model 15, with its 6” Clark/Douglas 10” twist barrel (shown above). That doesn’t compute, because the old Colt Pythons, famously accurate with wad cutters, had 14” twist barrels. With that Shilen barrel, the accuracy/precision of Model 60-4 is only so-so, not a lot better than with its original 3” S&W barrel, shooting two hands double-action, standing at 25 yards. Best it’s been able to do over sandbags at 50 yards is about 3-1/2 inches. While that would be pretty darn good for a 1911, it’s not so good for a revolver set up like this one is.

Any ideas?

Great guns, folks!

Sorry, chips. I don't. But I would run it by Mike Heffron at Heffron Precision. Is an extremely experienced revolver gunsmith with over four decades working on them and a helluva nice guy. 641.732.0050.

Thanks for the referral, local_dirt.

I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with the machining, the tolerances, or the setup. This revolver is enough lighter than the H.B. Model 15, that I may simply need to minutely adjust my grasp in order to keep the gun from recoiling inconsistently off line before the fired bullet clears the muzzle. Or, I may just be holding my tongue wrong at let-off. Or, it may simply prefer a different load.

During my PPC competition days, I found that at the rarified levels of handgun performance, there seems to be as much Zen involved as physics. You know, “Be the bullet.”

The fun part of all this is shooting enough to figure it out, which by itself may even condition the bore sufficiently to tighten groups. Who knows?

chipy, there's just something about revolver shooting that makes me happy.