[pingwax]

After much searching and looking for opinions on this site (thanks to all who helped me), I finally decided that I was working to hard to find one pistol to be all things and decided to focus on getting one that would be better at a few things and since concealment was one of those few things, I decided to make that the priority.

The only other revolver experience I have is with a ruger .44 mag Vaquero, so I have to get acquainted with the new pistol.

I have dry fired it several hundred times to help break it in, as I saw so many people recommending. I did notice two tiny little pieces of what looked like metal flashing come down out of the trigger opening, for better or worse (better out than in I suppose).

I also have noticed that the trigger is kind of weird. There are two distinct stages in the pull, which make it feel kind of notchy. I have also noticed that the cylinder release is really rough feeling in operating, and some times you have to really screw with it to get it to budge. It didn't seem to be as much of a problem in the store when I bought it.

Any way, I wonder if anybody else has seen some of these little things. I think I'm going to try to find an armorers manual for it and see if I can get it good and cleaned out and properly lubricated, since I have no idea how long it sat in the dealers display case for.

[stans]

I bought a 640 shortly after S&W started chambering them in 357 Magnum. I never had any metal shavings come out of mine and the cylinder latch worked very well. The "two stage" trigger could just be the feeling coming from the cylinder locking into position just before the hammer falls.

[10-Ring]

I have become a fan of the internal hammer. THe 640 is a particularly nice example...I like the steel frame especially when using the hotter 357 rounds.

[bubbygator]

The 640's weight is good for handling recoil as well as any snub nose. I particularly liked the SS ability to be melted for carry without having to worry about re-doing the finish. You can really make it "your" gun. I agree with stans about the lockup... but for defensive practice you should not be pulling the trigger slow enough to notice that. When you get on the range, perfect your short range skills first, as that is what the snubbie is truly designed for. If your attention is on your target & sight picture & your mind is enacting a defensive scenario, you really won't be bothered by the lock-up.

Of course..... there are single action (automatic) defense guns too..... :D