S&W model 36 or pocket pistol.
- Thread starter Riccaia
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Pistol Pete,
I have to disagree with your opinion.
I have had revolvers lockup and fail. I know of NO PERFECT GUN, do you? As far as not racking the slide, when you wake up when there is a noise in the dark, you grab for your revolver, but cannot find it immediately because it does not have those tell tale night sights that glow in the dark and tell you where it is.
So you find it, but did you LOAD IT before going to bed. You point your (maybe) loaded revolver at a figure coming through your bedroom door, but you cannot see your sights, since you do not have night sights. Then you reach for the rail mounted light, but unless you bought the very limited production S&W N-frame with a rail, you do not have a light.
I would say oops,. but that does not cover the situation, does it.
The above factors are why my chosen house gun is a BERETTA M9A3 with a light on its rail. No problem with a trigger safety either.
Jim
I have to disagree with your opinion.
I have had revolvers lockup and fail. I know of NO PERFECT GUN, do you? As far as not racking the slide, when you wake up when there is a noise in the dark, you grab for your revolver, but cannot find it immediately because it does not have those tell tale night sights that glow in the dark and tell you where it is.
So you find it, but did you LOAD IT before going to bed. You point your (maybe) loaded revolver at a figure coming through your bedroom door, but you cannot see your sights, since you do not have night sights. Then you reach for the rail mounted light, but unless you bought the very limited production S&W N-frame with a rail, you do not have a light.
I would say oops,. but that does not cover the situation, does it.
The above factors are why my chosen house gun is a BERETTA M9A3 with a light on its rail. No problem with a trigger safety either.
Jim
Hoppes Love Potion
Member
Model 36. Simple, safe and powerful.
UncleEd
Member
Golden,
So you have one of those glow in the dark
guns? That's nice.
So you have one of those glow in the dark
guns? That's nice.
I suggest a Keltec, probably the P32. It is a double-action only with a heavy-long trigger so that the trigger is less likely to be inadvertently pressed than a single-action like the Colt and therefore there is no need for a safety to take-off and put back on in the manual of arms.
Keltec also makes the larger P3AT that shoots a larger .380 ACP cartridge. The Ruger LCP is a copy of this gun -- and the Ruger is by far the #1 selling "pocket pistol" and has been the #1 selling gun (on and off) for years. I suggest the P32 because it's even smaller and you can feel totally confident in concealing it without significant changes to your wardrobe or uneasiness about it being exposed. It should be in a pocket holster or an IWB holster.
It's good that you're training, and I would suggest training with a full-size gun (Glock, Sig, Beretta, Colt, whatever) for the first 60 hours or so. By training, we're talking about instructor-led classes. Don't take a P32, LCP, Model 36 or any pocket pistol to classes if your fundamentals aren't sound.
Now some might question, why would I say to carry it then? That's a good question. But you really have three other choices. Get a pocket pistol or little snubbie and try to gain skills with a crappy gun to start with; Don't carry anything until you've gained skills and then transitioned those skills to a pocket pistol; or try to carry a full-size gun.
The smartest thing to do is to carry a full-size gun, but it's apparent that you won't do it. I'm not going to blame you for that. You have your reasons. I will advise you though, not to try to gain skills with a crap gun before you even have them with a good gun.
So if you follow my advice to use a good gun to work on skills, you can either not carry until those are developed and then transitioned to a pocket pistol, or you can get the easiest gun to carry (P32) and hope you aren't pressed into using it until your skill level comes up. Following this strategy with a Model 36 or a larger pocket pistol like the Colt doesn't make sense. Those guns are both hard to carry and hard to shoot. Worst of both worlds.
Once you've been training with a good full-size gun, and habitually carrying a gun, you will be forming some good ideas of what direction you'll want to go from there. Maybe you'll feel like you could easily carry a lot more gun. Or you'll start shooting the P32 more often and realizing what a PoS it is or is not -- depending on how you get along with it. When you can, rent more guns according to your accumulating experience -- maybe you train with a Glock 17 and decide you'd like to try a rental Glock 43, or you train with P320 and want to try a P365, or you train with a 1911, but convince yourself you don't want to carry single-action. You like the P32's DAO, but want something bigger. Rent a Kahr in 9mm. You'll get there, but there are no good shortcuts.
Keltec also makes the larger P3AT that shoots a larger .380 ACP cartridge. The Ruger LCP is a copy of this gun -- and the Ruger is by far the #1 selling "pocket pistol" and has been the #1 selling gun (on and off) for years. I suggest the P32 because it's even smaller and you can feel totally confident in concealing it without significant changes to your wardrobe or uneasiness about it being exposed. It should be in a pocket holster or an IWB holster.
It's good that you're training, and I would suggest training with a full-size gun (Glock, Sig, Beretta, Colt, whatever) for the first 60 hours or so. By training, we're talking about instructor-led classes. Don't take a P32, LCP, Model 36 or any pocket pistol to classes if your fundamentals aren't sound.
Now some might question, why would I say to carry it then? That's a good question. But you really have three other choices. Get a pocket pistol or little snubbie and try to gain skills with a crappy gun to start with; Don't carry anything until you've gained skills and then transitioned those skills to a pocket pistol; or try to carry a full-size gun.
The smartest thing to do is to carry a full-size gun, but it's apparent that you won't do it. I'm not going to blame you for that. You have your reasons. I will advise you though, not to try to gain skills with a crap gun before you even have them with a good gun.
So if you follow my advice to use a good gun to work on skills, you can either not carry until those are developed and then transitioned to a pocket pistol, or you can get the easiest gun to carry (P32) and hope you aren't pressed into using it until your skill level comes up. Following this strategy with a Model 36 or a larger pocket pistol like the Colt doesn't make sense. Those guns are both hard to carry and hard to shoot. Worst of both worlds.
Once you've been training with a good full-size gun, and habitually carrying a gun, you will be forming some good ideas of what direction you'll want to go from there. Maybe you'll feel like you could easily carry a lot more gun. Or you'll start shooting the P32 more often and realizing what a PoS it is or is not -- depending on how you get along with it. When you can, rent more guns according to your accumulating experience -- maybe you train with a Glock 17 and decide you'd like to try a rental Glock 43, or you train with P320 and want to try a P365, or you train with a 1911, but convince yourself you don't want to carry single-action. You like the P32's DAO, but want something bigger. Rent a Kahr in 9mm. You'll get there, but there are no good shortcuts.
The above observations (excerpted from the original post) are golden. I have a S&W 60-7, which is the s/s version of the 36. I carry it in hard pocket holster, hammer spur ground off. For short, limited "forays" I carry one of a variety of 9mm pistols. But if carrying on an all-day and day-to-today basis, this is my only carry in South Florida, where I live, for the purpose of safe concealment, reasonably effective unholstering/delivery, and comfort of carry. And to the OP: congratulations if Italy allows you to own a .38 Spl, which, like the 9mmP, is considered a "caliber of war" in other European nations.
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I carried a Mustang vintage mid 1980's for many years. It was easy to carry, accurate even out to longer ranges, and pleasant to shoot. I carried it in case in a brief case with the chamber loaded and the hammer down but I probably would not do that today.
I have a S&W Model 642 (38 Special) as well. Once you learn to shoot it well with the double action trigger, it is a great gun. It is a bit larger than the Mustang for concealed carry. I'm more comfortable carrying the 642 fully loaded than the Mustang cock and locked. It all depends on your level of comfort.
I also have a Glock 42 and Glock 43 and am not impressed with the guns for carry purposes. My Glock 42 is ammunition sensitive and does not shoot all 380 ammunition reliably.
But bottom line, the OP needs to find what works best for him.
I have a S&W Model 642 (38 Special) as well. Once you learn to shoot it well with the double action trigger, it is a great gun. It is a bit larger than the Mustang for concealed carry. I'm more comfortable carrying the 642 fully loaded than the Mustang cock and locked. It all depends on your level of comfort.
I also have a Glock 42 and Glock 43 and am not impressed with the guns for carry purposes. My Glock 42 is ammunition sensitive and does not shoot all 380 ammunition reliably.
But bottom line, the OP needs to find what works best for him.
Jim Watson
Member
In the small auto field, my Glock 43 is excellent.
My Ruger LC9s is a good shooter for the first magazine but does not reload as easily,
A friend like the G42 but I doubt he has tried a wide variety of ammunition.
My Ruger LC9s is a good shooter for the first magazine but does not reload as easily,
A friend like the G42 but I doubt he has tried a wide variety of ammunition.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for your comments, it is very helpful, I ended up buying the S&W 36 for various reasons:
1) 38 spl is a very easy cartridge to come by and it isn't very expensive so I can train myself for a while WITHOUT carrying (I would never carry a gun unless I've put around 300 rounds or more through it).
2) It was a good deal and the gun is easily resellable in case I didn't like it.
3) After buying a good quality holster I can say that is very concealable and comfortable to carry and I feel safer with a covered trigger guard paired with a hard DA trigger than with a manual safety that I might forget to disengage in a critical moment.
4) It will NOT be my home defence gun, for that, I've my full-size beretta with 2 extra 15 rounds magazines and an under-barrel light so I will use it only for CC.
5) And probably the most important point in this list is that it is FUN to shoot, I mean it, it takes time to accustom to the "snappyness" and the long trigger pull but once you do is a really fun little gun.
6) My friend will probably land me his S&W bodyguard for a while so I can see if I like a pocket pistol better, this way I have the choice to either re-sell the revolver and get a pocket pistol or keep it and maybe buy a pocket semiauto and include it in my rotation.
Thank you very much again for the information, you've all been very helpful, once I come back from my business trip I will post photos of the gun.
1) 38 spl is a very easy cartridge to come by and it isn't very expensive so I can train myself for a while WITHOUT carrying (I would never carry a gun unless I've put around 300 rounds or more through it).
2) It was a good deal and the gun is easily resellable in case I didn't like it.
3) After buying a good quality holster I can say that is very concealable and comfortable to carry and I feel safer with a covered trigger guard paired with a hard DA trigger than with a manual safety that I might forget to disengage in a critical moment.
4) It will NOT be my home defence gun, for that, I've my full-size beretta with 2 extra 15 rounds magazines and an under-barrel light so I will use it only for CC.
5) And probably the most important point in this list is that it is FUN to shoot, I mean it, it takes time to accustom to the "snappyness" and the long trigger pull but once you do is a really fun little gun.
6) My friend will probably land me his S&W bodyguard for a while so I can see if I like a pocket pistol better, this way I have the choice to either re-sell the revolver and get a pocket pistol or keep it and maybe buy a pocket semiauto and include it in my rotation.
Thank you very much again for the information, you've all been very helpful, once I come back from my business trip I will post photos of the gun.
LUCKYDAWG13
Member
Congrats looks great
Uncle Ed,
I have several "GLOW IN THE DARK" guns and will have several others "UPGRADED" to night sights when I can afford it. If you have not tried night sights in a night qualification, you will be shocked as I was. I was not a believer until I was issued a BERETTA with night sights. It is worth the money at twice the price, in my experience. NO REVOLVER SOLD ACCROSS THE COUNTER THAT I KNOW OF CAN COMPETE!
That is my experience.
Jim
I have several "GLOW IN THE DARK" guns and will have several others "UPGRADED" to night sights when I can afford it. If you have not tried night sights in a night qualification, you will be shocked as I was. I was not a believer until I was issued a BERETTA with night sights. It is worth the money at twice the price, in my experience. NO REVOLVER SOLD ACCROSS THE COUNTER THAT I KNOW OF CAN COMPETE!
That is my experience.
Jim
Pat Riot
Contributing Member
I think you made a good choice. I have 3 J-frame S&W revolvers that can shoot .38 Special. A 36, a 442 and a 60 Pro. The 60 Pro is a .357 Magnum and quite lively when shooting magnum loads. I am selling it.
But, I really do enjoy shooting my model 36. With standard .38 Special ammunition it’s accurate and it has a nice trigger pull. It also kicks but not as much as the lighter 442.
I think you’ll grow to appreciate the model 36.
J-Bar
Member
Well done Riccala.
Enjoy your revolver and stay safe.
Let us hear from you once in a while!
Enjoy your revolver and stay safe.
Let us hear from you once in a while!
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