Recommended any 9mm revolver you knew.

Status
Not open for further replies.
The reason I didn't get the 547 was that I wanted an under lug and didn't want an exposed ejector rod, and I wanted adjustable sights.

I could live without the under lug, but I really wanted adjustable sights. I thought S&W would eventually make the 547 with adjustable sights but instead, they stopped making them altogether !

I also took a pass on the Ruger Speed Six, SP101 and S&W 940 because they had fixed sights. I thought they would come out with a model that had adjustable sights. Instead the 9mm revolver disappeared, and I really regretted not getting one.

But anyway, I've learned my lesson, if you really want a 9mm revolver you can't wait because not a lot are made and they don't stay on the market long.

At least that has been the history up till now, although the 9mm revolver seems to have come into its own last year and this year.

There are now more 9mm revolvers available from more manufacturers than ever before:

S&W with 2 offerings the 986 and the 929
Ruger with the LCR
Charter Arms with the PITBULL
Taurus with the 905 (blued & stainless)
Korth with the Sky Marshall
And the Alfa Proj 9231 gets imported occasionally.
 
a few years ago, I was next in line to check out a 9mm SP101, used for $375 at the local gun store. The guy first in line bought it. :(
 
a few years ago, I was next in line to check out a 9mm SP101, used for $375 at the local gun store. The guy first in line bought it. :(
That is what happened to me. I was first guy in line that bought S&W 940 in excellent condition with box and papers for $499. What is truly amazing is that I still own that gun. I switch handguns almost as often as some people change undergarments.:rolleyes:
 
How about Charter Arms pitbull 9mm VS Taurus 905 9mm?
They are almost same price and CA is a little bit heavier than Taurus is.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
The Taurus 905 seems to be one of the guns that Taurus got right, as far as quality and reliability. Most 905 owners have reported that they have good guns.

I thought the double action trigger on the 905 was the worst of any of the 9mm revolvers I had tried. Single action was just "OK"

The 905 will fire cartridges without the Taurus "stellar" clips. The clips that come with the gun are not that sturdy. They easily become bent and unusable, but there are cheap aftermarket moon clips that you can purchase.

I've come to think they're an expensive gun for what they are. The Charter Arms runs about $400.00 the 905 is usually the same price but you can get them on sale for $375.00 I know that there are a few extra machining steps in creating the 9mm but you can pick up a Taurus 85 for about $225.00. I guess machining a ledge in each cylinder and providing clips raises the cost by $150.00 ?
 
I had the taurus in stainless. Impulse buy- seemed like a good idea at the time because I could get 9mm ammo..... cheap. Solid little gun, but the clips were kind junk. They bent easy, but at least it came with 4-5 of them. Ended up giving it to a GF.
 
I've seen the light regarding moon clips and the speed of loading and unloading my gun. I'm thinking about ordering a set of 10 that require the tool to pop the rounds out simply for ease at the range. I figure having 10 loaded up then peppering in some of the easier to load and unload Ruger clips would make for an enjoyable time. Unlike some, the 9mm LCR does not bother my hands in the least. After 200 rounds of standard pressure stuff (115 and 124 gr) as well as 10 rounds of +p, I would have shot more if I had had the time.

Long story short, I'd take moon clips over a speed loader any day. The LCR fires the ammo without the clips just fine, but they are sticky and require a good poke to get them out. I tried it one time to see if I could pick the empties out with my finger nails. I could not. Sweeping everyone at the range to pop out the brass wasn't safe form, so I opted not to do that unless I was at the outdoor range by myself. Still, in a pinch, having a clip loaded in the gun with 5 on a speed strip would be fine with me. Fire 5, dump the clip, thumb in 5 more. I don't generally carry any more than 10 (or 12) rounds when I pack a revolver anyway.

On 9mm moon clips, I have to give Ruger a shout out for great CS.

Before I took my LCR to the range for the first time, I loaded up the moon clips with the 9mm ammo I had on hand, some cheap steel case stuff from Academy.

My local range frowns upon the steel stuff, so as I was removing the cartridge from the moon clip, a whole ring snapped off in my hand. No sign of bending, just POP.

I emailed Ruger simply asking if there was a particular technique to removing rounds or if the steel case was the issue. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to bust clips left and right because of what I was doing or snapping into them. I didn't think I was twisting on the cartridge much.

They simply said that if I were to email them a shipping address along with the serial number off the gun a new set of 3 would be shipped to me at no charge within 10 days!

I fired off an email within 10 minutes. The next morning I got an auto populated message that a package had been sent out from a USPD in NH.

It's service like this that keeps me going back to Ruger. My next gun is probably going to be a full size .45 striker fired gun. I've been on the fence with a SIG, but I think I'll just go ahead and order an American instead.
 
The moon clips for the Smiths are almost impossible to load by hand. I purchased the Deluxe Moonclip Tool

attachment.php


ApacheCoTodd made a tool from pipe:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=9689526&postcount=31

Its pretty similar to the loading / unloading tool that Alfa Proj provides with their revolvers, basically just a tube cut away on one side:

attachment.php
 
The moon clips provided with S&W are flimsy. Those that came with Alfa Proj seemed better made, but only two came with gun and importer charges $8.50 per clip. What is equally insulting there is limit of three per customer. Given large gap between cylinder and recoil shield I would not shoot that revolver w/o clips even if it is physically possible. No thanks to 9mm Alfa Proj.
 
The moon clips provided with S&W are flimsy.

Which Smith are you referring to? The moon clips for the 929 are made by T.K. Custom and I found them to be pretty sturdy, although difficult to load.
 
The ones I ordered for the 940. I will admit those were really inexpensive to buy. The ones I have seen with Alfa Proj seemed more rigid and better made.
 
I'll admit this thread has me a bit intrigued. Can you talk me into converting my J frame Airweight into a 9mm?

I'm concerned regarding the bullet pulling i've been reading. I'd hate to do this conversion to find I can't rely on it for carry.
 
I'll admit this thread has me a bit intrigued. Can you talk me into converting my J frame Airweight into a 9mm?

I'm concerned regarding the bullet pulling i've been reading. I'd hate to do this conversion to find I can't rely on it for carry.
I would think an Airweight wouldn't be strong enough to handle a high round count with its alloy frame. On top of that, it would be punishing to shoot. One of the reasons I find the LCR so easy to shoot is that, I think, the 9mm version is the heaviest version of the gun. It has a stainless steel frame.

Even at that, some people find the 9mm more punishing than the .38. Personally, I thought it felt fine. I actually preferred the 9mm shooting 124gr over my 642 shooting puffball .38. After a couple hundred rounds of 9mm, I could have shot more if I had brought more ammo.

I shot 5 different types of ammo to test my LCR for crimp jump. I experience none, or at least so little that it wasn't readily noticeable and certainly didn't affect the function of the gun.

The only premium ammo I shot was 5 rounds of 124gr "short barrel" ammo I had in my range bag. The rest was bottom tier stuff from Academy Sports. None of it was over $14 per 50. All of it was brass cased. 2 different 124 gr (one fmj and one jhp) and 2 kinds of 115 fmj.

The only issues I had were that the Blazer Brass was not only dirty but also ho hum in terms of accuracy.


From a functional standpoint, i have had zero functional issues with crimp jump.
 
Fli3r said:
I would think an Airweight wouldn't be strong enough to handle a high round count with its alloy frame. On top of that, it would be punishing to shoot. One of the reasons I find the LCR so easy to shoot is that, I think, the 9mm version is the heaviest version of the gun. It has a stainless steel frame.

Even at that, some people find the 9mm more punishing than the .38. Personally, I thought it felt fine. I actually preferred the 9mm shooting 124gr over my 642 shooting puffball .38. After a couple hundred rounds of 9mm, I could have shot more if I had brought more ammo.

I shot 5 different types of ammo to test my LCR for crimp jump. I experience none, or at least so little that it wasn't readily noticeable and certainly didn't affect the function of the gun.

The only premium ammo I shot was 5 rounds of 124gr "short barrel" ammo I had in my range bag. The rest was bottom tier stuff from Academy Sports. None of it was over $14 per 50. All of it was brass cased. 2 different 124 gr (one fmj and one jhp) and 2 kinds of 115 fmj.

The only issues I had were that the Blazer Brass was not only dirty but also ho hum in terms of accuracy.


From a functional standpoint, i have had zero functional issues with crimp jump.

The whole point of a 9mm revolver would be for the ability to pocket carry in shorts/errands and that kind of thing where IWB just isn't as convenient. I would think it would be a shoot little, carry a lot kind of option for me. (K Frames and L Frames are so much more fun to shoot.) So with that said carrying airweight frame would be a huge appeal for me. I think a SS cylinder may be in order to "split the difference." I wonder out loud if that would be enough extra mass to minimize the bullet pull effects of the uncrimped 9mm in a revolver platform. (I would have available our department 9mm 147gr Gold Dots as my primary carry round.)
 
COuntZerO,

Did you or someone try Charter Arms 9mm's duble action trigger? Is it better than Taurus 905?

Thanks!
 
COuntZerO,

Did you or someone try Charter Arms 9mm's duble action trigger? Is it better than Taurus 905?

Thanks!

I got a chance to handle the LCR, Charter Arms 9mm PITBULL, and the Taurus 905 side by side by side.

There was no doubt that the Ruger LCR had the best DA trigger of the three guns, the Taurus 905 had the worst DA trigger of the 3 guns, the Charter Arms was obviously in the middle.

I've had my 9mm PITBULL for almost 2 years and the trigger has smoothed out some but its still not as good as the LCR right out of the box. The Charter Arms DA trigger is also not as nice as the Alfa Proj or the S&W 929
 
I'll admit this thread has me a bit intrigued. Can you talk me into converting my J frame Airweight into a 9mm?

I'm concerned regarding the bullet pulling i've been reading. I'd hate to do this conversion to find I can't rely on it for carry.
The whole point of a 9mm revolver would be for the ability to pocket carry in shorts/errands and that kind of thing where IWB just isn't as convenient. I would think it would be a shoot little, carry a lot kind of option for me. (K Frames and L Frames are so much more fun to shoot.) So with that said carrying airweight frame would be a huge appeal for me. I think a SS cylinder may be in order to "split the difference." I wonder out loud if that would be enough extra mass to minimize the bullet pull effects of the uncrimped 9mm in a revolver platform. (I would have available our department 9mm 147gr Gold Dots as my primary carry round.)
I carried my converted 360J as my BUG the last 6 years I was in LE, still carry it on a regular basis. I used the 360J for my conversion project specifically because, even though it is chambered for .38spl from the factory, it has the same lightweight scandium alloy frame as the 360M&P .357mag. With the rechambered steel cylinder in place it weighs a bit over 13oz. In all the years I've had it I have never experienced any "crimp jump" with any ammo, I mostly shoot 115gr FMJ at the range and my carry load is usually Federal 9BPLE 115gr JHP +P+.

If you can't find what you want on the market, have it made, that's what I did.



BTW, all of my moon clips are factory S&W 940 clips that I bought through the S&W website store, they're solid pieces that have held up great over the years.
 
I have bought Charter Arms Pitbull 79920 9mm Revolver for $415. It is beautiful and powerful for self defense. I would also recommend another favorite revolver of mine - Ruger LCR but it is expensive (Around $599).
 
WC145 said:
I carried my converted 360J as my BUG the last 6 years I was in LE, still carry it on a regular basis. I used the 360J for my conversion project specifically because, even though it is chambered for .38spl from the factory, it has the same lightweight scandium alloy frame as the 360M&P .357mag. With the rechambered steel cylinder in place it weighs a bit over 13oz. In all the years I've had it I have never experienced any "crimp jump" with any ammo, I mostly shoot 115gr FMJ at the range and my carry load is usually Federal 9BPLE 115gr JHP +P+.

If you can't find what you want on the market, have it made, that's what I did.



BTW, all of my moon clips are factory S&W 940 clips that I bought through the S&W website store, they're solid pieces that have held up great over the years.

Thanks. Looks like I'll touch base with Pinnacle to get a 340M&P done in the near future. I appreciate your advise.
 
I already online bought a new Charter Arms Pitbull 79920 9mm Revolver $415.00, I paid credit card plus 3%, They will ship to me next week.

Thanks!
 
I have a 940 cylinder that was fitted to my 642 and it shoots great. best of all the cylinder fits perfectly in my 60-4 and makes a great adjustable sight 3" gun.
jframes.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top