357 Revolver with 8 Round Capacity and Rails

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Excellent point! :thumbup:
Thank you, drobs.

It’s funny...well, how about coincidental, that you mention this. I was looking at 2 of my gun rail lights and wondering which type would best be suited on the S&W M&P R8 and actually wondering if mounting a light would be a bad idea. Perhaps if one were to just turn the light on and leave it on but momentary push button activation would probably be a bad idea. But, I wasn’t looking at the possibility of burns or injuries. I was looking at it from a proper grip perspective. Your post is very enlightening. Thank you. (No pun intended :confused:)

Currently, my bedroom gun is my 327 Night Guard with a separate Surefire flashlight. I choose this gun because my wife is a pretty good shot with it and she is familiar with it. Out of all my guns she actually likes this one. She knows how to handle a light with the gun. If I had a light mounted on a revolver this might be a bad thing for her. I like having this gun as the bedroom gun as well.

Your post gives me something to think about. Thank you again.

Thinking more on it, the only safe way I could see to use a light on a revolver would be to use a corded pressure pad. Problem there is I could see that cord hanging up on something plus there is not a lot of real estate to mount the pad to.

I mostly don't have weapon lights on my handguns - I don't want to invest in all new holsters. If heading outside at night I put a Fenix PD35 flashlight in my pocket. I do have weapon lights on my Home Defense AR15 and 1 of my AK47's also kept for HD.
 
Not necessarily a gimmick... I'm thinking more along the lines of scenarios where you would turn the light/laser on quickly or not (prior to discharging) and leave it on for the duration of the event which hopefully is not a long time for civilians. For professional LE, training for proper light on light off (frequency before/after discharging) during a shooting encounter would minimize potential injury issues.
 
Pat, that is good info on how Smith & Wesson took care of the burr for you. I did not know the internal designs are different between the GP100 and RedHawk. I love the RedHawk 44 mag. It was the first revolver that I fired 20 years ago that lead me to buy the GP100.

LabNoti, thank you so much for that post to confirm the reflex sights. That is a big help. I will research into it this weekend.

Viper, thank you for taking the time to confirm about the rails. If that is your actual revolver, i have to say it is the most beautiful revolver that I have seen. I have never been a fan of black color because I have always stuck with stainless steel. However, that is definitely a piece of art from your pictures.

SilverMane, thanks for the confirmation.

Drobs, the flashlight on rails and the cylinder gap warnings are new to me. I saw the pictures from your link. Can you help me understand how those fingers got blown off? Is it from the flashlight mount or the cylinder gap? As one of my earlier post to Pat, I don't really have a need to mount flashlight on a rail for a revolver. I just like the look but I do want the top rails for the reflex sight/scope. Regardless, it will be good to understand of the physical dangers.

I once swept my house from a false alarm. I never point my revolver until I identify my target. I was so glad that I trained my mind "to identify my target" on this occasion. Otherwise, it would have been an accident that I would have killed myself for making a mistake. For this reason, I don't mount my flashlight on my gun. But recently, I wanted to because pictures like Viper are dazzling and made me think "why not?". Would I use it for a sweep? Probably not because I prefer not to give away my position. But like Viper said, there maybe times for it or for the more tactical experts which is not me. Again, I would like to understand the physical dangers of mounting the flashlight as well as the cylinder gap.

I can guess on the cylinder gap. Maybe it is from the burst of fire that comes out? This happened to me when I shot the RedHawk 44 magnum.
 
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Jerry Miculek - explains cylinder gap it pretty well in this video with hotdogs:


You want to keep your fingers away from that gap. The popular thumbs forward grip that works with Glocks, and all semi-autos, is not the grip you want to use with a revolver. You don't want any flesh forward of the cylinder.

Not necessarily a gimmick... I'm thinking more along the lines of scenarios where you would turn the light/laser on quickly or not (prior to discharging) and leave it on for the duration of the event which hopefully is not a long time for civilians. For professional LE, training for proper light on light off (frequency before/after discharging) during a shooting encounter would minimize potential injury issues.

It's your fingers. Use a flash light in your off hand.
 
I did put my fingers in the wrong place once years ago when firing a revolver. It was a .22 Magnum High Standard Sentinel Mk IV snubbie. I never made that mistake again. :what:

It stung like crazy but only superficial burn damage.

Not necessarily a gimmick... I'm thinking more along the lines of scenarios where you would turn the light/laser on quickly or not (prior to discharging) and leave it on for the duration of the event which hopefully is not a long time for civilians. For professional LE, training for proper light on light off (frequency before/after discharging) during a shooting encounter would minimize potential injury issues.

That is how I figured the light would be used but I could see me pulling a bonehead move by using the momentary push button on the side of my light and getting an unpleasant surprise. Well...not now that
@drobs mentioned the potential danger.
 
When a manufacturer adds a "feature" which I can't stand and which (I admit) limited evidence shows is possibly a liability I go elsewhere. I'm getting old and stuck in my ways, other makers produce fine revolvers without a lock on them and I spend my money with them.

I agree, Colts are definitely the best revolvers out there. New and old.
 
I agree, Colts are definitely the best revolvers out there. New and old.
And yet S&W dominates the practical pistol shooting world's revolver divisions. I have never seen a Colt at USPSA match and only a few times at IDPA matches.

You can believe what you like about Colt but the guys shooting thousands of rounds a year in competition with revolvers are shooting S&W almost exclusively, with Ruger running a distant second.

Colts have always seemed more show than go to me, but that is likely due to people obsessing over Pythons and treating them like the Ferrari in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
 
Here's a practical .357 with a taclight, tritium front sight, 10 rounds (+1), and that's at least as reliable as any revolver I've ever owned.

IMG_20200804_051909058.jpg

Much easier to find a holster for this too.

I really like revolvers, but for general self defense a semi-auto is now my preference.
 
And yet S&W dominates the practical pistol shooting world's revolver divisions. I have never seen a Colt at USPSA match and only a few times at IDPA matches.

You can believe what you like about Colt but the guys shooting thousands of rounds a year in competition with revolvers are shooting S&W almost exclusively, with Ruger running a distant second.

Colts have always seemed more show than go to me, but that is likely due to people obsessing over Pythons and treating them like the Ferrari in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The reason you don't see people shooting Colts in competition is due to the value and scarcity of older models, and a lack of options and availability in newer models. The only gun they make right now that's truly viable for competition would be the Python that nobody can get ahold of at the moment.

Maybe the King Cobra Target if you prefer a shorter barrel. You're not likely to have much luck finding one of those either though.

Either way, my post was a joke. It's all opinion.

I do think the Colt action is absolutely superior though.

You know what Colt did when they wanted to cut costs and labor with the Trooper MK III/V, King Cobra (original), and Anaconda? They built a S&W in a Colt frame.

Also, Colts have a reputation for being delicate but they can safely run out of perfect timing in most cases. Plus they rarely just break down. People baby them, again because of value. That legendary Colt action is durable as hell though.
 
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The reason you don't see people shooting Colts in competition is due to the value and scarcity of older models, and a lack of options and availability in newer models. The only gun they make right now that's truly viable for competition would be the Python that nobody can get ahold of at the moment.

Maybe the King Cobra Target if you prefer a shorter barrel. You're not likely to have much luck finding one of those either though.

Either way, my post was a joke. It's all opinion.

I do think the Colt action is absolutely superior though.

You know what Colt did when they wanted to cut costs and labor with the Trooper MK III/V, King Cobra (original), and Anaconda? They built a S&W in a Colt frame.

Also, Colts have a reputation for being delicate but they can safely run out of perfect timing in most cases. Plus they rarely just break down. People baby them, again because of value. That legendary Colt action is durable as hell though.
First up I am a S&W fan boy and somewhat of a Colt hater (the brand more so than any specific gun) so take my previous post and this one with what ever size grain of salt you need.

If competitive shooters thought the Colt revolver would give them an advantage in competition world they would have used Colts despite the price and rarity. I have seen perfectly good S&W 27s scavenge for their barrels and transplanted onto 627's because the shooter though the longer lighter barrel was an advantage in competition. If there was an advantage to be gain with a Colt some of them would pay the price but I have not see it.

The S&W has proven themselves to be robust enough and correctly configured for practical pistol competition. Even Ruger is starting to realize the competition revolver market with some of their recent releases. Colt has never seemed interested in that market. And in addition to being a Colt hater I am not a big fan of 357 Mag either so Colt offers very little appeal to me right now. My only double action 357 Magnum currently owned is a S&W 627 (8-shot 357 Mag) and it has had less then two boxes of 357 Mag fired through it. It has had thousands of round of 38 Short Colt fired through in in USPSA competition.

YMMV -rambling
 
I wouldn’t let the lock dissuade you.

I’d bet all my S&W’s that you are more likely to experience a parts failure that renders the gun useless than the lock engaging. Not to mention high primers or the star getting dirty/damaged.

If you want an 8 shot 357, Id go for it. It’ll be a huge gun but lots of fun.
 
Here's a practical .357 with a taclight, tritium front sight, 10 rounds (+1), and that's at least as reliable as any revolver I've ever owned.

View attachment 933583


Much easier to find a holster for this too.

I really like revolvers, but for general self defense a semi-auto is now my preference.

Love that scale reading. :cool:
I agree regarding Glock reliability. Which is why two of my house guns are Glocks. But we are discussing revolvers. :D
 
Love that scale reading. :cool:
I agree regarding Glock reliability. Which is why two of my house guns are Glocks. But we are discussing revolvers. :D

I didn't realize how funny the scale reading was til I compared it to the S&W website.

And yeah, I know, it's the revolver sub-forum. I shouldn't have Glocked up the thread. Just too tempting this time. :p
 
First up I am a S&W fan boy and somewhat of a Colt hater (the brand more so than any specific gun) so take my previous post and this one with what ever size grain of salt you need.

If competitive shooters thought the Colt revolver would give them an advantage in competition world they would have used Colts despite the price and rarity. I have seen perfectly good S&W 27s scavenge for their barrels and transplanted onto 627's because the shooter though the longer lighter barrel was an advantage in competition. If there was an advantage to be gain with a Colt some of them would pay the price but I have not see it.

The S&W has proven themselves to be robust enough and correctly configured for practical pistol competition. Even Ruger is starting to realize the competition revolver market with some of their recent releases. Colt has never seemed interested in that market. And in addition to being a Colt hater I am not a big fan of 357 Mag either so Colt offers very little appeal to me right now. My only double action 357 Magnum currently owned is a S&W 627 (8-shot 357 Mag) and it has had less then two boxes of 357 Mag fired through it. It has had thousands of round of 38 Short Colt fired through in in USPSA competition.

YMMV -rambling

Well yeah S&W is real robust. I almost bought a very old 629 Mountain Gun at my LGS yesterday. I just prefer Colts though. They're a Swiss watch inside.
 
After much deliberation and chatting with pards on another forum I belong to I have pretty much decided to give the Ruger Redhawk 5059 a go. But! I have one more step to take to finalize my decision. I plan to rent a couple of different Redhawks at my local range just to see how they feel. They don’t have the exact model but I want to see how I like the cylinder release and how the triggers feel.

I have had a bit of heartache with S&W of late so I think I will give Ruger a chance. They have done very well by me with single action revolvers. I will try their DA offerings.
Bonus: I can get the Ruger for $300-400 less than the TRR8. Since I wish to also buy their Redhawk 5050 this may be helpful in doing that sooner.
This is provided I like shooting the test guns.
 
Viper, thank you for taking the time to confirm about the rails. If that is your actual revolver, i have to say it is the most beautiful revolver that I have seen. I have never been a fan of black color because I have always stuck with stainless steel. However, that is definitely a piece of art from your pictures.


You're welcome, and indeed the pictured R8 is my powerful lightweight beauty in whichever config I choose to set it up. I like it a great deal.

Factory sights..
327R8wax615.jpg



Rail with RMR...
R8_RMR_745.jpg


Or just upgraded HiViz front sight with S&W white outline notch rear...
SW_R8_new sgts566.jpg
 
Viper, can I ask where you got your HiViz front sight with S&W white outline notch rear and Reflex Sight?
 
This is currently not California compliant:
https://www.taurususa.com/firearms/...357-mag-38-special-p-8-round-matte-stainless/

What is the chance of this becoming California compliant? Not sure why it did not make it to the compliant list in the first place while these are:

https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsupers...rtsman/california-legal-handguns/brand/TAURUS

Guns in California do not just “make the list”. Manufacturers must submit at least 10 of each handgun plus money and paperwork to the CA DOJ for testing to see if they meet the criteria to be added to the list. Each handgun must meet stringent criteria. Once they make it in the list they must then pay the DOJ annual certification costs to keep a model on the list.
They call these guns on the list “safe” handguns. But law enforcement do not have to abide by the list. They may carry “unsafe” handguns (sarcasm).

CA Roster link:
https://www.oag.ca.gov/firearms/certified-handguns/search

Scroll to bottom to find other links for handgun cert. regs. Good luck keeping your sanity trying to find info...
 
Viper, can I ask where you got your HiViz front sight with S&W white outline notch rear and Reflex Sight?

Sure...

- HiViz front sight - off ebay: HiViz # SW3001 .250"

- S&W OEM white outline rear sight - off ebay: .160"

- Reflex Sight Trijicon Dual Illumination - from Optics Planet (was originally purchased for another gun I had)
 
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