9mm snubbie revolver

[Jaegermeister]

I really want a 9mm snubbie revolver. It has been said Ruger made a few Speed Six 9mm snubbies.

What is the S&W model that was made? Can you still get moon clips for these?

I like the 9mm. I think a Gold Dot +p 124 grain would be a good load out of a snubbie. Not as punishing as a .357 but better than .38.

How do I find one of these?

 

[Jim Watson]

Ruger made the Speed Six in 9mm. Also the SP101 5-shot.
S&W had the 547, a K frame with trick extractor not for clips, and the 940, a Centennial 9mm that did use clips. Taurus is rumored to have one or more 9mm revolvers on the way. Also .40.

"How do I find one of these?"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

If you want a Speed Six 9mm you better beat me to the store.

 

[Neal Bloom]

I have the 547 with a 4" barrel. Can't say enough good things about it. Based on this I would love to have a 9mm snubbie. Occasionally you see one on the auction sites or in the classifieds and they command a high price. Seems to be some demand for 9mm revolvers but I guess not enough are sold to justify Ruger and S&W to produce them. If Taurus put a 9mm in the same frame as their 85 and 605 it would be sweet.

 

[HerbG]

Several S&W 940's are currently listed as being for sale on the Guns America site. I own one, and IMHO it is the best concealed carry gun ever made - at least for my purposes. S&W should return this model to production and do a little advertising.

 

[Kahr carrier]

S&W 940 I have seen a couple at the local gunshows.

 

[M58]

M940 and 3" M547 are excellent.
Have to look around however.

 

[BigG]

940

 

[Drakejake]

I own a stainless, SP101 snubby in 9MM, in excellent condition. I have about 17 full-moon clips that go with it and the orginal box and manual. I am willing to part with it for the right price. I don't shoot it very much.

Drakejake
[email protected]

 

[dude]

When the hammerless Taurus titanium 9mm revolver comes out I will be waiting with cash in hand. Hopefully it will be a CIA-like hammerless snub with no porting.

 

[GrandmasterB]

If you're not in a hurry, just shop around. These appear on the auction sites from time to time.

I found this Ruger Speed Six last summer -- NIB and unfired.

 

[MoNsTeR]

Yeah, but how much did you PAY for it?
The last 9mm Speed Six I saw listed on any of the internet listings was a NIB stainless gun, for over $800.

 

[WonderNine]

Does anybody know if the 940's came with a hammer too? I really despise hammerless revolvers.

 

[HerbG]

There are currently two new Model 940's listed on Guns America. Prices: $425 and $575 if I remember correctly. One is the 3-inch barrel version.

I've never seen or heard of the Model 940 being produced in a hammer version. Don't know anything about the Ruger 101.

 

[Coltdriver]

The 940's were all Centennial Style, concealed hammer, DAO revolvers.

 

[WonderNine]

Thanks for the replys. Ya HerbG I just looked there yesterday and I never seemed to find any with a hammer, so thanks for answering my question both of you.

 

[Griff]

I like the idea of an available hammer, too. Would it be possible/practical to have a gunsmith build one from an existing J-frame, like maybe a 638, and parts from Brownell's?

 

[Wil Terry]

THE CRANE/CYLINDER ASSEMBLIES FROM MY 2" M940 AND MY 3" M940

BOTH FIT AND FUNCTIONED IN MY M60 3" 38SPL.
The 2" M940's actually fit better than the factory fit 38 assembly but the 2" M940's ejector rod hung out in space doing nothing. Didn't seem to matter a bit as the combination of parts shot great.
The 3" M940 assembly shot even better but had a tiny hitch in its' git-along and was a bit tough to cock on one or two chambers.
By the way, the barrels on the M940's are all standard 38/357 barrels that shoot just fine.
I sold the M940 2" 9MM pistolver but kept the 3" version as its' velocity numbers were stunning; damn few autoloaders are as fast.

 

[WonderNine]

I heard that's bad for accuracy as the .357 barrels are larger than the .355 bullet diameter of the 9mm. I imagine it's cheaper for the manufactorer, but do all factory 9mm revolvers come with a .357 barrel? Rugers too?

Something else just occurred to me, why don't they make the 9mm cylinder shorter and the barrel longer? Instead of using the same sized cylinder as they do the .38's and .357's. They could use a really small cylinder. The velocity would beat the .38 specials all to heck with the short cylinder and longer barrel.

 

[The Mighty Beagle]

Terry,

If that's true about S&W's being over-bored, I'm certainly disappointed.

Why would S&W go to all the trouble of making a 9mm revolver, only to leave the barrel .002 too large for the bullet? You say your gun is accurate ... exactly what would cause this combination to be accurate? Or more importantly, How is it accurate in spite of itself?

It contradicts my experience with .45 Colt Rugers having undersized cylinder throats that send a .002" too-small bullet down the barrel. It usually resulted in 4" groups at 25 yds, which by no means is accurate.

 

[Coltdriver]

Hey Terry

Did you chrono your 2" 940 vs your 3" 940?

Remember any of the numbers??

I am just curious. I have a 2" 940 that I bought because the 2" ballistics in a 9mm are very close to the 2" ballistics in .357.

I am pretty sure the 9mm 940 beats the ballistics of the .38 regardless of the .38 barrel lenght. Would you agree?

 

[HerbG]

As far as I know, nobody has really answered the question about S&W using .357 diameter barrels in their 9mm revolvers. So far all I'm hearing are guesses about that being true. Frankly, I don't really care since the 940 is intended for close range personal defense and regardless of the bore diamenter, the bullets are stabilized adequately for that purpose.

In theory the idea of shortening the cylinder and thereby permitting a longer barrel has merit. However, the barrel would protrude much further through the frame and would sure look strange! The overall barrel length gained by shortening the cylinder would not amount to much, and certainly not be enough to gain much velocity. To eliminate this problem, the frame itself would need to be shortened - something that is hardly practical given the poor sales of 9mm revolvers.

 

[DBR]

You might actually lose velocity if you shortened the cylinder. With most pistol powders the maximum pressure occurs before the bullet base clears the cylinder/barrel gap and in short barrels about 2/3 of the final velocity is achieved before the bullet leaves the cylinder. Shortening the cylinder would move the cylinder gap further back and vent pressure when it is much higher thereby reducing the pressure available to propel the bullet through the length of the barrel.

 

[Wil Terry]

The 9MM barrels on most foreign are oversized by our standards.

The barrel on my P38 slugs .357", and the original barrel from my Browning High Power slugs at .3572".
The original S+W M39 9MM pistols were right on our .355" and the last Smith I measured was there also. These are usually the tightest American 9MM pistol barrels you'll commonly find.
All of the S+W J-frame 9MM pistols used 38 sized barrels and they work very well indeed. I was told the S+W M547's made for France also had .357" bores but somehow I had my doubts as I never had the opportunity to slug and measure one one of those truly nifty 9MM sixguns.

 

[HerbG]

Wil Terry - great answer!

I think some new shooters may be under the impression that if a .355 diameter bullet will just fall though a .357 bore. Not so! My experience has been that other factors may be a lot more important than an exact bullet/bore fit. Sometimes bullets that are a little under bore diameter shoot better than ones that fits perfectly. in other cases bullets .001-.002 oversize may shoot better. It just depends on the individual gun and a lot of other factors. The best way to find out is to go to the range and do a lot of shooting!

 

[The Mighty Beagle]

Wow, thanks Wil, I din't know it was that common to overbore 9mm.

This whole discussion has persuaded me to stick with my .357/.38's. They're much less hassle to fool with (moonclips sucking the fun out of it for me) and I'm certainly not going to pay good money to get an over-bored barrel. I know you guys say they shoot great, but I just can't bring myself to gamble on it when I already own equivalent sixguns.

I set up the progressive to reload the .38 Special again ... ah, the sweetness of pop-gun wadcutter loads printing tiny groups ... so cheap, so .22-like ... now why was I ever wanting a 9mm again?