Defensive Handgun Modifications

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DragonFire

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This is my first post THR though I've been following it for several months now.

Though I currently carry a Glock 27 for daily CCW, I'm been using a S&W 610 for IDPA and some other competitions. I find that 10mm is a great round, moon-clips make reloading easier and quicker and ignoring their political dealings, Smith makes a terrific revolver. Besides I find shooting a revolver (and trying to shoot it well) is more fun (though I'm not giving up my auto's any time soon).

So, now I'm thinking that I want to select a revolver for CCW. The one flaw with the 610 is it's size. An N-frame just isn't a great gun to try to conceal. I've never been a big fan of .357 or .38 special, though I've shot my share of them. But eliminating those calibers cuts the choices for a revolver almost completely.

I see Taurus has a 5-shot 9mm out, the model 905, and is coming out (or maybe already has out) with an alloy frame "ultra-lite" version of it. It should be j-frame in size, light to carry, and I have a couple of Taurus pistols that have been reliable and accurate. They also have a .45 in a slightly bigger frame.

So I'm asking two things:
1)What revolver would you recommend for full-time CCW? Or maybe one for warm weather (light clothing) and one for cold weather?

2)What modifications (if any) would you make?

I'm rather curious about a revolver I saw in one of the magazines that had a trinium bead installed in the front site for night-sights. How about a trigger-job or having the cylinder drilled for moon-clip use? But I don't want to do anything that would cause it to be unreliable.


I hope to take many of the suggestions posted, so please don't suggest a rare model that I couldn't hope to acquire, or some star-wars do-hickey that hasn't been invented yet.

From what I've seen on THR I know I'll get some great recommendations. I thank you in advance.
 
My current daily carry gun is a S&W 640-1. The only modification has been to replace the stocks with Uncle Mikes rubber boot grip. Stoked with 125 grain JHP Federal 357's!
 
Dragon ... welcome to THR Sir :)

I have carried many things .. but my longest favorite really is my SP101 ... it's essentially J frame proportions .. a tad heavy maybe for some . ... not me.

Mod's ...... I added CT grips to this (and a coupla N frames too actually) and it makes a great combination. It sits for me in a Jim Burke belt slide Hi Ride .. with plenty of cant . sorta FBI. Very comfortable and accessible. I shall only take this off when really skinny clothing just won't be enough and then .... will be using my newly aquired Rorhbaugh R9S .. in pocket mode.

The SP ...... is getting close to an all year round carry piece. ..........


sp-101_s.jpg
 
I carry a Sp101 3" .357. Modifications made include: CT grips, bobbed hammer and I painted the front sight. I carry it in a smartcarry holster worn the traditional way and as a verticle shoulder holster. :cool:
 
Though I currently carry a Glock 27 for daily CCW, I'm been using a S&W 610 for IDPA and some other competitions. I find that 10mm is a great round, moon-clips make reloading easier and quicker and ignoring their political dealings, Smith makes a terrific revolver. Besides I find shooting a revolver (and trying to shoot it well) is more fun (though I'm not giving up my auto's any time soon).

So, now I'm thinking that I want to select a revolver for CCW. The one flaw with the 610 is it's size. An N-frame just isn't a great gun to try to conceal.
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Modified 646 perhaps?

One member over on GlockTalk described in the wheelgun forum how he had his 646 chambers reamed to accept the 10mm cartridge. He says he has been told by source that he says should know, but he won't name, that the cylinder is good for the 10's 37.5K psi pressures, but go no further! A Search should turn up the thread easily.

edit: Turns out I lied. The thread was not in the Revolver forum, but in the 10mm forum. :)

http://www.glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216693&highlight=646
 
S&W's Centennial revolvers are about as perfect as a concealed carry gun can get for a civilian leading a normal life, IMHO. But throwing out .38/.357 when looking for a carry revolver is kind of like deciding you want to become a baker, but are allergic to wheat. Can I ask what negative experience you've had with these venerable mainstays of revolver calibers?
 
I really like my 940 it is a concealed hammer Centennial By S&W that has 5 shots of 9mm in a moonclip, It is a little heavy at 25oz but not bad for IWB.

My 940 shoots real well and I can keep 15 shots in 6" firing fairly fast with 2 reloads. I shot 15 rounds about as fast as my daughter fired a Glock19 w/ a standard mag.
 
Can I ask what negative experience you've had with these venerable mainstays of revolver calibers?
Click to expand...

I guess it's more not favoring the ..357 then it is being negative towards them. I like the bigger bore of the .40 and 10mm, and reloading the shorter cases is easier and a bit safer since you can see the powder levels in the cases where the .38 and .357 are too tall to see into (at least on my Dillon press).

Granted I haven't played that much, but it seems to me that the .38 reloads were a bit too wimpy, but the .357 seemed a bit too much for just target work. (yeah, I know I probably should have worked up a .38 +P load).

I haven't ruled out a .357, and realize that if I'm going to find an all-around carry revolver, it will probably be in that caliber. Though a mid to small size .40 or 10mm will stay on my wish-list.

Is the 940 still available? I thought it was no longer being offered.
 
940 is still around but as a used gun I got mine ANIB for $300 2 years ago. Some folks will try and steer you away from them with horror stories of hard to extract and in accuracy but mine will shoot and I have had no extraction problems. I did have a problem with some reloads being to long but reseating the bullets to proper length worked.
 
Dragonfire,

I can sympathize with your frustration over visually checking 357 cases; but man, oh man, it is a great caliber to reload. I use a Dillon, too--just a SDB--but I continue to be surprised by the range of things you can do with 357. I load--all in 357 cases--everything from 158 gr lrn at 750fps for PPC with my 66, to moderate 140 and 146 JHPs for my own snub (a 340), to thumping 170 gr JSPs at 1700 fps from a Marlin.

If you go this way, and you use a Dillon, get rid of your 38 brass right off. You don't wanna spend your loading time setting and resetting your crimp and powder funnel. Load everything in 357 cases, and have a blast with it.

Whoops--I try not to be quite so evangelistic most times, but I just got back from the range and love my 357s very much right now :D

Let us know what you choose to do!
 
i would luv to be able to get the taurus 905 in ultralight 9mm trim...but in CA, who knows when that might happen. in the meantime i'm been making due with my smith 642 (alloy .38)

i had the
1. action tuned (the cylinder now just spins forever)
2. trigger face smoothed and rounded (no more pinched trigger fingers)
3. cylinder release beveled (no more abraded thumbs)
4. chambers chamfered (eases reloading)
5. i only regret not having the front of the cylinder beveled at the same time as i had the other work done.

it currently wears the UM boot grip, but i'm looking at the hogue batam grips too. i thought about have a front night sight installed too, but haven't been motivated enough to send it off yet.
 
But throwing out .38/.357 when looking for a carry revolver is kind of like deciding you want to become a baker, but are allergic to wheat.
Click to expand...

hey, a good gluten free baker can do extremely well for himself... it just requires more research and testing, and the prices are a bit higher.

so i guess that's a pretty darn good analogy ;)
 
A favorite carry revolver of mine is a Model 65 Smith. Since I am never satisfied with what any factory gun brings to the table, I let S&W work on this old guy.
Factory bobbed hammer
DAO
the trigger is "suave" breaking clean and easy
Cylinder throats, set to specs, forcing cone recut
New Wolf springs
recessed charge holes
Timing set to specs. All new trigger group parts
This gun is TIGHT., cylinder gap is hard to even see
New Factory 3 inch Bull barrel
Mepro dot on the front ramp

Favorite factory load is the Hydroshock 158 grain JHP
Favorite hand load is Speer's 146 grain JHP-SWC over SR4756 powder, for 1200fps. Controllable, accurate, and not a lot of flash.
 
I am doing a carry gun now

I found an as new in box S&W model 66-1 with 2.5" Barrel. I first removed the hammer and trigger and replaced them. I now have .500 smooth combat trigger, and a hammer I bobbed.

Next I fitted the parts and tuned the action all to proper specs. Straightened the extractor rod, polished the barrel of the yoke, set the timing as I like it with a little bit of early lockup, Charge holes will be lightly chamferred but this is a P&R gun so that is just to remove sharp edges, Wolf ribbed main spring, 15# rebound spring, and smooth walnut grips.

Sights will soon be changed to Meprolite night sights front and rear. After about 500 rounds or so, I will check the internals again do what needs to be done and then send it off to MagnaPort for a 4 port job. (I like ported guns and have no problem with them at night or shooting with retention)

Last will be purchase an Alessi Hideout holster and Desantis speed loader pouch and it will be ready for carry.

I have done all these mods on one other 66 except for the porting. That will make it my perfect carry gun for 125gr JSP rounds but YMMV.

Regards,
 
New or good used S&W or Colt or Ruger mid frame. If you want big bore and are comfortable with five rounds, a used L frame S&W 696 .44 Special should be around somewhere.

Otherwise, I'd go with a .357 K frame. The L frames are available in six or seven shot.

You said the N frame is bigger than you want, so that rules out the 3.5" er folks carried for a long time, and the few 4" eight shot PC's that were made a while back.

A Colt Detective Special, or Magnum Carry, is a great little sized six shooter.

Don't overlook the old Ruger .357's (Security Six, Speed Six, & Service Six).
 
I replaced my .45 ACP AMT DA Backup's with a S&W 296 5-shot enclosed hammer .44 Special lite weight for CC and home use. A bit brisk for my wife, even with the bigger Uncle Mikes rounded combat grips, I bought a new 2" 10 last year, actually +P rated, for a 'house' gun. I later bought a police trade-in 3" 65 (used) and put slick wood grips, like my wife likes, on it. Both of these carry +P rated 158gr LHPSWC .38 Specials (Remington R38S12 - all protective guns in my home or on my person carry commercially made ammo.), a long proven decent stopper. I have even shot these from the bargain-priced S&W 642's with great results, accuracy-wise. The recoil in that lite weight is acceptable - especially with a boot-grip replacement - the 1/2" longer Hoques are much better, albeit at a CC cost. Of course, the UM's grip-equipped 10 and 65 are both easy on the hand thus loaded.

My suggestion is that 642, available new ~$350, a grip change (~$12), and those 158gr LHPSWC's. That is pocketable and powerful. Note: I do not change my CCW's springs (For insured primer popping - and 'legal' interests.) - or 'tune' it's innards. I simply break them in the old fashioned way - clean/lube, dry-fire 1,000+ times, re-clean/lightly lube. This resulted in super slicking that 2" 10... most folks who shoot it ask who did the action job... Definitely try it with a new or little-used S&W (or Ruger) before agreeing to an 'action job'. Spend the money saved on practise ammo...

Stainz
 
When I carry my SP101 3" it sits in a Milt Sparks Versa Max 2 IWB. Modifications include wolffe 10lb trigger, hogue rubber grips, and a trijicon night site. Although I'll probaly replace that with an express 24/7 night site because the trijicon isn't that bright all. Not compared to the mepros on my kimber.
 
I can't speak for the 905

But the wife and I both carry Taurus 650's and are very happy with them. The only thing I've done with mine was swap the trigger spring with a wolf reduced spring. Tried to swap the hammer spring, but started getting misfires. The wife's came with a factory trigger pull better than mine after the wolf spring swap so it's stock. Might have to break down and buy a pair of those CT grips tho'.
 
I carry a Taurus 85 with crimson trace and Gold Dots or
Colt 1991 compact with a trigger job and an aluminum trigger with some reliability work done by Kustom Ballistics and again Gold Dots
Like them both a lot but the Colt is a little larger in the summer to carry so I usually carry the Taurus in warm weather (also works well in an ankle holster)
 
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