Yep, I did. With my own money. No one had a gun to my head. A Model 66-8, 2.75” barrel. I actually WANTED it. Hillary hole, yes. Two-piece barrel, yes. Hideous rubber grips, yes. And let me admit, no, confess? Testify? Let me just say, then, that it is a fine firearm. First, the balance on these 2.75” revolvers is excellent, much more neutral than the 2.5” or 3” 686. The weight, at 33.5 oz, is enough mass to help with recoil while still being carryable in a (large) coat pocket. The overall form factor is just great. The bead blasted, matte finish is lovely to my eye and I don’t mind the black oxide cylinder release, hammer, trigger and ejector rod. I actually kinda like the accents. The new ball detent lockup is superb, as is the full, uncut forcing cone. It certainly LOOKS stronger than my three other vintage k frames. I always loathed the stubby ejector rod on short-barreled K and J frames and I am delighted that this has a full-length one. The sights? Eh, why did they have to make the rear sight notch shallower than a frog’s hair? They’re “fine” but probably something I’ll change. The grips? I generally don’t like rubber grips, especially round butt rubber grips, and I generally don’t like finger grooves, and I generally don’t like grips that cover the backstrap. I should hate these. I don’t. I actually like them. They’re grabby and long so they’re less than ideal for carry. But they actually offer an excellent firing grip on the revolver for both single- and double-action shooting, and they absorb recoil very well. I might swap them out for Pachmayr’s but the one’s I’ve bought in recent years are a pale shadow of the company’s more historical efforts. The stock grips make Fiocchi 158 grain .357 JHP’s feel like warm .38’s, and the grip is firm and repeatable. How does it shoot, with the two-piece barrel? Terrible. Everyone knows these are only capable of 12” groups at 25 yards. Actually, offhand 25 yard groups are the same as with my 67-1, Model 19-3 and pre-18 .22. That is to say, under 3” when care is taken. Double action pull is heavy (no idea of the weight, probably 13 lbs) but very smooth and I’d estimate the single action pull at 4.5 lbs with no creep and just a scootch of barely perceptible overtravel. This is a really nice gun. Superbly finished, extremely tight, nothing’s amiss. Sights, yeah, I’ll probably change ‘em, or at least deepen the notch and cold blue it. Grips? Maybe I’ll get something else, but these work damn well. Hillary hole? I don’t care anymore. Accurate? You betcha. Trigger? Maybe I’ll have someone massage it eventually but for now I’m just going to enjoy shooting it. I’m super happy with this.
Use it and enjoy it. They are very nice looking guns.
