I was a skeptic, but now I'm feel very confident with a steel snub nose .38. Here's how I got converted.
A few years ago I fired my Father-in-law's lightweight .38 special. I didn't like it. First of all, it was too light for high-volume practice with decent ammo. Secondly, I had to work really hard to make decent hits on the target. So, I dismissed the snubbie as inadequate. I decided to keep using my medium-framed 9MM for primary and carry my little .25 ACP Raven as a backup (not much of a backup-up, I'll admit). Then something happened to make me re-think the whole snub nose issue. My 9MM needed servicing, so I was going to be without decent protection for at least a couple of weeks. I remembered my father-in-law's gun and thought I should at least consider a J-frame revolver.
I began to research guns and ammo and discovered that the Speer Gold Dot 135 grain Short Barrel round had very good results in bare gel and through 4 layers of denim. By this time a small amount of real-world data was beginning to appear on the internet, too. I decided to use the same criteria for the snub nosed .38 that I had used to choose 9MM guns and ammo. I decided to go out and look at some revolvers and hold them in my hand. I also fired a few.
I only had $200 to spend, so I looked at used top-name guns as well as new Taurus and Rossi guns. I decided to buy an inexpensive NIB Rossi 351, which is a blued, 2" barreled .38 special with very comfortable (but ugly) rubber grips. I fired the Taurus 85, which I liked, and which was only slightly lighter than the 24-ounce Rossi 351. I figured the recoil of the heavier gun would about the same as the Taurus, or maybe even less, making it even easier to handle. I am a big man, so the heavier gun would not be any more difficult to conceal than a light-weight version. I was right
I am very pleased with the Rossi. I must admit the trigger pull was way too hard for a man with severe arthritis, so I changed the mainspring. I used a spring from an older Rossi 68, trimming off three rounds of coil (one at a time, with testing in between). The gun is much easier to shoot in double-action mode, and it still goes, "bang" every time. I also got some small, wood grips to use in smaller pockets, for better concealment.
After 600 rounds of standard loads and a couple of hundred +P's, I can handle the Rossi 351 pretty well. I don't normally do any "rest" shooting, except to determine accuracy. I did enough rest work to know that this gun shoots very close to POA at 10 yards and 25 yards with standard and +P 158 grain ammo and with 135 grain +P's as well. I can ring the 50-yard gong with it, and hit human-sized targets consistently, grouping in the "kill zone" most of the time. I practice in double-action mode for the most part.
At the range, some of the guys say I should have bought a lighter gun. Then they fire mine. The consensus is that the lighter guns are more fun to carry, but the real steel deal is more fun to shoot.
I like my real steel snubbie because I never even think about recoil reflex, and it is small enough to carry anywhere, anytime, with any clothing that I would care to wear. I still carry my 9MM pistol whenever it is convenient, and I keep it in the car even when it's not on my person. I also carry the .38 snub in my pants pocket, with or without the 9.
