M 642-1...Never had a plan to own one of these

[wcwhitey]

No bad my friend! J Frames are something you master, it takes some practice. In .38 an Airweight will never be a light recoiling revolver but they can be easy controlled. They don’t have to be painful and need to fit the hand properly. Like I mentioned earlier the Centennial style like you have has a higher back strap which if gripped properly has a lower bore alignment that will flip less and transfer recoil more into the palm then hammered version like the original Model 36 Chief. Good grips are essential to take advantage of that. I grab my Model 640/638 like a fist, my trigger contacts in the middle of the second pad. I grip it firm and squeeze. It’s not bullseye shooting it’s controlled repeatability. It’s important that the grip does not shift (that is where you create contact with other digits and get bruises and pain). Recoil should be as straight back as possible. The grips you currently have are big and have a lot of surface but if you look at the bore axis of is high, will cause the gun to flip, follow up shots will be tricky.

It may sound odd but I was taught to shoot the gun like a punch, fist grip, push it out there align the sights and squeeze the entire hand. 5 shots 1)Get 2)The 3)F*** 4)Off 5) Me!!!

Grips are personal, hand size and shape differs. Just give some thought to grip style and angle when trying to figure it out.

 

[Y-T71]

Thankfully the OEM Uncle Mike's Boot Grips fit me perfectly so I never had to go looking for anything else.

 

[JERRY]

an Airweight J frame is a nice pocket companion.

 

[halfmoonclip]

The lower bore axis thing makes a real difference with Centennials. Have a 340SC, which is a mean kicking little bugger...but I tried the exposed hammer version, and it is MUCH worse.
For the OP, experiment with grips, and use a bike glove if you're going to shoot a bunch...better than putting gihugo grips on a carry gun.
I've been loading 'full charge' wadcutters, 148 double end WCs loaded to the old RNL level.
Moon

 

[megatronrules]

Great find indeed. I Love the centennial S&W J frames,I've owned it have owned about a dozen or so the J Frames over the years. They are by far my favorite CCW piece and I e carried just about everything the last 20 odd years.

The best CCW gun is the one you always have with you. And even in this age of micro hi cap semi autos,the J frame endures and still excels at this. My current J frame centennial and EDC is the S&W M&P340 357 magnum. I believe even loaded it only 14 oz due to it's scandium frame. It has a deeper rear aight channel than the Airwieghts and an XS night sight too. Mine also has the LG405 crimson trace grips from the factory. I'd recommend these due to their Compact size and they have air pocket on that back strap it really helps with recoil and I believe them to be an asset especially on the J frame guns.