Questions for S&W men

[Hawk]

The way to instantly spot them is to look on the left of the gun. If it has the new-style "hockey stick" (as I call it) cylinder stop machined at the rear of the frame window instead of the older stud pressed in at the bottom corner, it is going to be a MIM gun.

Almost but not quite all the time.

The current models produced with forged hammers and triggers will be in frames with the hockey stick and, just to add to the confusion, the forged hammer will be missing the hammer nose.

The MIM trigger will have a groove in the rear but with forged hammers being machined for frame mounted firing pins I don't know how one could tell MIM hammers from forged without opening the beast up and checking for pins.

Forged / conventional triggers and hammers are pretty sparse in "L" frames but there's at least one.
Rat chair

 

[Pack]

Thank you all so much for your input, information, and suggestions!

I think my solution is thus:

Pocket CCW: A snub, steel J frame. Likely the 649 as opposed to the fully-exposed hammer model. Fed with .38 +Ps

Hip CCW: Likely also a steel J-frame. The 3" 60. I'll likely get a 66 for this at some point, but to be honest I know myself, and in the short term the interchangability of ammo (.38 +Ps, as opposed to .357s) and speedloaders (5 round count, as opposed to 6) will get the better of me and my OCD.

I'll keep my 6" 686 for range time, and walking in the swamp.

From what everyone has said, I'm now very much intrigued by the 66, and I think a 4" example may have to added to the mix at some point in the future - seeing "duty", if at all, as a glovebox gun.

Stainz: Thanks VERY much for all you wrote, and most of all for the photo illustrating the size difference. I'm not a moron, but it's very difficult for me, no matter how many guns I've seen and handled, to appreciate the diference in size an inch or so here or there, or a few ounces, really makes in terms of the overall heft of a given piece.

Hank327: I like that Model 40, but I'm hooked on stainless for revolvers. I don't even know that this preference is justifiable, but there it is. As to what you said, you may want to do a search of the revolver forum. I SWEAR that I saw someone mention that there is a recent, limited-availability production of 642s and 442s with special suffixes that denote a "no lock" option.

 

[Pack]

Two final questions

1) Are the 649s made in very small numbers? There is presently ONE on gunroker that I could find.

2) As to the exposed-hammer (plain) model 60's...

The early examples were all chambered in .38 spl, and they later went over to .357 magnum.

Were they initially made with the prefereable pinned barrels, also?

If so, was there any overlap between the time they were stilled being offered with the pinned barrels, but were being made in .357 magnum?

That is to say - was there ever such a creature as a model 60 in .357 magnum with a pinned barrel?

 

[Jim K]

It stands to reason that an alloy frame will not stand up as well as a steel frame and an alloy J frame will not stand up as well as a larger frame, alloy or steel. No one uses a Scandium J frame in formal target competition and fires 10-20 thousand rounds a year from it. S&W knows that and its small light guns are not made to take that kind of punishment, any more than your family sedan is going to run at Talladega.

But those guns are perfectly fine for carry guns and will certainly hold up to enough rounds to become proficient in their use for defensive purposes. As for the J frame .357's, especially the super lights, I think the guns will hold up to more full house loads than the shooter will.

Jim

 

[Radagast]

Pack: The pinned barrel was deleted on all S&W revolvers in 1982.The 38 special model 60 & three inch barreled 60-1 were made with pinned barrels until that time. The J-Magnum frame (beefed up J frame for .357 magnum loads) was introduced as the 60-9 in 1996. The J magnum is easily identified by the full underlug in the all steel models.

No idea on availabilty of the 649, but it is obvious that the enclosed hammer Airweight guns are the most popular versions: There are no threads with over 1000 posts discussing the all steel guns, there have been two IIRC just for the model 642. I would say production follows popularity in the market place, so it probably is a fairly rare item. In addition, the 649 has only been around since 1985, the model 60 since 1965. Fewer 649 guns are available on the used market.