shockwave wrote: "As it happens, I stopped by a gun shop today and tried out the SP101 and the S&W 360PD Airlite Chief's Special. The Smith feels like it weighs half that of the Ruger and would be a much better CCW. Both have great quality and the action is equally solid in both."
I am going to dissent here, but to be clear, my hands are my hands, and not necessarily like those of another. An S&W Airlite HURTS the base joint of my thumb, with mere +P ammo. I don't mean the type of hurt that stops hurting when I stop shooting; I mean lingering pain that I feel deep inside the joint for several weeks. Even standard-pressure .38 Special I tried later, caused lingering pain. Yet, with an SP101, I can shoot such stuff as Federal 125-grain Hi-Shok (Classic silver box) .357 Magnum, and 180-grain Federal Castcore, with no pain at the time of shooting, nor lingering discomfort. Therefore, the choice between these two weapons, for me, my hands, is the SP101. I can only imagine what an Airlite would do to my hand if fired with magnum ammo!
FWIW, I can shoot the 158-grain LSWCHP .38 Special "FBI load" from an S&W Airweight Model 642. (Actually, it is a Performance Center limited-run gun not labeled as a 642.) An Airweight weighs a mere two or three ounces more than an Airlite, but somewhere in that two to three ounces is a point of diminishing returns.
I rarely carry that Airweight J-frame, bcause I can almost always conceal an SP101, even in the hot, humid coastal Texas summertime. My usual carry ensemble, when not in police uniform, from 2002 to 2007 was TWO of the snubby SP101s. I now usually carry a P229, but still have the SP101s for when a double-stack auto is too big. When I retire, I will probably revert to the SP101s.