I bought my wife the 642 airweight, much against my wishes but she wanted a light gun for her purse. She would not listen and after she shot it, she never touched it again. I find the recoil to be more painful than that of my 686 that I carry.
Try Hornady 110gr FTX standard pressure... low recoil..
practice with 148gr LWC ...
642 carrier since 2004. The standard pressure 110gr FTX are great. When I could get them, the standard pressure 124gr Gold Dots were okay, too. +P anything isn’t fun, but does work. I can get through about 10 of them in a sitting. Full power 158gr will remove a patch of skin in about 35-40 rounds, and I have to be stubborn and dumb that day to do it.
What I practice with is 2.7gr BE under a 105gr hollow base moly coated lead bullet. I can shoot those all day. They shoot like a .22 out anything heavier - quite funny to run out of an Nframe .357. I carry the 642 loaded with FGMM 148gr wadcutters or the aforementioned 110gr FTX. 110gr FTX are in the speed strip for the reload regardless of what is in the cylinder.
If I am hiking or hunting, the first two chambers have snake shot in them, and I’m carrying another pistol, or a rifle, or a shotgun.
Front sight is painted Testor’s fluorescent orange, rear is Sharpie black.
The utility and versatility of the 642 is quite a nice thing to have around. My wife has shot it exactly once. “Torture device” is what she calls it.
The 60-9 I got last year is more fun to shoot, but is a bit of a pain to carry because of the hammer hook and added weight. I’ll carry my G26 instead of that one, most days, for 2x the rounds and better sights.