Patrick Henry
Member
Well I have never tried to shoot .357 out of a snub. But the SP-101 is pretty hefty and I don't imagine it being uncontrollable. There are underloaded .357s like the Speer Gold Dot "Short Barrel" that will still give you numbers better than .38 spl +P.
But to say that .357, or 9mm is a better round than .38 spl +P is a generalization I don't think anybody can make without giving specific circumstances.
Try this: Assuming you have a safe and legal place to do it, take your loaded Kahr and push the muzzle hard up against a phonebook and pull the trigger. What happens? Nothing. Your slide is out of battery; your gun can't fire. That simulates what would happen if you were in physical contact with your assailant and had to use your gun -- a possible scenario.
You shove a snub into somebody's gut and pull the trigger, and it will go off.
Try this: Leave your loaded Kahr in your car glove-box for 6 months without disturbing it. When you take it out, it will be covered both inside and out with a layer of fine dust. Shoot it immediately without cleaning it (at a range). Maybe it will work anyway-- I don't know. But I did so with my snub and I know it will work.
Try this: Put on your Kahr exactly the way you usually carry it. Check whether by applying pressure to the gun (such as occurs when sitting in a chair, etc.) the magazine release can be depressed. It's not going to be funny when you pull your gun and you have only 1 shot because your mag is not fully inserted.
This is why I do not like the "American" mag release or drop-free mags, which unfortunately, Europeans are now putting on their pistols, figuring Americans are the "gun experts." Americans want that "quick" mag release which also makes it susceptible to being accidentally disengaged during normal wear. I have read accounts where a Berretta or a Hi-Power wouldn't fire because unbeknownst to the wearer his mag release had been depressed at some point.
With the "European" style release on the butt of the frame, accidental release is not possible, because it is not a button but a latch, and it takes a deliberate effort to push in the latch and pull out the mag. It is not any slower if you know how to do it. The same goes for a swing-out revolver cylinder -- that cannot accidentally come out.
Those are a few reliability advantages of the revolver in my opinion. The semi-auto does have many advantages as you mentioned. I am planning to get a Kahr MK if after handing it I am satisfied the mag release button is not too weak. But I would never get rid of my snub.
