What role can a cheap 442 fill in a handgun collection?

[Macchina]

Let me start by saying I don't always carry and when I do it's usually my LCP. I recently found a great deal on a pre-lock S&W 442 in perfect shape that I couldn't pass up. I have a Ruger KLCR that I found surprisingly too large in my pocket. Even with the laser grips on. I bought the LCR hoping to pocket carry it, but found it's huge compared to my LCP. No problem because it's a 357 and is a dream to carry on my hip while I'm fishing.

I kind of gave up on the idea of pocket carrying a revolver and bought the LCP instead. I now really like the LCP and think it may be a better pocket gun than a revolver ever could be. I don't like owning guns I don't have a use for. What can a 442 do that the LCP can't? I tend to like the reliability of revolvers, but this LCP runs like a top. Is there an application that you find the 442 absolutely ideal for?

 

[rcmodel]

During the next .380 ACP ammo shortage that lasts two - three years like the last one??

I can always find .38 Special somewhere.
If not 2,000 rounds of reloads in the basement.

Just thinking of being without a J-Frame S&W gives me the Heebie Jeebies!
But I got way too many for that to happen!

rc

 

[PabloJ]

It is ideal weapon for ankle carry.

 

[sixgunner455]

I pocket carry a 642 every day, including right now. If I came across a 442 at a good price, I would get it for a spare, or a loaner for when family comes to town, or to give to my daughter as a graduation present, or several other things I could think of. Trade fodder, even, if the price is low enough.

 

[Lucky Derby]

It can be reliably fired from inside a pocket for more than one round. Your LCP, in the same situation, will (will, not may) jam after the first round. Try it sometime. IMHO NO semi-auto is perfect for pocket carry for this very reason.

.38 Special is also a more powerful round than .380ACP

 

[fxstchewy]

Order a set of boot grips from Ruger for your KLCR, should make pocket carry better. the 442 will be a better pocket gun than a KLCR not much but a little, I know this because my 642/442 is better in the pocket than my KLCR.
Now if you put a set of Hogue Bantam grips on the 442 it gets even better for the pocket.

 

[HexHead]

Your LCP may be reliable at the range just shooting paper where you can concentrate on your grip. In a defensive situation, you may not have that "ideal" grip on it.

When it absolutely, positively has to go Bang the second time, only a revolver guarantees that. Get a Mika pocket holster for that 442.

 

[Hometeached1]

I pocket carry a 642 every day, including right now. If I came across a 442 at a good price, I would get it for a spare, or a loaner for when family comes to town, or to give to my daughter as a graduation present, or several other things I could think of. Trade fodder, even, if the price is low enough.

Pretty much this. And the 442 is a little easier to carry in a pocket than the LCR.

 

[km101]

"During the next .380 ACP ammo shortage that lasts two - three years like the last one??

I can always find .38 Special somewhere.
If not 2,000 rounds of reloads in the basement.

Just thinking of being without a J-Frame S&W gives me the Heebie Jeebies!
But I got way too many for that to happen!"


My thoughts exactly! I will never be without a J frame of some type! But why do you only have 2,000 rounds?

 

[skoro]

Get a Mika pocket holster for that 442.

Absolutely. Best pocket holsters I've used.

 

[sixgunner455]

I've not used a Mika, but I hear they are quite good. I have a Galco horsehide pocket, and a made-by-me belt holster.

 

[fatcpa]

I've tried a bunch of different grips for my 642, trying to get it as comfortable as possible for pocket carry. I settled on a set of Pachmyr Compac rubber grips. They are about as small as you can get and do a fair job at absorbing recoil.

 

[jad0110]

I can't deny that the LCP will fit into a pocket better than a x42. Its a smaller platform all around. Then again, I find the little snubs with their more prominent grip markedly easier to grip and draw consistently from the pocket. So I make sure to buy my pants with big/deep enough pockets to accommodate my 642 and Mike pocket holster.

Your LCP may be reliable at the range just shooting paper where you can concentrate on your grip. In a defensive situation, you may not have that "ideal" grip on it.

True. Though either platform can fail, autos, small polymer frame ones in particular, are sensitive to grip and hold strength. An otherwise 100% gun like this can get really finicky when you hold it sideways with a weak grip and forearm. I'm not knocking the little autos, I do appreciate their amazing compactness and concealability. But it seems there is a tradeoff to everything.

Given your stated preferences, the 442 may make a good coat pocket companion in the winter.

 

[Haywood]

442 is a good back up to the LCR357. You can use the same speed loaders for extra ammo loaded with 38+P. My LCR357 is AIWB and my 442 is in my Left Front Pocket with a speed loader. My Right Front Pocket has Two more speed loaders. I have Twenty five rounds on me. Out for a walk and feeling protected.

 

[19-3Ben]

Your LCP may be reliable at the range just shooting paper where you can concentrate on your grip. In a defensive situation, you may not have that "ideal" grip on it.

When it absolutely, positively has to go Bang the second time, only a revolver guarantees that. Get a Mika pocket holster for that 442.

Oh come on. Any platform can fail. I've seem ammo based failures that have locked up a revolver but good. To say that a revolver guarantees that you get a reliable second shot is a complete lack of intellectual honesty.
While I am primarily a revolver guy and carry my Ruger Speed Six on me most of the time I am out of the house, my pocket gun is an LCP. I've tried bringing it to the range after months in my pocket with no cleaning. The first shot was literally a giant lint ball that "poofed" out of the gun along with the bullet. After that, every shot was dead on for the next 150 rounds. That thing has never ever failed for any reason, and with any ammo Ive ever shot, all the while having a lighter trigger pull than a J-frame, lower recoil (completely subjective), and higher capacity than a J frame. I sold my 642 after the first couple cylinders through it at the range because I knew it could not compete with my LCP.

To answer the OP's question the S&W airweights "speak" to a lot of people. Then there are people like me. My revolvers by far outnumber my bottom-feeders, but I do not own an airweight j-frame.
Now if I found model 12 in the right condition and at the right price I might be tempted by the K frame air weight.
Even then, the LCP is and will be my pocket gun.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

What role can a cheap 442 fill in a handgun collection?
....
I tend to like the reliability of revolvers, but this LCP runs like a top. Is there an application that you find the 442 absolutely ideal for?

Yes, IMO the M442 is the perfect pocket carry J frame. I have been carrying one for probably 6 years now and before that it was a M642 and before that a M638. I think the S&W Airweight is a great revolver and it carries easily in the pocket.

 

[19-3Ben]

To answer the OP's question the S&W airweights "speak" to a lot of people. Then there are people like me. My revolvers by far outnumber my bottom-feeders, but I do not own an airweight j-frame.
Now if I found model 12 in the right condition and at the right price I might be tempted by the K frame air weight.
Even then, the LCP is and will be my pocket gun.

I should add to this, that I do have an LCR that I actually really like, and find a lot more comfortable than I ever found the 642. A lot of people love the 642/442 and I can't fault them for it. It just seems that there is no "one gun" that works for everyone, and I happen to be in a minority that really doesn't like the 642/442. I want to like it, heck I wanted to love it. But that just didn't happen. So, OP, the question really falls to a matter of personal taste and whether that 442 is going to do something for you that makes it worthy of filling the niche in your arsenal.

 

[Doug S]

It's probably been said already but advantages of the 442 over the LCP...

1) Larger variety of loadings
2) More powerful
3) More reliable over the long run
4) Less maintenance required to achieve both daily and long-term reliability
5) Can be fired from in a pocket

There may be some others that I'm not thinking of.

 

[sixgunner455]

Any platform can fail.

Absolutely true.

I've seem ammo based failures that have locked up a revolver but good.

So have I, once. A powder-less reload, that I made, on the last shot of the last stage of a match I was winning.

I'm sure it has happened, but I have never seen a factory load do that.

An ammunition-related failure that locks up a revolver is extremely rare. A grip-related failure that malfunctions a tiny polymer auto is much more common, and much more likely to affect more people, especially when they grab the thing in a hurry.

More practice may help prevent that.

To say that a revolver guarantees that you get a reliable second shot is a complete lack of intellectual honesty.

Both statements are exaggerated absolutes, and potentially inaccurate as a result.

If a person has never experienced a malfunction with a revolver, but has with an auto, then in his mind the statement that a revolver guarantees him a reliable second shot is not dishonest - it is absolute truth. To the person who has had an ammunition failure, or seen an ejector star skip over a case head, or seen a cylinder hop off the gun unexpectedly, it is obvious that the statement cannot be true. The second person's perspective does not make the first person intellectually dishonest - and it may be insulting to say that. They simply have different experiences.

For myself, I am more confident that if I pull a small revolver out of my pocket, I will be able to successfully fire all of the ammunition it contains than I am if I pull a pocket auto. There are no absolutes in that, to me, just my assessment of the odds. Any gambler, when he lays his bet, has to accept the odds that exist at that time.