Anyone own a S&W 642?

[XD45]

Does anyone own the Smith and Wesson 642 (.38 Special +P Airweight hammerless snubbie)? I'm thinking about buying one as a carry gun and want to know if anyone has one and what your experience has been. Is this an effective defensive weapon?

[L-2]

I'll refer you to another forum which has probably over-discussed the gun:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=314422

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=138658&highlight=642

For me, the .38 Special +P (as well as 9mm) are my minimum in carry calibers, as you might gather from my listed owned-guns in my signature. I use my 442 or 642 for a backup to one of my other handguns.

[FortCourageArmory]

The 642 is quite popular in my neck of the woods with LEOs as a back-up gun because of its light weight. It makes it a nice package to cary for 8-12 hours a day. Shooting it with +P is another issue entirely. The airweight guns suffer from more felt recoil over their heavier brethren. It's a trade-off. So you have to choose which you prefer, better recoil management or easier carrying.

[maxicon]

I've got one (current post-lock production), and I like it pretty well. It's definitely an acceptable light-weight defensive handgun if you don't want to spring for its (even lighter but way more expensive) .357 brothers like the 340PD.

Upsides are light weight (17.4 oz loaded), decent ammo available, revolver reliability, smooth snagfree profile.

Downsides are only 5 rounds, heavy trigger pull, crappy sights, relatively bulky profile due to the cylinder, fairly heavy recoil with +P.

I stuck some CT laser grips on mine, and they help accuracy quite a lot. I still tend to drift at the end of the long, heavy trigger pull, but the laser shows me where my pull suffers. I'm seriously considering a trigger job to lighten it up.

Recoil's pretty stiff with +P ammo, and while soft grips can tame it, they're also sticky - the harder grips are better for concealment. It's not fun to shoot a lot, but no really light guns are, and lower-power .38s help that for practice.

Mine shoots about 3-4" to the right at 10 yards, and one day soon I'll send it back to S&W to have them fix it and maybe put a trigger job on it.

Overall, my Keltec P3AT conceals far better, with much lighter weight and lower profile, less muzzle energy but more rounds, similar poor sights and heavy trigger, and even worse recoil, and my Kahr PM9 is just a little heavier, is flatter, and packs a lot more energy and rounds with much better accuracy and sights for me, along with more manageable recoil. I find I much prefer the semi-autos over the 642, despite the better reliability of revolvers overall.

For a while, it was the cheapest S&W revolver you could buy. It's still down there in the bottom of the price bucket, which I like.

[Gnome]

I'm actually picking mine up tommorow morning. I bought it at Pro Force for a little over $400 after taxes and DROS. I've heard they're not fun to shoot too often, but for what I need it for (back up carry) it will do fine.

[Moonclip]

I have a 442, same gun in blue. You will enjoy carrying it, but not shooting it! I would probably reccomend shooting a non plus p jhp like the Winchester 110gr silvertip for controlability. Mines a pre lock.

[bluestaterebel]

own one. light and easy to conceal, nice kick. definitely a close range gun, i like it

[Kruzr]

I've got a 637 that I carry in my pocket in a DeSantis pocket holster on some days. Mine has the exposed hammer but the holster covers it and I can make a presentation fairly quickly without it hanging up on anything.

As mentioned.......these little guns are a handful when shooting +P. You will have to devote some practice time just to be able to shoot straight. They want to come out of your hand and it's common to see shots in the upper right due to the heavy double action trigger pull. Single action is a bit easier.

You can buy a spring kit from Wolf that will lighten the trigger pull a bit but this isn't the kind of gun you want a 3 lb. trigger on, it isnt for target shooting. In fact, it's one of my guns that isn't a TOY!

[glockman19]

I have both a 442 & 642 W/CTC 405's. I love the guns and will be getting a 640 sometime in the near future. I carry them in a DeSantis pocket holster. It is light enough to carry all day in you front, back or breast pocket.

Get one and you won't be disappointed.