magnaporting or sell and buy other

[Rob454]

Ok so some of you may know the battle I have been having to lessen the recoil on a 375 snubbie I got for my wife. So far tried a few different loads of 38 ammo and none worked. I won't even bother with 357. We went to the range a few days ago and we tried a .22 long rifle caliber revolver snubbie ultralight and she said the recoil was very manageable and she liked the feel of the gun of course she wasn't accurate at all wit it but i blame that on the rudimentary sights of a snubbie which i can fix with some glow in the dark sight installation or just add a laser grip and call it a day. i figure the most she would need to do is hit center mass. my wife is not a commando and I don't expect her to shoot the azz off a fly at 50 yards. She likes the feel of the gun she currently has its the recoil and the trigger pull she can't handle.
After this week and the shooting of the .22

i came to a cross roads and I told her

Option one is to Magnaport the barrel and to get some lighter springs for the Taurus and see if she can handle that. From what I understand by reading and from having shot both ported and non ported guns of same caliber the porting does help. So will lightening the springs on the trigger

Option two Find someone who wants to trade for a 22 ultralight snubbie for a 357 snubbie

Option three is just go buy a 22 magnum or 22 long rifle snubnose liek she shot and call it a day. i also told her i would rather get a 22 magnum rather than the 22 long rifle simply for the fact that neither are really a great HD round but its better than a poke in the eye i guess. At that point either sell or keep the 357 snubbie around as a bedside gun whichever comes first.

I'm thinking of trying to magnaport the barrel and get the lighter springs. it would cost me about $140 to do that to the gun. if it doesn't work well Im just back to square one. I'm not trying to throw money away the gun can still be used and if i sell it whoever buys it gets a magnaported gun with lighter springs. I don't mind spending the extra money to make the gun more comfortable for her. But i heard in some cases the magnaporting tends to throw lead back at the shooter and the flame can be pretty impressive in some cases.

WWCGD
Thanks

[SanPedroShooter]

There was an article about .22/.22Mag in the last GunTests. They didnt think much of it for defense, but if she can get hits with it, its better than a gun which she either wont use or cant use.

If she doesnt even like the .38, I doubt porting it will change things that much, except now it will recoil and throw big fireballs... Of course I know **** all about porting handguns. I would buy a gun that I know she likes.


You may get a better response in the Handgun forum.

[rg_1111@yahoo.com]

Something she likes she will use more. Better to have a hit with a .22 than No hit with a .38

[Rob454]

she was missing a good amount with the 22 also but she was in the 8 inch circle paper with a few rounds most of them were on the outside or completely off the paper sometimes at 15 yards. I basically blame the rudimentary sights of the snub. i couldnt get past a 3-4 inch spread and on my 357 i kid you not i can put 6 shots in a one inch square. I'm gonna go talk to a gunsmith tomorrow and see what their suggestion may be and if its worth putting some money into the gun. hell they may have some ammo suggestion that has very little recoil for all I know.
My wife and I are game for anything right now. the money is already spent on the gun so doing a little bit of work to make the gun more comfortable for her is not a big deal. Worse thing that happens is I end up selling a gun with a smooth trigger pull and upgraded sights

[mtenenhaus]

a good friend of mine went the magnaport route and at least for us it didn't seem to make all that much of a difference if at all.

my better half struggled early on with very similar challenges to those experienced by your wife, honestly the thing that helped the most was taking a weekend class with Bruce Gray, it was two days of practical fundamentals with great instruction and she was hooked and competent and confident.

i really think a snubby is a pretty tough format for most shooters particularly newer shooters. the neat thing about the class is she got to try a bunch of different platforms and of course as my luck would prove, she fell in love with the hk p7 and the cz 75. i probably would not hold onto that pistol unless it holds some special affinity for you.

[Rob454]

that pistol unless it holds some special affinity for you.

just a run of the mill taurus. It's not a heirloom or anything that has any specific value or i would miss ill see what happens with the gunsmith and if its not worth dumping the money in it I have a few buyers for the gun. It's too bad cause it really is a great gun. I can keep a 3 inch spread at 15 yards with ease with that gun. and its only my second time shooting it

[acorn]

I have a Taurus M85 ultra-lite 38 sp for my wife and she does not like it. I then got her a Ruger sp101 357mag that she shoots 38sp through and she like it much better then the Taurus. The weight of the sp101 is much heavier and is therefore nicer to shoot.

[Rob454]

I wish that was the case. i have a S&W and she says its way too heavy. My wife has arthritis and bad wrists. Ultralight pistols and small calibers is what i am probably gonna have to go with

[acorn]

FN 5.7?

[Rob454]

No semi autos. I spoke to a gunsmith and his opinion its better to go buy another gun than to try and redo this one for her. He said I can try to do 110 grain 38 ammo and he could do some lighter trigger springs but his overall consensus was if the trigger springs and the 110 grain doesn't work to sell it if she cannot handle the recoil because lightening the trigger won't help the recoil and he was against doing

So I'll take it in to get the springs reworked and then go find some 110 grain ammo and if that doesn't work then I'll probably end up selling it.

[MrOrange]

It's been said the snubbie is an expert's weapon, easy to manipulate but hard to shoot with precision. Even so, a Smith 640 was my choice for my elderly mother in her last years, arthritis and all. Why? A small-frame snub-nose is the single hardest gun for an attacker to try and get out of somebody's hands. The Magna Trigger conversion also gave some peace of mind.

Although they don't work with the Magna trigger, I'm a big fan of CTC lasergrips, no fine motor skills needed, just grab the gun and put the dot on the target.

I'm also a big hater of any kind of porting on defensive handguns. I want the discharge going towards the target, not towards my face or any other body part that may be in the way if I'm forced to shoot close in.

Try .38 wadcutters. They're barely more abusive than .22s, and Jim Cirillo's choice for social work. They cut a nice .357 wide hole, more damage than even an expanded .22.

[Fishslayer]

Any particular reason she's stuck with an ultralight snubby?

Maybe a .38/.357 with a bit more heft and low recoil ammo?

A .22 for SD is better than throwing rocks....

[locosway]

a 375 snubbie I got for my wife...course she wasn't accurate at all wit it...just add a laser grip and call it a day...She likes the feel of the gun she currently has its the recoil and the trigger pull she can't handle.

Option three is just go buy...snubnose liek she shot and call it a day.

she was missing a good amount with the 22 also but she was in the 8 inch circle paper with a few rounds most of them were on the outside or completely off the paper sometimes at 15 yards.

No semi autos.

So, why the fascination for the snub nose revolver? It's been said time and time again that they are horrible for women and new shooters, unless of course the woman is an accomplished shooter. But from reading your posts, it's clear that your wife is still fairly new at shooting, or at least doesn't have basic marksmanship skills mastered.

You're also against semi-auto guns for some reason. Does she find them entirely too complex? If so, which parts?

Have you taken her to the range and let her shoot many different guns so she can decide which one she likes the best? I'd wager that a heavier revolver in .38sp would be more suited to the task, or a steel framed 9mm semi auto.

Even most polymer guns are easy on recoil.

[redcliff]

See http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=550627 by the OP if you want the back story and the suggestions already made to him.

Given his wifes physical disabilities I still like the 317 kit gun with 3" barrel for the better sights and sight radius than a typical snubbie.

[Rob454]

We tried a few different handguns. Ruger Glock S&W and colt revolvers some we borrowed some we rented. She likes revolvers cause they are easy to use and if you have a misfire you just pull the trigger again no jacking around to clear the gun safety slide or dropping mags. I am not against her using a different gun. its her that is against using a semi auto. I would of given her my revolver but she says the grip is uncomfortable for her and its too heavy. She has the basic marksman ship course and gun safety so while she is new at shooting she is trained in the basics. Hell for all I know its me that makes her nervous when we go to the range. there also may be a miscommunication between us so thats why she is coming with me to the gunsmith to explain to him what the problem is. she is not against using the gun she does not like the gun in its current configuration the trigger and the sights i think are her biggest two problems. she anticipates the recoil and then combine that with sights makes a bad combo
I'm gonna go talk to another gunsmith who comes recommended by a few friends to see. i think a lot of the problem is her frustration with not hitting the target simply due to the somewhat crappy sights that most snubbies have

going out and buying a 38 revolver is sort of pointless cause this revolver will shoot 38 and 357. and going to a ultralight just makes the recoil worse.

this revolver is not a ultralight model its a stainless steel gun. Either way we may put a 3 inch barrel on it and rework the trigger. I read more on magnaporting and its not as great as i thought. i also ordered some wadcutters to try along with some 110 grain 38 ammo. Im gonna see about installing some sights on the gun and if thats not possible Ill go buy her a set of laser grips and leave it at that. If i find some ammo that has very low recoil then thats even better.

if absolutely nothing works then ill sell it and get a 22 revolver with the laser grips all in one package. I much rather spend the money try to rework this gun then to sell it at a loss and start all over.

Ill let everyone know what i came up with in case anyone runs in the same problem

Is CTC Laser trace the only company that makes laser grips for pistols?