What to buy for a plinker wheelgun in 38 Special, just for fun!

[Texas by God]

Put a good full size grip on them and they can shoot rather well. It takes away the every day carry aspect but a 2" J frame and a grip that really fits your hand con do well.

I agree the snubs can be shot well, but more the forte of the experienced shooter. I have collected a brace of squirrels with a Chief's Special and a 40 yd Cottontail with a bobbed Colt Police Positive.
But the plinking crowd will usually find them unpleasant to fire.

[texasnative46]

Texas by God,

AGREED 100%.

yours, tex

[jumbeaux]

Southern Ohio Guns has 4" Model 64 Smith & Wessons with bobbed hammers on sale right now for $239...these are probably recent imports or some of the remaining Brinks Security trade ins...

rick

[Texas by God]

That's a great deal. I would change the lockwork to SA/DA.
But that's just me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Petrol & Powder]

aren't the SOG model 64s dao from the factory in that horrid style that actually left the factory as DAO and cant be converted to sa/da?

I can't speak to this but most S&W DAO conversions involve a hammer with the SA notch removed. If you really want to restore the DA/SA action, that can generally be accomplished by replacing the hammer. In some cases you may have to replace the trigger and the hammer.

WARNING - I'm about to go down a rabbit hole, follow at your own risk

I own a bunch of DAO revolvers and DAO has its place. I understand that some people hate DAO and see it as some lessor form of the traditional SA/DA action. I'm not trying to change the views of others but $240 for a S&W model 64 that was in decent shape would be worth the money to me; even in DAO. YMMV

Thank you and you may now exit the rabbit hole and return to your regularly scheduled thread

[Lloyd Smale]

used 15 hands down.

[Soundguy]

Years ago a friend had an S&W M&P 10. He was mean tho, and wouldn't sell it to me for cheap:P (I use ":P" for tongue in cheek - I tease a LOT. Of freaking course he wouldn't sell it cheap, he enjoyed it too much LOL) On the plus side, he did let me plink it a LOT at the range; Put many a handload down range with that.

Since I don't have that nice wheelgun, and got some 38 Special brass recently and unexpectedly - I am thinking of getting something to use said brass up in a couple months, New is OK if it's a good gun & worth the $; Used is OK if it's not been abused to death too. (I probably will sell off the AMT backup, too, as it's too tiny for my Yeti hands!), anyways - what would you folks suggest for a 38 special only plinker? Used older wheelgun's fine, mainly I want sorta cheapish but decent quality, I'll just shoot gentle handloads in it for plinking. Keiths maybe, possibly wadcutters - for sure CB's and I'll maybe try out powder coating, have to work on the gear for that as my budget sucks.

M&P 10 would be a good one, I need to look at what they go for now, though; I'm not imagining they'd have much original finish left, OR be cheap LOL

for a cheap 38, I'd get a 357.. rossi 972 or a taurus model 65. Both are DA/SA and sub 400$ I have both, both shoot well. the taurus has the safety bar transfer, the rossi use the old 'nail' style firing pin.

[9.3X62AL]

I can't speak to this but most S&W DAO conversions involve a hammer with the SA notch removed. If you really want to restore the DA/SA action, that can generally be accomplished by replacing the hammer. In some cases you may have to replace the trigger and the hammer.

WARNING - I'm about to go down a rabbit hole, follow at your own risk

I own a bunch of DAO revolvers and DAO has its place. I understand that some people hate DAO and see it as some lessor form of the traditional SA/DA action. I'm not trying to change the views of others but $240 for a S&W model 64 that was in decent shape would be worth the money to me; even in DAO. YMMV

Thank you and you may now exit the rabbit hole and return to your regularly scheduled thread

I almost never run my D/A revolvers in single action mode--less than 5% of the time. A DAO action would pose no issues for me.

[dubber123]

Its not nearly as hard to shoot a DAO revolver accurately as some make it out to be. Learning the break right at the end of the stroke allows pretty much the same level of accuracy as shooting S/A. I have on some guns gotten as good or better groups D/A as I could in single action. I believe in some instances you can introduce grip variances on a gun with a light S/A pull simply because you don't have to hold the gun very hard to make it go off. Shooting D/A forces you to grip a little tighter to function the heavier and longer trigger, and this sometimes seems to be more consistent. If I wasn't stocked up on 38's, one of those DAO 64's would suit me just fine.

[35remington]

To me a plinker and field piece is my tapered barrel C series Military and Police 4."

Since sometime I need to hit with it for sure in a deliberate manner I use the hammer as a cocking device. My 638 not so much but on rare occasion it is handy.

[Low Budget Shooter]

dubber, it's interesting you should post that just now. Recently I have been testing myself DA versus SA and I'm getting consistently better groups DA. Maybe it's because of the reasons you posted.

[Piedmont]

Its not nearly as hard to shoot a DAO revolver accurately as some make it out to be. Learning the break right at the end of the stroke allows pretty much the same level of accuracy as shooting S/A. I have on some guns gotten as good or better groups D/A as I could in single action. I believe in some instances you can introduce grip variances on a gun with a light S/A pull simply because you don't have to hold the gun very hard to make it go off. Shooting D/A forces you to grip a little tighter to function the heavier and longer trigger, and this sometimes seems to be more consistent. If I wasn't stocked up on 38's, one of those DAO 64's would suit me just fine.

This is so true. I mastered DA shooting by buying a k22 back in the mid 1980s and actually shooting it a lot. Ten or more years ago I was shooting regularly at a range with the closest targets being at 25 yd. target frames. Much slow fire group shooting was done with my various handguns. With the J frames I was actually more accurate in DA. This firing was multiple groups, measured, on multiple days. No guessing or 'impressions'. At some point of weight and size, likely weight, the single action option can be an asset. This all proved to me that a cockable hammer on a J frame S&W was pointless.

[jonp]

Years ago a friend had an S&W M&P 10. He was mean tho, and wouldn't sell it to me for cheap:P (I use ":P" for tongue in cheek - I tease a LOT. Of freaking course he wouldn't sell it cheap, he enjoyed it too much LOL) On the plus side, he did let me plink it a LOT at the range; Put many a handload down range with that.

Since I don't have that nice wheelgun, and got some 38 Special brass recently and unexpectedly - I am thinking of getting something to use said brass up in a couple months, New is OK if it's a good gun & worth the $; Used is OK if it's not been abused to death too. (I probably will sell off the AMT backup, too, as it's too tiny for my Yeti hands!), anyways - what would you folks suggest for a 38 special only plinker? Used older wheelgun's fine, mainly I want sorta cheapish but decent quality, I'll just shoot gentle handloads in it for plinking. Keiths maybe, possibly wadcutters - for sure CB's and I'll maybe try out powder coating, have to work on the gear for that as my budget sucks.

M&P 10 would be a good one, I need to look at what they go for now, though; I'm not imagining they'd have much original finish left, OR be cheap LOL

Taurus is selling a 38sp for under $175. For a plinker I'm not sure you could beat that

[Soundguy]

Nice price, is it a snubby?

[9.3X62AL]

I think Dubber "nailed it" as far as the D/A accuracy question is concerned.

[ShooterAZ]

J&G Sales in Prescott,AZ always seem to have PLENTY of S&W Model 10's in stock, although the price has risen in the last few years. I bought several from them (with visits to the store for "hand select"). They are import marked and show wear, but generally in G-VG condition and all the ones I got are good shooters.

[RJM52]

Ultimate .38 Plinker to me would be a S&W Model 14... They are not overly expensive and about as accurate a .38 as one can get.

Bob

[saleen322]

Ultimate .38 Plinker to me would be a S&W Model 14... They are not overly expensive and about as accurate a .38 as one can get.

Bob

I agree with Bob, I got a used model 14 for about $250. An old Conventional Pistol shooter had it and because it was drilled and tapped for a scope mount in addition to the iron sights, collectors were not interested in it. It shoots very well.

...and speaking of shooting well, I never seen a top revolver shooter shooting double action from the long line. Even at the short line, everyone shot single action in timed and the top shooters shot single action even in rapid fire. I tried shooting the rapid section double action in practice but my scores were always better single action. While I am sure there were some competitive shooters in conventional who shot double action, I did not see one when I was competing. A bigger target and/or a shorter distance may change the results. YMMV

[Mr_Sheesh]

Jerry Mikulek might be the exception to that, saleen322 - OTOH the guy just plain may not be HUMAN, LOL - He seems to be good evidence for the "If you shoot 35k rounds a day for practice you'll get pretty good at shooting!" rule of thumb

[TDB9901]

Robertsons Trading post has a selection of S&W Model 10's just recently brought back in from the Montreal P.D. Start at $269 for a 10-10 HB and go up from there.

I just received mine. Some carry wear, but tight, and nearly perfect internally.

They sell through Guns America, and their own web sight. They are also a dealer in the T-Grip, of which I am very fond.