Project: Break my J frame.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

620 so far

[skyugo]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52942291@N00/8064374091

250 additional rounds today. Not that bad! Apparantly the nerves in my hand have just given up. Also, I mounted some crimson trace grips on the 642 which are much easier on the hands than the factory setup (rubber pad across backstrap).

Basically I ran a wild combination of my usual drills. I did some timer drills drawing from my pocket. Unfortunately the avg from my pocket holster to hit within a six inch circle is 1.87. In my defense, this is from a pocket draw.

Even worse are my reloads which are taking 7 plus second from empty to next shot. No Jerry miculek I.


On the humorous side I was able to hit the old 8 inch plate at 100 yards.

I was happy to find that the laser was dead on with 158 gr right out of the box. It was visible in the daylight so I did some box drills with it which were fairly easy.


The fun continues!

ouch shooting factory ammo?
I've switched to trail boss powder behind lead. I load it near the max for trail boss, but it still stings less than basically any factory ammo i've tried. I've done 150 rounds of it in a sitting. Sore hands, but not excessively so.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

Yep. Really wasn't as bad as I expected.

[CAVDOC]

in my daily work environment the only thing I feel 100% comfortable with as a daily carry that must always 100% be totally concealed is a j frame on an ankle. I have never had issue one with the gun and it does get shot- a minimum of a box a month not to mention dry fire and lots of practice draws to stay proficient with the ankle rig. The gun is a all steel smith 36 made in the 1960's. except for putting on some "boot" style grips nothing has been done to it. I have been on this use/carry schedule for around 25 years. so to do the math it means this gun has seen over 12 thousand rounds since I have been carrying it, and my father(RIP) carried it for 20 years before me. No modifications, no spring replacement no fuss. Most smith wheel guns made before world war two will run 100% with no issues. Not an auto out there that can stand up like that

[CAVDOC]

FWIW, I don't find I notice the slightly heavier steel frame in the ankle rig at all, and would rather have the all steel for long term use and a lot of shooting (which mine has obviously done)
My usual loads are 158LRN's loaded to equal standard non plus p factory loads, and non plus p gold dot 125 hp's for carry.

[skyugo]

Yep. Really wasn't as bad as I expected.

what's your grip technique? i wrap my left thumb behind and get as high on the grip as possible. it basically recoils straight back with very little muzzle flip. just pounds my right palm a bit which is where the pain comes in with higher round counts. I use the factory rubber grips with the bare metal backstrap.

[Dirknar]

Works for me--running, hiking, skiing, biking, etc...

What gun/holster combo do you carry for swimming?

[jandbj]

I run a G26 or G34 daily, but still keep an LCR357 for those trips to the stop & rob. Love those Karl Sokol guns! I had a few done by Mike LaRocca back in the day. They are beauties! I wish someone did the same for the LCR. I sold off my j-frames after a few thousand through the LCR's in 22, 38, & 357. I found the triggers to be better and the Hogue grips that come on the LCR's are vastly superior to everything I ever had on a J for dealing with magnum & +P recoil.

Took a few snubby classes from Mike deBethencourt and I am comfortable with my snubby skills. He had us do a walk back drill all the way to 100 yards with our snubs!

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

Knocked out another 50 rounds. I have been on vacation and only had enough time to sneak in an extra 50. Obviously not much of an update but IT IS WHAT IT IS.

GHB

[kmrtnsn]

Greg,

We have an assortment of about 30 different J-Frames that we issue as back-ups. By policy, disassembly and any other kind of maintenance or repair, to include changing the grips are forbidden by policy. Something falls off or breaks, it gets sent back to NFTTU for repair. Therefore, the kind of failures we see are things like screws falling out of the sideplate, cylinder release bottoms coming off, etc. Little things that a dab or too of Lock-Tite would have prevented kind of stuff.

That said, are you doing, or have you performed any preventive measures to prevent the issues that I describe above?

On my own, I've put 1,000 rounds through my 340PD in the past 10 months. The issues that I see? The PD titanium cylinder does not like to let go of spent casings when dirty and hot and the Hogue grips interfere with the use of speedloaders when trying to work a reload quickly (that and my butterfingers) but that is about it. My 340PD has been flawless.

Anxious to hear more about your J-Frame.

K