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38 vs 9mm

Boghog1 said:
Trying to get her to the range but it will have to wait for spring unless I bring her to an indoor range, she has tried holding my glock and the brides M*P, I just want her to get some trigger time before pulling the trigger on a purchase
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Good plan. Did she try either slide?

Might try taking her to MFL and let her handle/fire a couple of different guns.

Talking to a friend, his elderly mother developed a preference for his Beretta Tomcat in .32ACP. Tilt up barrel eliminated the issue. Replaced her Colt 1903....I said he was crazy, let her keep that. :D

Aloha
 
Most people do not like their MIL, Looks like you got lucky!

Too bad a .380 is not on the list. Low recoil, slides are easier to rack and the P238 is a single action.

Or maybe a P938? Not sure how stiff the slide is or the recoil. But same as above, but in 9mm.

As for racking the slide, I always joke watching movies or TV, that I racked my slide and loaded my pistol months ago. Not just before entering a perp's place.
 
Boghog1 said:
She wants to purse carry another thing I am trying to talk her out of doing...
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I'd leave that argument for another day. Let her carry whatever she feels comfortable with, how she wants to. A nice six shot stainless revolver would be my choice but YMILMY.
 
chris_1001 said:
I have a S&W Airweight Ti (S&W 337) it sucks to shoot as its so light. However in a real firefight, recoil is the last thing I worry about. The first is ease of carry. Small and light for carry for me...
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The problem isn't the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
 
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My first gun was a Model 66 with a 2" barrel. The stock grips were replaced with Pachmayr's, what a would of difference. Gun's with different barrel length's, grips and different bullets makes this argument someone mute.
 
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M1911 said:
The problem isn't that the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
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Totally with you on this. I don't really practice with it. And I don't even recommend it (Air Weight's) for that very reason.

Just saying ease of carry to me, means less likelihood of me forgoing it. I'd trade a bit of power/recoil/weight for something that is not going to be left at home.

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RHJJ said:
My first gun was a Model 66 with a 2" barrel. The stock grips were replaced with Pachmayr's what a would of difference. Gun's with different barrel length's, grips and different bullets makes this argument someone mute.
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I had the same thing! I miss it!! Pachmayr's as well.
 
M1911 said:
The problem isn't that the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
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This.

And if a gun barks and bites "too much" it can turn off a potential shooter immediately.
 
M1911 said:
The problem isn't that the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
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Course there are wallhacks to this if you want to spend the money. For example when I had an SW640 with boot grips on it it was way easier to shoot that than a 642/442 was... but I know that if I picked up a 442 or 642 while I was a 640 owner I'd have little trouble shooting it decently enough. They're all j-frames so they all pretty much point the same, the airweights just hurt more when they go off. [laugh]

-Mike
 
M1911 said:
The problem isn't that the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
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Truth.
 
drgrant said:
Course there are wallhacks to this if you want to spend the money. For example when I had an SW640 with boot grips on it it was way easier to shoot that than a 642/442 was... but I know that if I picked up a 442 or 642 while I was a 640 owner I'd have little trouble shooting it decently enough. They're all j-frames so they all pretty much point the same, the airweights just hurt more when they go off. [laugh]
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The problem with boot grips is that when I put boot grips on my 642 I can't fit it in my pocket anymore.
 
M1911 said:
The problem with boot grips is that when I put boot grips on my 642 I can't fit it in my pocket anymore.
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I should have been more specific.... I mean boot grips like the ones the 642 comes with. The 640 comes with a set of grips on it that are much larger. Since I never fired full power .357 mag through mine (except for the hell of it) I downsized the grips on it so I could put it in my pocket if I really wanted to... so I put uncle mikes boot grips on it, they were a smooth rubber.

-Mike
 
chris_1001 said:
Too bad a .380 is not on the list. Low recoil, slides are easier to rack.
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Huh? Disagree.
Most. .380's are strait blowback actions that require heavier slides and recoil springs.
I've seen this problem or misconception many time when men buy their ladies a .380 thinking it would be a nice tame cartridge only to find out they DONT have the hand strength required to rack the slide.
 
If you want to do an exact match, look at the muzzle energy. That will give you the recoil amount.
The rest is up to the particular gun.

Here is my recoil comparison:
Beretta 98fs (9mm) < Sig 226 (9mm) S&W 686 (38Sp) < Glock 17 (9mm) < Glock 26 (9mm) < Kahr PM9 (9mm) < Ruger LCR (38sp) < S&W snubnose

I am on a steep learning curve, and some of these I shot a while age, so my order may change as I get more experience with the different pistols.

In general the 38sp target rounds are 158 grain, whereas the 9mm are 114. That in addition to the Slider action makes the pistols have less recoil in general.
 
M1911 said:
The problem isn't that the recoil that one experiences during a gunfight. The problem is the recoil that one experiences during practice. If a gun hurts to shoot, people tend not to practice with it much. Small, light revolvers with short grips, long hard trigger pulls, and negligible sights are hard to shoot and require a lot of practice to become proficient. If people don't practice, then they tend not to become proficient.
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Good advice here! Shoot what you love, and love what you shoot. Hits count more than caliber.
 
chris_1001 said:
Totally with you on this. I don't really practice with it. And I don't even recommend it (Air Weight's) for that very reason.

Just saying ease of carry to me, means less likelihood of me forgoing it. I'd trade a bit of power/recoil/weight for something that is not going to be left at home.

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I had the same thing! I miss it!! Pachmayr's as well.
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Another model 66 will be in my future.
 
M1911 said:
.357 is an entirely different animal than .38, especially when shooting a K or L frame. Much more blast, flash, report, and recoil. I can shoot .38 all day long, but .357? Not so much.
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M1911, what would happen if you load a maximum charge behind a heavy .38 bullet, like Buffalo Bore does? One of my friend let me fire his Ruger 77/357 carbine loaded with hot .38 loads. They were very accurate. We did some penetration tests. I was very surprised at the results.
 
TOM1960 said:
M1911, what would happen if you load a maximum charge behind a heavy .38 bullet, like Buffalo Bore does? One of my friend let me fire his Ruger 77/357 carbine loaded with hot .38 loads. They were very accurate. We did some penetration tests. I was very surprised at the results.
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I haven't tried any of the Buffalo Bore .38s -- the only Buffalo Bore that I've used is in 10mm.

I would expect Buffalo Bore to have more recoil than your typical .38 +P but less than .357. Out of an Airweight, I think it would be unpleasant but then I'm a recoil wuss.

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richc said:
FYI the S&W 66 with 3" barrel is a hard to find gun. Most are 2.5" or 4".
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Yup, they are indeed, and more's the pity.
 
M1911 said:
I haven't tried any of the Buffalo Bore .38s -- the only Buffalo Bore that I've used is in 10mm.

I would expect Buffalo Bore to have more recoil than your typical .38 +P but less than .357. Out of an Airweight, I think it would be unpleasant but then I'm a recoil wuss.

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Yup, they are indeed, and more's the pity.
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I've fired and still have a few buffalo bore 180 grain hard cast lead rounds in 357 magnum.....out of a 2 1/4 inch ruger sp101.......while the 101 is a tad larger of a frame than the air weight I'll say they are quite "stout"! I find them amazingly fun at the range for the wow factor! Lots of fun and I load my sp101 with them for carry "in the woods". Coyotes beware!
 

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