Airweight 642

Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire

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I just purchased a 38 Special 642 Airweight for carrying, the belly sights are brutal I couldn't hit Moby Dick if he swam 5 feet in front of me.
Any suggestions, I know I'm a good shot with my other handguns but I just can't seem to get comfortable with this.
 
Rapid Fire said:
I just purchased a 38 Special 642 Airweight for carrying, the belly sights are brutal I couldn't hit Moby Dick if he swam 5 feet in front of me.
Any suggestions, I know I'm a good shot with my other handguns but I just can't seem to get comfortable with this.
Click to expand...

I am not an expert, or even that good of a shot, but I have somewhat tamed my 642 to acceptable accuracy. First, I couldn't live with the trigger, maybe you can, but I had a trigger job done and got the pull down to a smooth 5lbs. The only way I could put anything on paper (after a lot of experimenting) was to use a super tight "death-grip", held as high as possible, on the gun. That's what worked for me. I don't know if it would work for everyone. Good luck! Of course it's easy to push or pull your shots with improper trigger pull as well.
 
Practice Practice Practice
Dry Fire the crap out of it - ease's the trigger pull
I did not have to have any work done on mine.
 
The snub revolver is its own animal, that's for sure. Like the others said, get a trigger job, and also look at getting different grips (the trade off might be less concealability). Also look into training if you have the time and money: www.snubtraining.com and like Dirtypacman says: practice, practice, practice...
 
Rapid Fire said:
I just purchased a 38 Special 642 Airweight for carrying, the belly sights are brutal I couldn't hit Moby Dick if he swam 5 feet in front of me.
Any suggestions, I know I'm a good shot with my other handguns but I just can't seem to get comfortable with this.
Click to expand...

you can get a trigger job. Or, you can dry fire it A LOT. This noticeably smooths out the trigger. The day I got my 642, I might have dry fired for 2 hours straight. My fingers were killing me, but I could feel the trigger get better.

What kind of grip are you using? You should have your weak hand thumb wrapped over the strong hand. It's much more controllable that way. See Jerry Miculek's j-frame grip
http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/MICULEK2/miculek2.html


The j-frame takes a lot of practice to shoot. I can put all rapid fire 5 rounds center of mass @ 10m relatively easily now. This would be incredibly simple with any other handgun I have, but the j-frame is a different beast.
 
Two ideas for you.

Make sure that the front sight is level with the rear sight. Lots of folks that are new to the J frame put the front sight way to high. It should look like this ( . . . ) not this ( . I . )

Second the 642 does have a long trigger but its break is very predictable. You can time the break by pulling the trigger 3/4's of the way and then realign your sights and give it a final squeeze.

Hope this helps.
 
If you are willing to cheat, there is a 50 dollar rebate on Crimson Trace products til the end of June IIRC, and one of our members is offering them at a substantial discount. Just make sure you know what kind of grip you like best before ordering.
 
im with you, when i got my 638 i couldnt hit anything to save my life. i had to stand 3 feet from the paper to get used to the sights, now im shooting it at 15yds with acceptable results.

like was said, practice practice practice!
 
I have a 360PD, the .357 version of your gun. A CT lasergrip will help you with your dry fire practice. You must REALLY focus on your front sight and trigger press or else you're going to lose sight picture at the last second. I find DA practice with my Smith Mod 65 helps with trigger control. Remember, this isn't a range gun. This is an up close and personal gun. Honestly if you need to use a gun like this at more than 21 feet you need to go and get another pistol, or a longarm, or just run away.
 
Get a trigger job. Put a dab of orange paint on the front sight. Get a Crimson Trace grip. And lots of dry firing.

Personally, I did much of that, but still ended up buying a PM-9 instead.
 
i have one with a laser, the nice part is the longer girp. secondly, someithing

i fond in a Jerry Miculek vid. use your thumb and index finger, when they

meet around the grip, the hammer should be back about 3/4 of the way,

get your sight picture and finish the trigger pull.

keep in mind that IMHO this is a close range gun.
 
yanici said:
Train with and without the Laser Grip turned on. This is one gun that definately goes well with laser grips.
Click to expand...

I second Crimson Trace grips, they make accurate shooting out to 5-7 yards fairly easy as long as you don't jerk the trigger. Under stress the standard sight of a snubbie will be next useless, you would be lucky to see the red dot from the laser grips if the stuff hit the fan.
 
I dropped the Apex kit into mine. Very easy to install and at $25 it was a cheap trigger job. I concur with the comments on aligning the sights right and practice. I haven't found a trick but I can consistently group about 6-8" or so at 7 yards with the occassional flyer (still on paper) here or there after practicing regularly.
 
Billy2 said:
Two ideas for you.

Make sure that the front sight is level with the rear sight. Lots of folks that are new to the J frame put the front sight way to high. It should look like this ( . . . ) not this ( . I . )
Click to expand...

This was the big one for me. I always feel like I'm shooting downhill with my snubbie - but once you get used to it you're going to find hitting your target a lot easier. I don't enjoy shooting it, but it's with me all day five days a week (often when not working, too, if I'm in a hurry or don't feel like strapping into a holster/gun belt) and I make sure to run 50rds or so through it every time I go to the range. To tell the truth, after you get used to what the right sight picture feels like with hand positioning/angle to the target, I think it's easier to rely on the front sight only. YMMV
 
TWtommers said:
I dropped the Apex kit into mine. Very easy to install and at $25 it was a cheap trigger job. I concur with the comments on aligning the sights right and practice. I haven't found a trick but I can consistently group about 6-8" or so at 7 yards with the occassional flyer (still on paper) here or there after practicing regularly.
Click to expand...

+1 Apex kit worked wonders in mine.
 
I found that with the long double action trigger pull the sights were hopeless. Learned to point shoot the thing as an extension of my hand. Now I can hit COM @ 30ft constantly, figure it's not a range gun, good for carry.
 
Billy2 said:
Two ideas for you.

Make sure that the front sight is level with the rear sight. Lots of folks that are new to the J frame put the front sight way to high. It should look like this ( . . . ) not this ( . I . )

Second the 642 does have a long trigger but its break is very predictable. You can time the break by pulling the trigger 3/4's of the way and then realign your sights and give it a final squeeze.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Damn good advice. The 3/4 thing works very well for me.
I'm still pretty scattered if I go straight back no matterr how careful I am.

One other thing that helps me, and this is a super no-no for just about any other gun in the world........
I take the index finger of my off hand and it is on the front of the trigger guard. This helps me to minimize "wag" as I go through the trigger pull.
And I will repeat......this is a big no-no for just about anything else.
 
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After reading this thread I am much less discouraged with my performance of my new .38 bodyguard. I hit paper once out of 15 shots at 15 feet...with and without laser. The trigger was definitely the main contributing factor to my poor shooting. I've been dry-firing it for the last half hour since I started reading this thread/watching tv, and have noted that it's very difficult to keep the laser from pulling to the right every time I cycle through.
I plan to carry this as a backup gun for now, but would like to be able to make it a primary CCW considering its size makes it very concealable.
There's a place close to me that will do a nice trigger job for me, which I think is my next step.
 
JRCustomCar said:
After reading this thread I am much less discouraged with my performance of my new .38 bodyguard. I hit paper once out of 15 shots at 15 feet...with and without laser. The trigger was definitely the main contributing factor to my poor shooting. I've been dry-firing it for the last half hour since I started reading this thread/watching tv, and have noted that it's very difficult to keep the laser from pulling to the right every time I cycle through.
I plan to carry this as a backup gun for now, but would like to be able to make it a primary CCW considering its size makes it very concealable.
There's a place close to me that will do a nice trigger job for me, which I think is my next step.
Click to expand...

Even without action work, grips that fit your hand will make it much easier to shoot.
 
TY43215 said:
Even without action work, grips that fit your hand will make it much easier to shoot.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Expect to test out far more grips with a snubbie than you would with most any other fighting gun.

CT grips are great, but also look at other options. I tried the LG-305s, Uncle Mike's boot grips, Hogue Bantams, and a few other various choices before settling on wood stocks with a Tyler T-Grip. It locks into my hand better than anything else did, and does not get hung up on the draw. Hot loads will beat the crap out of your hands, but it's worth it to actually hit what you're aiming at.
 
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