Smith and Wesson 340PD Range Report

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Live: S. Maine. Work: East Boston
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First Impressions:

This is the first new revolver I’ve ever bought. All of my other ones were bought used, and were built in the 1970s, 80s or early 90s. I had never bought a revolver with an internal lock, but I wanted this gun so much that the lock became a non-factor.

Picking it up out of the box, it is light as hell. I remember the first time I ever picked up a 340pd a year or so ago, it felt like it was made out of plastic. IT practically jumped up from the table… of course I had been carrying an old Model 60 snubby, an all stainless gun that weighed in at around sixty pounds. Felt like the hard rubber Hogue type stocks were at least half the weight of the gun, so I replaced them with my much more handsome and carryable Ahrends Cocobolo stocks.

Hearing some negative things about new guns from S&W, I carefully inspected it from all angles, looking for scratches, nicks, dents or anything of the like. It appeared to be in very good shape, except for the white lettering stamped into the barrel. The “357 S&W Mag” marking was stamped well into the barrel, but the white anodizing was very faint, where it was bright and clear on both the “No less than 120 gr bullet” and the funky S&W atom logo thingy.

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Dry firing the 340pd was not comforting exactly, and the trigger pull was considerably stiffer than the model that I had tried in the store. You have to overcome serious initial resistance before the trigger moves back in one swift movement and the hammer releases. It is difficult to pull the trigger slowly and in a controlled way due to the stiff initial pull- once you put that much pressure on it, when it gives, it goes back all the way. After dry firing it a few hundred times, the trigger becomes much smoother, with a more controllable pull back. Later on at the range I was able to smoothly pull the trigger back with no drama.

When the hammer falls it makes a non-confidence-inspiring “tinngggg” sound that resonates a little bit, very different from the solid bank-vault like CLICK that an old steel gun makes. In addition, it seemed to me to be too easy to release the trigger just short of the stop so when you pull it again it rotates the cylinder, but does not actually engage the internal hammer.

I can’t have a new gun in my possession for more than a few hours before firing it, so despite having a cold, and being pressed for time, on the way home I found an old dirt road, went a ways down and opened up the trunk to see what kind of ammo I could find. I found a bag of handloaded .38spl rounds that I knew to be pretty gentle- plinking rounds. The lighter powered rounds fired as expected, slight recoil, no big deal. A couple of Winchester White Box .38 +p Personal Protection rounds later proved that it was a good, controllable gun that I could put multiple shots on target, quickly.


When I finally got to the range a couple of weeks later I was ready with the WWB +p 125 grain, Speer 125 Grain .38spl +p, and Speer 125 Grain 357 magnum HP rounds, several water jugs, a chronograph, some targets and a shooting glove.

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The first order of business was to chrono the three types of rounds and see if .357 was significantly better. At the same time I’d test the grouping and accuracy from a two handed, kneeling position. Based on strings of ten shots, the average velocity of all 125 grain bullets were as follows:

Winchester: 749.6 feet per second
Speer 38 +p: 826.1 feet per second
Speer .357: 1090.3 feet per second

Which means as far as energy delivered to target:
Winchester +p: 155.92 ft-lbs
Speer +p: 189.37 ft-lbs
Speer .357: 329.87

Looks like .357 out of a snubby delivers TWICE as much energy to the target than .38+p! Clearly .357 out of a snubby is considerably more potent than .38+p, so don't listen to the gun shop commandos. So much for the myth of there being no difference between .38 and .357 out of a snubby! The .357 was significantly faster, and the Speer was loaded a bit hotter than the Winchester. Now let’s look at the targets.

Winchester .38 +p Personal protection
wwb.jpg


Speer Gold Dot .38+p (Ignore the WWB box, I put it there by mistake.)
speer38.jpg


Speer Gold Dot .357
speer357.jpg


Seems that the Speer gold dots grouped significantly better than the Winnies, but didja notice what happened to the accuracy with the .357? :D

Yeah I saw it and I felt it. .38 +p out or this gun is a piece of cake, and I wasn’t expecting .357 to be too much worse… but it was.

I noticed that when I shot, the trigger guard would come up and hit my index finger right at the first knuckle. Didn’t dent it or make it bleed, but it was noticeable. Also noticeable was the kick on the pinkie finger as the grip flicked it out of the way during recoil. The gun otherwise seems to push right back instead of flip up. The first shot was surprisingly powerful, and stung my hand. The second shot stung more. The third shot actually hurt my wrist! And this was with a padded shooting glove on! No wonder my accuracy went to hell. 

So it seems that the best grouping and accuracy comes from the Speer GD .38+p, which is probably what I’ll run in it. I noted a small amount of bullet pull in the Speers, but not too much.
bulletpull.jpg


Let’s do a penetration test! I lined up some water jugs, Box-o-truth style.

waterjugs.jpg


The first shot skimmed the bottom, holed the first and third jugs, and disappeared, missing the second and fourth jugs. What the heck?
Lining them up again, a better shot penetrated two jugs just barely, leaving the fully expanded JHP nestled there.

38pexp.jpg


I couldn’t leave without firing barehanded with the .357 rounds.
Eyyouch. I’m a righty, and shoot right handed. The gun slapped back with the first and second stunning rounds, and I became afraid of the third. By the fourth and fifth rounds I was actually pulling the gun back in anticipation of the recoil. Terrible, and I’m not at all recoil shy.

There was no actual blood, but there was considerable pain in the base knuckle in the index finger and the web of the hand. It actually made the index finger and pinkie pains go away in comparison. :p It took me a minute to recover to try another 5 rounds. I really could not do five rounds accurately, really no more than two before my sense of limb self-preservation made me undergo silly gymnastics to compensate for the recoil.

I took exactly one left handed shot- you can never tell if you will have to use your non-dominant hand. It was so bad, I couldn’t do another…unless my life depended on it I suppose. It is a few hours after I shot it and my left thumb still hurts as if I overextended it backwards, which I probably did. Just for fun with one of these shots I fired at a still full water jug that was coming right at me with a knife. It was entirely destroyed.

357jug.jpg


In conclusion, I think it’s a great gun, and easily controllable with .38 +P, but not controllable for me at any range with .357. Use with that round would be limited to card table distance, and no further- at least not for more than two shots. I am considering carrying it with 3 .38+p and two .357, in that order. The two .357 rounds are all I could fire accurately anyway, and the three .38+P would hopefully get any social work job done with maximum controllability nad speed in followup shots. I’d just have to remember that the last two are real kickers.
 
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Seems to me that loading the last two cylinders with the .357s might cause unintended consequences if you drew, started shooting, and forgot about them.

I had the same over recoil problem with a Para Warthog, which is why whenever it is that I end up picking up a carry gun I'll settle for a SW 642 or 637. Or maybe even one of their smaller .22 models. Although they would sacrifice that extra stopping power, I figure controllability would be more important.
 
JAMZ, great review. Thorough and to the point. Better than a lot of reviews I've read in the gun mags.

Thanks for you thoughts. Makes me want to try the Gold Dots in my 442 and 640-1 and see how they group.
 
Yeah I saw it and I felt it. .38 +p out or this gun is a piece of cake, and I wasn’t expecting .357 to be too much worse… but it was.

I noticed that when I shot, the trigger guard would come up and hit my index finger right at the first knuckle.
Exactly what I noticed when I fired JayG's 340. It HURT to fire that... and I don't really consider myself to be a wimp on recoil! I mean, I like .45 snubbies and love shooting full-house .357s out of my Model 66... but that 340 is just too much of a handful for me.
 
Excellent review. My 340PD is my daily carry. Smooth action, MagNaPort, and grips that fill my hand but not my pocket. The MagNaPort and the better grips make it controllable.

If you ever want to try it and get to my side of the canal, let me know.
 
I love my 340PD! She's my daily carry. I feel naked without her, yet I hardly notice she's there even while working hard.

Unfortunately, mine is at S&W this week. It had a hairline crack in front of the cylinder, so they're going to take care of it for me. I hope to get it back soon, b/c carrying my bigger guns isn't as comfortable.

Oh, the .357 made my hand bleed, but I had to at least try it. =)
 
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Good review, thanks.
Your experience with the lightweight is about the same as mine with the 23 oz. model 640. I'm going to try some 140 gr HP's to see if I can arrive at a reasonable balance between pain and power. I stopped after seven full power shots because I was concerned about permanent damage to the wrist from recoil.
 
Jamz,

Awesome write up. Thank you very much for the good first hand information... Very well done... [wink]
 
Great report and you have to respect a guy who carries his entire shooting range in the back of his Ford Ranger!!! How cool is that?

Chris
 
Great review Jamz, I have one also. In an extended range session I had cut my thumb on the cylinder release. Since then I have placed my left thumb behind my right hand when shooting J-frames instead of crossing them on the left side as with full size revolvers. Since the grip change it has been a little less punishing and without any cuts...
 
Jamz,

Excellent review!

I've got a 360PD, the Chief's Special-framed version of your gun. For what it's worth, Four Seasons sells a Federal +P+ .38 Special that's about 3/4 the power of the .357 Magnum that is quite comfortable to shoot.

Also, M&M reloads out of NH has a reloaded .357 Magnum 158 gr. FMJ that's inexpensive for practice, doesn't kick as bad as factory loads, and doesn't leave the cylinder garf of a .38 special. Look for them at the next NH gun show.

BTW, nice shooting with the snubbie!
 
You know what? I just discovered a set of Hogue Monogrips that I forgot I had. I installed them this morning, and will try to take them shooting later this week with magnum rounds to see if it is less punishing. :)

Thanks for the replies, all!

Jay, I'll check out that Federal load at FS this week. Thanks for the tip!
 
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You know what? I just discovered a set of Hogue Monogrips that I forgot I had. I installed them this morning, and will try to take them shooting later this week with magnum rounds to see if it is less punishing. :)

Thanks for the replies, all!

Jay, I'll check out that Federal load at FS this week. Thanks for the tip!

I also use the Hogue's & the Federal .38+p. It should be a little easier on your hands.

-Ana
 
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