Guns, Bows, Shooting Sports, and Hunting SW 637 Airweight

[lizzyhermit]

anyone own/shoot/carry one of these ? opinions? experience ?



Smith & Wesson Model 637,

Chief’s Special

Airweight . 38 Special



13. 5 oz, 5 shot, desert hiking peace of mind !

 

[Bertram65]

Check out the 340PD, http://firearms.smith-wesson.com/store/index.php3?cat=293600&item=831388&sw_activeTab=1 much more take down power with the 357 magnum, a consideration if using for hiking with larger animals in the woods, Scandium, stronger and less weight, hammerless no snags taking it out, you can shoot thousands of rounds through it and the Scandium frame will hold up, your hand may not but the gun will. Only downside is the price.

 

[JFinke]

My dad got one for his wife and she likes it. I have shot it and it's ok, but as Bert stated they are a little weak in stopping power. I would also recomend the . 357 as a much better alternative. If whoever is going to carry it wants to shoot it with light 38 ammo that would be fine, then just put the good stuff in when you are going to carry it. I bought a 329PD that is also scandium and VERY light. I shoot hand loads in it that are 44 special, but carry it with 44mag 240gr federal hydrashocks. I have shot it at the range with them and it is painfull, but when I shot it in a hunting situation I never even noticed. I was sure glad I had it and not a . 357 or 38 when a wounded wild boar came through the brush. Jake

 

[BIGNASTY]

Will send some legal reasons why I would twice think about the 637 as a CC gun.

Out of reach of a keyboard type computer now.

 

[BIGNASTY]

The reason for the 637 being a questionable choice for CC is that there is a court case in One of the more Chicken XXXX states that a Revolver with a hammer was used in a defensive situation and now the one that used the 637 is being tried for Murder. Seems in some of the states that by using the revolver as a Single action by cocking the hammer is viewed as Intent the line between Intent and Premeditated in the view of Lawyers is VERY THIN. If the Revolver has no Hammer to cock the action it is viewed as a Defensive Situation. I've read about this court case in several magazines that I get and also the Tactical Pistol course that I've taken sends News Bulletins out of such nonsense. I have recently purchased 2 S&W 637's for CCW for my Daughter and Daughter In Law and have taken them to a Gunsmith to have the hammer bobbed to make them Double action only. My question to a Lawyer friend was how would anyone but you know if the gun was used SA or DA? he said that just as much as they have to prove that you used the gun in SA you have to prove that you used it in a DA mode. It would depend on the Jury as to which way that went and a 50/50 gamble in this age of Liberal Minded Millennial Morns isn't a gamble that he would choose to take. I have gone to a S&W 642 as my CCW one its almost unnoticeable weighing in at something like 15 oz and is the Hammerless version of the 637 its small enough that CC is super easy and doesn't pull my pants down with the weight of a full size 1911.
Something else that I had to reconsider is my choice of Ammo on my 1911 I carried 230 gr Ball ammo that I LOADED. Their is another court case that involves 2 things one that the ammo hand loaded at home is considered by many that its intent was to inflect more damage than factory fodder. With testing the way it is im sure that someone who knows what's going on can tell that it was loaded at home vs Store bought fodder. The other thing was modification of the gun OF ANY KIND. Seems that if a hand gun for instance is SENT in to a gunsmith and is modified in ANY WAY its viewed again as intent and that VERY FINE line is again brought in to view. We had the hammers bobbed on the 637's and the 642 didn't have one to worry about. We practice and have become pretty good with the DA pistol it does take some getting use to. We use Hornady 158 Gr XTP ammo and its just as hot as our practice 158 gr ammo that we use in practice. Laws and Lawyers are on the side of the A Holes of the world for the most part and just incase anyone forgot the Millennial A Holes are a pretty significant number of " I hesitate to use the term People"

 

[JR]

Seems like there would have to be other circumstances in that case to be charged with murder. I'm not sure how it could ever be proved a hammer was pulled back on a DA revolver vs simply squeezing one off unless there was a witness. Even then that hardly proves ones intent. That's craziness.

BIG I understand your frustrations with today's society and the bizarre laws the liberals attempt to push through. Im fortunate enough to live in a very conservative area so i dont see alot of the crazy antics you post about. But I think you are grossly misdirecting your volleys at the age groups in your post above. I've seen many studies suggesting millennials make up less than 5% of both federal and local government in the US. Gen X and baby boomers account for nearly 90% of the federal govt according to the US census bureau. And how many 18-34 year old lawyers do you know? No doubt there are attorneys just getting their ears wet that are in their early 30's if they went into law school right out of high school but at least locally the vast majority of attorneys I see are well into their 40's and beyond. Millennials aren't running the country (yet). Blaming them for the laws on the books is in accurate at best.
And no, I'm not a millennial, even though I've been accused by some of the single dimensioned minds on here :-laf. Just stating some facts. We need to put the blame where blame is due.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Seems like there would have to be other circumstances in that case to be charged with murder. I'm not sure how it could ever be proved a hammer was pulled back on a DA revolver vs simply squeezing one off unless there was a witness. Even then that hardly proves ones intent. That's craziness.

BIG I can understand your frustrations with today's society and the bizarre laws the liberals attempt to push through but I think you are grossly misdirecting your volleys at the age groups in your post above. I've seen many studies suggesting millennials make up less than 5% of both federal and local government. Gen X and baby boomers account for nearly 90% of the federal govt according to the US census bureau. And how many 18-34 year old lawyers do you know? No doubt there are attorneys just getting started that are in their early 30's if they went into law school right out of high school but at least locally the vast majority of attorneys I see are well into their 40's and beyond. Millennials aren't running the country (yet). Blaming them for the laws on the books is short sighted at best.
And no, I'm not a millennial. Just stating some facts. Put the blame where blame is due.

I think that you may have been thinking in the WRONG direction about my Millennial concerns. The % you gave must be GROSSLY misrepresented if that were the case why then were there so many of the air head Millennial types that followed the GRAND POOBA of air heads Berni Sanders enough anyway to give hillary problems until it was decided that berni couldn't Make the cut. Your thinking about the Lawyers being Millennial types is true they dont have the smarts to become a lawyer BUT HOW ABOUT THE JURY Lawyers like the WEAK MINDED MILLENNIALS they are OBVIOUSLY EASY TO MISS LEAD TO SUIT THE NEEDS OF A CRAFTY BOOMER LAWYER. I may be an old boomer hick in the sticks but im a DAMN BIT smarter than 90% of the Millennials. When I get back to a real keyboard I have the proof

 

[JR]

I may be an old boomer hick in the sticks but im a DAMN BIT smarter than 90% of the Millennials. When I get back to a real keyboard I have the proof

As well you should be. You likely have 3-4 DECADES of life experience on them. Why do you feel the need to provide proof of that? You seem to take my comments personally when it wasn't intended that way at all. But to blame the youngest generation for all of our countries probelms that likely began before they were even born is short sighted to say the least.

 

[BIGNASTY]

As well you should be. You likely have 3-4 DECADES of life experience on them. Why do you feel the need to provide proof of that? You seem to take my comments personally when it wasn't intended that way at all. But to blame the youngest generation for all of our countries probelms that likely began before they were even born is short sighted to say the least.

Its not pointing blame. I can remember my Dad saying that the world is doomed when my generation takes over. It's an ongoing assumption that the younger generation is going to have less know how. In the case of the Millennials ITS A WELL DOCUMENTED FACT!! Look at YouTube videos I CAN'T SAY THAT I HUNG OUT WITH THE VALEDICTORIAN CROWD IN SCHOOL BUT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT COLLEGE STUDENTS OF THE MILLENNIALS SAY LEAVES NO DOUBT THAT WE AS A SOCIETY SHOULD BE CONCERNED

 

[BIGNASTY]

anyone own/shoot/carry one of these ? opinions? experience ?



Smith & Wesson Model 637,

Chief’s Special

Airweight . 38 Special



13. 5 oz, 5 shot, desert hiking peace of mind !

Sorry for straying off subject. To answer your questions about the revolver. I found the trigger pull of over 11 lbs to be atrocious. I install different trigger springs from Wolff a very simple process. I did this before learning about the legal concerns. Also while in the trigger I took the time to stone out the mating surfaces to provide a MUCH IMPROVED trigger pull of 6.5 lbs in a DA mode. As far as 38 special its plenty for the average defence distance in gun fights is less than 20 ft. & 3 shot average. Videos prove that the various ammo types are sufficient for protection. Penetration of 4 layers of denim & 15 inches of ballistic gel is probably plenty to make some assailant say uncle. All of this us not if your intended use is to protect yourself from snakes. I hope this helps.

 

[JR]

I can remember my Dad saying that the world is doomed when my generation takes over. It's an ongoing assumption that the younger generation is going to have less know how.

I can relate to this. My old man worked the hell out of me from a young age and no matter what I did it was always wrong. I worked 40+ hour weeks on the farm year round from around 14 yrs old. Helped alot before that but it was at a bit more of a leisurely pace. He took a job that had him gone from mid morning til late evening so it was up to me to do the evening rounds. He had a very high standard to how things should be done and all hell broke loose if something was out of place. It helped shape who I am today but It didn't do a whole lot for our long term friendship :-laf.

. Look at YouTube videos SOME OF THE THINGS THAT COLLEGE STUDENTS OF THE MILLENNIALS SAY LEAVES NO DOUBT THAT WE AS A SOCIETY SHOULD BE CONCERNED

Absolutely. Everything is on YouTube these days good and bad. Kids aren't smart enough to realize they are going to regret the crap they post 30 years from now. 30 years ago there was no such thing as the internet to capture all the sex, drugs, and rock and roll and antiwar/anti govt protests that many youths were partaking in. Or the beatings and hangings and segregation that was taking place 60+ years ago. Every generation has skeletons in their closet as a whole. The millennials are just the first to be in the cyberspace age and hang their dirty laundry out for the world to see. My question is where was the parenting when these kids were in their most influential years. A level of respect and integrity must be instilled at a young age or people tend to make fools of themselves.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Internet OR NOT!! Im referring to the video that had a young girl with a Teeshirt that read University of Michigan with an arm full of books and others running about in a college setting. She wad asked a question about who won the Civil War, her non hesitant response was "THE BRITISH" are you frigging kidding me? There are TONS, TONS os such videos on the net. Im sorry Ive grown tired of defending my intolerance of STUPID PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT AGE THEY ARE.

 

[bpjmartin]

I had a 637 for a while but never used it much so it went away in a trade (before WA went and complicated such).

I still have and sometimes carry a 642. There wasn't really anything I found wrong with the 637, but other guns I already had such as the 642 were already doing fine for what I wanted and the two are so similar but for the hammer (and my 637 had an internal lock, my 642 does not).

Both worked fine for pocket carry, even though I'm not a big fan of that in general. All the concern I had about the hammer of the 637 potentially snagging disappeared the moment I first tried it and realized that regardless of exposed hammer or not, when drawing from a pocket my thumb tends to sit over the hammer (or where it would be on the covered hammer models) until my hand clears my pocket, so snagging just wasn't the problem I expected it to be.

Shooting it is nothing unexpected, its not unpleasant, but its nothing I would choose for just shooting for fun either. As was mentioned a couple of times already, I wouldn't get worked up over it being "only" a .38. Ammo has gotten so good that even the most recent FBI ammo trials pretty much concluded that all handgun service calibers are lousy at "stopping" people (and certainly critters), and that with premium ammo most common "self-defense" calibers work (or not) about the same. There's a reason you see so many 40S&W and .45ACP LE trade-ins on the market the last few years after their report and recommendations came out.

 

[BIGNASTY]

BP good thoughts in your words. I really like my 642 for the reasons I offered in my OP. The use of a wheel gun as my CCW was a little concerning, being use to a 1911 single stack with a couple of extra clips. It always seemed to pull my drawers down & sitting in a car without drawing it for comfort OR try buckling a seat belt. But I did like the added assurance of the 45 ACP round over the 38 +P. The model with the moon clips made reloading a bit faster than strip clips for the revolver with a little practice my reload time is 5.5 seconds from last fired to first fired. Not to awfully bad. Penetration for me wasn't that much of a concern with the 38+P I shoot daily with pratice puttin all 5 +P's in the head of the silhouette of course that silhouette wasn't shooting back.

 

[Mike Ellis]

Carried a 640 for more miles than I care to remember, it was a nice little revolver and I shot a truckload of ammo through it over the years. I usually fed it with .357 125 gr JHP but I would have no concerns at all about carrying it with .38 Sp, there's plenty enough power. The trigger in mine slicked up some over the years, but it was always pretty stout. The only problem I ever had with it was the ejector rod tended to "back out" a bit under recoil so that it would bind up and make it very difficult to unlatch the cylinder. Loctite helped some but the problem never went away entirely, recommend checking the ejector rod frequently to ensure it is tight.

 

[sarj]

Mr Big...

I picked up a little 642 w/ a crimson grip a few years back for my woman. I think it's one of the better options for a small carry. She hates it for the trigger pull you mentioned above. I've already had it apart & was going to play with a Wilson spring kit to get it in a better zone, and I read about your comments concerning 'legal concerns'. What are they?

 

[BIGNASTY]

Mr Big...

I picked up a little 642 w/ a crimson grip a few years back for my woman. I think it's one of the better options for a small carry. She hates it for the trigger pull you mentioned above. I've already had it apart & was going to play with a Wilson spring kit to get it in a better zone, and I read about your comments concerning 'legal concerns'. What are they?

Sarj my concerns are with any modification to the pistol is grounds for some lawyer could and probably has made it a legal concern. You see it all the time from mostly liberal, big city AH's that aren't looking for anything other than a buck in their pocket. I've seen it in the news that even home brew ammo was a target for lawyers, even though it was proven that the home brew ammo was less than factory in power.

bottom line everyone knows OJ did it but things can get twisted around to make the outcome what ever they want.

you might look into polishing the trigger contact surfaces that made for an ultra smooth trigger pull


BIG

 

[TJJEEPER]

Very interesting thread. I've had many hours of civilian fire arms training. They all echoed what Big is saying for your personal protection firearm. No Reloads and no modifications. To do so in the eyes of a Jury makes you a killer.
There were a few other tidbits they hammer into the class as well. "I shot to STOP". Never ever use the word kill. Also you need to train train train until the muscle memory has you addressing the perp appropriately. Two to center of mass for one perp. One each for multiple perps with a follow up second. If they keep coming shoot to stop the computer. It's important to KNOW how many times you pulled the trigger!
Enough soapbox...
To the topic I have a S&W 442 and it's not used anymore for carry. I have occasional bouts of arthritis that make pulling the trigger very painful. I'll stick to the compact 1911 is .45 thank you very much! And last, the best gun to have for protection is the one that's in reach, period.

 

[Buffalo]

I, also, have heard the same thing about not modifying your carry weapon. The other thing I've heard is to find out what ammunition your local police are using and use the same, identical ammo. That way, if a lawyer suggests that you built and load a weapon just looking for the opportunity to kill someone, your lawyer can say that the gun is non-modified, just like any weapon on the shelf of your local gun store and the local police use the same ammunition that you are using.
Apparently, that can make a difference if you ever have to go to court to justify defending yourself or someone else.
In classes I took, years ago, I was taught to yell "STOP!!!" before shooting so that if there are any witnesses, they can testify that the shooter told the bad guy to stop "before" actually shooting. That is supposed to look/sound good in a courtroom.
When I took classes, I used a S&W, Mod. 66, 4" barrel and shot .38 wad cutter's for paper targets. We absolutely could not pull the hammer back before pulling the trigger. At first, I thought I would not be able to hit the broad side of a barn but, with practice, it became very comfortable and accurate.
I shot thousands of rounds using that technique with no problems. I used to buy reloads for the classes in boxes of 1000 & I bought many boxes. I loved that S&W-66. It's a great gun and extremely reliable, however, a little old fashioned by today's standards.
Joe