Ah, Snubbies
July 27th, 2006 by Syd
It has gotten so friggin’ hot that shorts and a t-shirt are about the only thing I can stand to wear. My preference is for a pair of cargo shorts with nice, deep pockets. In this mode of dress, the Airweight Model 637 is the perfect gun for concealed carry. My darling wife insisted on a set of Crimson Trace LaserGrips for it — am I a lucky man or what? Her concealed carry permit is on the way, so I know I’m going to have to buy another light snubby soon — doesn’t bother me a bit.
I don’t kick down doors for a living, and a five-shot snubby loaded with +p does the job just fine. The gun shop commandoes can rave about their 18-round magazines, but the fact of the matter is that the five in the snubby is usually five more than I actually need. With a couple of speed-loaders in the little pocket in the front of the main pocket, loaded with Remington 129 grain +p, I am adequately armed. I don’t worry a bit. I know I can shoot this little gun and ruin any bad guy’s day with it in a heartbeat.
I stopped by a local gun shop. My favorite salesperson there is a guy named Albert. We always visit a long time whenever I stop by. He’s a member of the Kentucky Practical Defense League like I am and we have shot a lot of matches together. Like me, he loves the tricked-out 1911’s for the match, but when I stopped by the shop to pick up a set of Hogue Monogrips for the Model 60, we got to talking about snubbies. I was packing the Model 637 in a pocket holster. Albert showed me the gun he was packing. With all of the cool guns that Shooter’s has to offer, (and they have a bunch) he was packing the Smith & Wesson Model 649 accessorized with a Barami Hip-Grip. This is an all-steel .357 Bodyguard. He had a local gunsmith slick-up the trigger and it was really nice. Quoting Albert, “It’s enough gun for me. I just don’t put myself in situations where I’m going to need more than five rounds.” Conceptual connections.
With the Crimson Trace LaserGrips, the snubby becomes a formidable weapons system. I took my darling bride and my eldest son to the range this week. She had the CT grips on the Model 60 and he was shooting the XD-9 Tactical equipped with an Insight X2 laser sight/tactical light combo. They both shot much tighter patterns using the lasers than they did with iron sights. I like them too.
A lot of folks like to say that the five-shot j-frames are obsolete. These are usually folks who are packing baby Glocks or Kahr’s. They’re wrong. The little j-frames are still the most easily concealed and comfortable to carry handguns of anything available today. The little Kahr’s and Kel-Tec’s are attractive in many ways. The Kel-Tec’s in particular are very concealable but they are a tad underpowered. Personally, I remain distrustful of the Kahr’s. Quite a few people simply prefer the simplicity and reliability of the revolver, and it can launch a really powerful round if you so choose.
One thing I notice is that you almost never find “deals” on these guns used. The people who have them hang onto them. They work. They do the job.