First Shots: S&W Model 66-2
Hello. At a past gun show, I picked up an unfired S&W Model 66 .357 Magnum revolver with the 2 1/2" bbl. It had some nice aftermarket stocks on it but I opted to refinish a set of the factory service stocks instead since the regular factory round butt stocks work fine for me.
When S&W's stainless service revolvers hit the market decades ago, police
officers I knew beat a path to the local shop to buy them or at the very least,
get their names on the "want list". Not so popular as in decades past, I think
that the revolver is still a very viable piece of defensive "machinery". Since
I'm not in a gunfight-per-day, I also rate "fun" as being pretty high on my list
of things to do. I don't think there much that beats a revolver for just
knocking around at the range or plinking safely & legally. That said, I think
they can still hold their own for protection in wooded areas or urban jungles.
Others may consider them "outdated" and me as being "out of touch". Despite my
extreme fondness and familiarity with a number of autopistols such as the Hi
Power, CZ-75, Glocks, etc, I have never felt "deprived" if toting a wheelgun. If
you do, go with the automatic that you're most competent with in my view. Shown
with my Model 66 snub are a speed loader and carrier. The speed loader contains
Remington .357 Magnum 125-gr. Golden Sabers, a mid-power magnum load intended
for more compact "carry guns".
The Revolver: This one has a very acceptable double and single-action.
The cylinder is nicely in time and lockup is a little better than average with
imperceptible endplay when only checked by hand. The finish is unmarred and
everything appears quite normal. Checking the bore and cylinder yielded no
surprises. In short, the S&W Model 66 snub is about like many others in
circulation.
Ammunition: I only tried four loads today. All were .357 Magnum loads. No
.38 Specials were tried. This ammo was chronographed. Average velocities are
based on 10-shot strings fired 10' from the chronograph screen. Here are the
average velocities in ft/sec:
Corbon 125-gr. DPX: 1141 (ES: 41, SD: 19)
Winchester 145-gr. STHP: 1171 (ES: 40, SD: 18)
Georgia Arms 158-gr. LRNFP "Cowboy Load": 807 (ES: 36, SD: 16)
Sellier & Bellot 158-gr. JFP: 1159, (ES: 45, SD: 21)
Here are examples of the .357 ammunition shot today. Left to right: Corbon
125-gr. DPX, Winchester 145-gr. STHP, GA 158-gr. LRNFP, and S&B 158-gr. JFP.
This was my first experience with the very lightly-loaded Georgia Arms .357
"Cowboy Load" in the traditional 158-grain bullet weight for the
three-fifty-seven. It is a "poof load", nothing more than a middlin' .38 Special
load really...but it is just a peach to shoot with respect to light recoil and
out to about 12 yards (the farthest I shot today), POI for this one is fairly
close to the other loads. I have no doubt that as distance increases to 25 and
50 yards, unless the target gets quite a bit larger, divergences between these
loads' points-of-impact vs. points-of-aim will become a problem.
Shooting: All shooting today was done at 10 and at 12 yards. All was done
double-action and from a standing position using a two-hand hold. The bullseye
targets were shot in slow-fire while the "green man" target was fired upon as
rapidly as a flash sight-picture could be obtained.
Before shooting any groups, I made a very minor adjustment to the rear sight. I
didn't touch the windage but did raise the elevation but two clicks. I used the
Corbon mid-power DPX load for this as it is what I'd use in the gun for "serious
purposes". I actually settled on the dead-on POA with this load being maybe an
inch low at 12 yards. This would allow me to hold dead-bang "on" with the
Winchester 145-gr. load and a Six O' Clock hold with the light practice rounds
from Georgia Arms...at least at this distance and closer.
Here are the results of 8 FTS (Failure to Stop Drills). They were fired using
the S&B full-power .357 loaded mentioned previously. Though controllable, they
were not pleasant to shoot in my opinion. This drill began with the gun in a
low-ready position and using two hands. Average time was 2.31 seconds for each
set of "two to the body and one to the head."
Here are six (expensive) shots using Corbon's 125-gr. DPX load. I appreciated
its "mid-power recoil". Point-of-aim was the center of the gray bullseye. You
can see that it's just a tad low...but closer than I could get in a real
defensive situation with its abbreviated time-frames. This group, like the ones
that follow, was fired slow-fire, double-action and at 12 yards. There was no
effort at speed but I'd estimate the cadence at 1 shot per second or perhaps
each second-and-a-half. This and the following groups were simply to see what I
could do with each type ammunition and to verify that the gun was "on".
Georgia Arm's 357 "Cowboy Load" would have done the best group of the day
were it not for my mistake, which can be seen at the 3 O' Clock position! Not
surprisingly, this was the most pleasant shooting load of the four today. In a
K-frame, this .38 ballistic-equivalent is extremely mild. So why not just shoot
.38 Specials? I just don't like having to scrub out the "lead build-up" that can
eventually prevent either loading the longer magnums or make extraction of them
difficult. With these "Cowboy Loads", it is not an issue. (Do not take this to
mean that I don't advocate cleaning one's firearms when used. I believe in and
practice cleaning mine each time that they are used.)
Winchester's 145-gr. STHP was the least comfortable to me. The low shot is
simply where I flinched. I knew it when I did it; it is not the "fault" of
either the gun or ammunition.
S&B's full-power 158-gr. JFP groups nicely enough from the gun, but hits
distinctly left of POA and remember that this is only at 12 yards. At greater
distances, divergence of POI from POA could become significant. I won't be using
this ammunition in this revolver anymore despite it's obviously grouping very
nicely from this revolver. I can work around POI being a little higher or lower
but not windage changes.
Conclusion: Shooting the stainless "Combat Magnum" snub is about like a
remember from earliar years. With very, very mild arthritis and some "extra
years" now, I do find that recoil that used to not be objectionable then
sort of is now...dammit!
There were no problems with the gun, no failures-to-fire, action locking up, or
malfunctions of any kind. Primer strikes were centered satisfactorily and
positive.
I'd checked the screws before shooting and after shooting, checked them again.
They were still tight, but not all that many shots were fired. With my .38
Special K-frames, this is not usually an issue at all. With K-frame .357's,
shooting full-power loads can and will loosen screws sooner or
later. I suggest that magnum shooters not fail to regularly check them.
If you have a revolver that you want to discreetly carry, I've had good luck
with Galco's paddle holster shown below. It's quality was plenty acceptable and
in fact, better than I expected.
This modestly-priced Galco paddle holster has adjustable tension for holding
the revolver and its "paddle" held the holster securely where I had positioned
it.
I will not be shooting full-power, sharp-recoiling 125-gr. .357 Magnums in this
revolver. The reason is two-fold: First, S&W no longer offers K-frame .357
revolvers and I've learned that they've not had spare barrels for them in stock
for quite a while now should I be unlucky enough to crack the forcing cone.
Second, I don't like the recoil, which feels heavier and certainly "sharper"
than full-power loads using heavier bullets. This one will get shot using the
Georgia Arms "Cowboy Load" and some handloaded 158-gr. SWC's at about 1050
ft/sec. Its "serious load" will be whichever groups best or is closest to hand
from these three mid-power .357 Magnum's:
Corbon 125-gr. DPX
Remington 125-gr. Golden Saber
Speer 135-gr. Gold Dot (Short Barrel Load)
All in all, I'm pleased with the Model 66's initial range session.
For those interested, Galco holsters and leather products (which I have no
affiliation with) can be found here:
http://www.usgalco.com/
For anyone interested, somewhat related topics on revolvers as well as mid-power
magnums can be found here:
http://hipowers-handguns.blogspot.com/2008/06/dont-count-revolver-short.html
http://hipowers-handguns.blogspot.com/20....-mid-range.html
Best.