Shooting the Bodyguard Cold

I was back at the range this afternoon, and I intended to shoot my Smith & Wesson Model 649. I purchased the 649 to alleviate some of the wear on my old aluminum framed Model 38. They shoot pretty much the same, but the Airweight 38 is much easier to carry in a pocket holster.


I had been shooting the Model 649 for a bit when I realized that my Colt Defender was still holstered on my hip. I unholstered it and put it on the table.

I ran 150 rounds of Winchester White Box through the 649, enough to turn the barrel blue with soot. I like having a snubbie in my pocket. Such a carry arrangement allows me to converse with a person with my right hand placed casually in my pocket, in a firing grasp on the weapon. The potential threat never knows it is there, unless I need it. That is a decided advantage. It gives a person time to assess the threat and make an accurate determination on whether lethal force is warranted, and have the gun into play in the blink of an eye. Or, if the conflict can be de-escalated, a person using pocket carry can do so with a gun in hand and nobody is the wiser.

One of the oft disregarded advantages of a snubbie in a pocket is speed. The short barrel of the snubbie revolver is frequently thought of as an aid in concealment, but it also enables the shooter to clear leather and bring the muzzle to bear quicker. While peak muzzle velocity may not be reached with a snubbie, clearing leather first and getting hits on target first has it's benefit.

I alternated shooting the snubbie with shooting the Ruger MKII. I wasn't so much working on marksmanship with the Ruger as I was attempting to decondition any advantage I gained from firing the Smith over and over. I wanted to shoot each cylinder cold, as though I had just drawn it from my pocket after a week or two of not shooting. I would draw and put two on target, then three. Other times, I loaded four rounds only. When I clicked on the empty chamber, I had to make a quick decision to pull that trigger again for another shot.

Shooting a snubbie revolver accurately in double action is demanding shooting. Shooting a snubbie revolver double action to get controlled couplets or trained triplets with holes where you want them to be, as fast as you can pull the trigger is a skill that eludes many shooters. Many shooters eventually move on to easier guns to shoot in a search for greater accuracy. I can not place the holes as close to each other with a rapidly fired snubbie as I can with a Government Model. But I can place them close enough with a snubbie for government work. The other advantages of a snubbie frequently out weigh the more difficult shooting, and the more difficult shooting presents a challenge.

I have given some thought to dropping this revolver off at Clark Custom when I pick up my Colt Commander. A couple of years ago, Jim Clark had a matched set of S&W 629 snubs that he had melted and bead blasted for a customer planning on going into Kodiak country. That brace of pistols was one of the sharpest best thought out sets of guns I have seen. I'm thinking that a Clark Meltdown and bead blasting on this little pocket pistol might just make it ideal.