Things I wonder about

[Cold Smoke]

I was cruising through the classifieds this evening when a deep thought entered my head. It was fairly easy to recognize as a deep thought because they are so few and far between.

There have been several J frames listed, and invariably it is noted that they are low round count. My question is, have you ever heard of a high round count J frame? I’ve had my 640 for about thirty to thirty-two years. I’ve been abysmal at being a round counter, so spitballing I probably only have between three and five hundred rounds through it. Personally I don’t think that’s a particularly high count amortized over time. It’s probably seen more range ammo than anything. I used to burn my EDC rounds about every five or six months depending on what I’d been up to. Five shots of hot Corbon .357 without a numbing adrenaline dump is kind of existential. So what do you all consider a high round count pocket snubby?

 

[GlockPride]

I’m with you. I think most j frames are not shot much, but carried a lot. I’d consider 2-3k rounds or more to be shot a lot if it were 20 or more years older.

 

[diggler1833]

I think that you are probably right in assuming most snubbies have low round counts, and there are probably a few reasons. *My assumptions*

- Most people who take self defense seriously enough to practice with their carry gun a lot usually consider the five-shot revolver to be less than optimal. That camp will carry/practice with something else usually.

- Most snub nose revolvers are less pleasant to shoot and harder to shoot well than compact guns, which will undoubtedly effect round counts.

- Most people believe that revolvers are inherently more reliable than semi-autos, so they'll shoot their J-frames less for a 'break-in'.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that one is unarmed for carrying a snubby. I have a 637 that I'll occasionally pocket carry because it is easy and light. However if I can get away with something larger, I'll carry something larger.

I also believe that just because most snub nose revolvers have low round counts, doesn't necessarily mean that they weren't abused a bit either. I would definitely be wary of bent extractor rods and yoke endshake in used examples if I were shopping for one. It's not hard to get something out of spec when the shooter is slapping away at an extractor rod while attempting speed reloads.

Contrary to what I just said, I bet there are a lot of older snubs that are in perfect working condition because they've been carried little, and shot even less. So I wouldn't count shopping for a used example out...I would just be darn sure about physically giving it a good once over (functionally) before I bought it.