Five for Sure

For my first gun review on Straight Shooting, I thought I would review the venerable Smith & Wesson model 637 revolver. This gun is an "airweight" (aluminum alloy frame), reliable, double-action five shot revolver. This gun is a perfect companion for concealed carry. Let’s look at some of the reasons why.

The J-frame revolvers offered from Smith and Wesson are extremely compact. This particular model is 6 3/8” long, 1 1/4” wide, and height will depend on the grips on the gun (with the crimson trace grips that I have, the gun is 5” tall. The barrel is extremely short (1 7/8 inches), which means that you will lose some velocity compared to a 4” barrel, but it’s not a big deal considering the higher concealability. The weight is where this gun really shines: 15 oz. empty! Let’s compare that to a Glock 26 (subcompact 9mm); the Glock (which is polymer and steel) weighs 19.75 oz. empty. So very, very light.

Although the gun is very compact and light, the recoil is still very controllable. This pistol is chambered in .38 special + p, which means it can shoot standard .38’s as well as the more aggressive “+p” rounds. My wife carries this model and does not have a problem with keeping on target or flinching with each shot. Of course, she does not prefer the +p rounds, but that’s not a problem. One can simply practice with standard .38s and then load the +p’s for self defense carry. In a real life shooting situation, the adrenaline would cover any additional perceived recoil.

As we know from my previous post, .38 special is not the most powerful load for a handgun. However, it’s one I would trust, as would millions of others. This is an extremely popular round, thus guaranteeing ease of finding ammo fairly inexpensively. The big drawback to the caliber is that it’s revolver only, meaning that reloading is going to be slow. So you are more or less stuck with the number of cylinders (in this case five). That being said, remember that the FBI statistics of self defense shootings suggest that most encounters are three shots or less. Therefore, for most “social situations” (ie. *not in the slums with druggies everywhere), five rounds is plenty adequate to make room for an escape or stop a threat.

The biggest advantage of this revolver is the title of this entry. Five *for sure*. I have NEVER had my revolver jam on me, fail to eject, failure to *anything*. It has consistently gone “bang” every time I pull the trigger; exactly what you want from a concealed carry gun. When lives are on the line, seconds can be eternities, and there is no room for doubt about your weapon. This little revolver will function every time all the time.

This is a traditional double action revolver, meaning that it has a hammer, and can be fired by either pulling the trigger or by cocking the hammer and then pulling the trigger (for a lighter trigger pull). The beauty is the ease of use. It fires just like you’d think a gun would! No safeties to worry about (the safety is in the handling: don’t point it at anything you don’t want to destroy, and don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to destroy it!), just aim and pull the trigger. There is no need to worry about the trigger going off on its own as it takes a good firm pull to the rear to discharge. They also offer similar models without hammers, etc., depending on the shooter’s needs. Hammerless models are less likely to get caught when drawing, but Straight prefers the hammered versions due to the option to have a lighter trigger pull when cocked. However, that is just my opinion, and you should select a handgun based on your needs.

Some additional perks of the Smith and Wesson are interchangeable grips (you don’t like rubber? Switch to classic wood or synthetic with just one screw), and lifetime warranty to original purchasers. Smith & Wesson are renowned for their excellent customer service, although their revolvers are such high quality, I doubt that most will ever need to take advantage of this. There are plenty of holsters for these guns, so you should have no problem finding a way to carry this every day.

Smith & Wesson are the industry leaders for revolvers, and because of this, you will pay a slight premium for their products. However, their quality control for revolvers is second to none. Also, the gun will retain its value much better than other brands. Some of the differences you’ll find between revolver brands will be the smoothness of the trigger pull, the tightness of the moving parts (no rattle or “give”), and the quality of the finish. This revolver’s street price is approximately $450 without crimson trace (laser) grips, and approximately $650 with those laser grips. In the future, I plan to review some less expensive alternatives. However, you will definitely be getting your money’s worth with the Smith.

Straight Shooter recommends this pistol to those who want a simple operation and utter reliability in a compact, lightweight package, and don’t mind giving up a few rounds to achieve this. Feel free to sound off in the comments section with anything I’ve missed or other opinions you may have! As for me, I’m going to stick with five for sure!