Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Easier than I thought...

Taking apart the 432PD was easier than I thought. I only removed the trigger and hammer, as I didn't feel like messing with the lock or the bolt and it was a lot cleaner in there than I supposed it would be after dwelling in my pockets for almost five years.

Although I have gotten slack lately, for about three years my nightly routine consisted of dry-firing the gun fifty times with each hand as rapidly as possible before trying to hold the laser dot steady on target through normal trigger pulls. You'd be surprised how hard that is if you've never tried it, especially on a stock J-frame with a 12-pound-plus double action trigger pull. It starts out "OneTwoThreeFour," but ends up "Forty... eight... Fort... ty... ni... ine..." and your forearm muscles ache. As a result of all that dry-firing, the bearing surfaces in the little gun are mirror bright; I was especially impressed with the trigger lever, since on the guns with cheesy Metal-Injection-Molded small parts the ends of the trigger lever look like little spiked balls under a loupe when new, and these looked almost chromed.

Mike W. asked:
How do you like the 432PD Tam?
Well, I feel no particular affection towards it, being a MIM-and-zit gun, but it works. I've just never been as accurate in rapid fire with heavy-bullet +P .38 loads in an Airweight J as I'd like, and given a choice between 5 shots of standard pressure light bullet loads in .38 or six shots of 100gr .32 Mag, I opted for the latter... (A 100gr .32 has much greater sectional density than a 110- or 125gr .38; I just don't trust a flying dime to carry through to the vitals.)

10 comments:

BryanP said...

I had the same problem with not being accurate enough with an airweight .38+P. I went the other direction and traded my 638 for a 649, but that stainless does weight a lot more in the pocket.

Jay G said...

Tam,

How do you find the new MiM revolvers fair long-term vs. older models? I've got a ~ 30 year old Model 38 that I've been (trying to remember to) dry firing every night (with snap caps). Any issues I should be aware of?

(Heck, y'ought to make this a regular feature: Ask Dr. Tam...)

Jay G said...

FARE, dammit, FARE... PIMF...

Tam said...

The 432, which I purchased in early '05, was dry-fired without snap caps 100 times a night for more than a thousand nights with no parts breakage.

My 296, which I bought in October or November of '01, has probably been dry-fired a lot more than it, also without any mechanical problems.

Al T. said...

Dunno if it helps with the data Jay, but I'm over 1400 rounds through my 340 (1398 .38 Special, 2 .357s) with no issues.

wv - deringl - what a German cell phone does when someone calls.

Tam - check your email - buddy of mine wants to send you the Kuhnhausen book.

Dwight Brown said...

"Heck, y'ought to make this a regular feature: Ask Dr. Tam..."

I kind of like Jay G's idea. There's some questions I'd love to get Tam's take on (and the regular readers as well) but I'm nervous about emailing her directly, as I rather like my head where it is (attached to my neck).

Heck, I'd be willing to toss $5 in the kitty for every one of my "Ask Dr. Tam" questions.

Anonymous said...

Al T. wrote: I'm over 1400 rounds through my 340 (1398 .38 Special, 2 .357s) ...

Heh. I see what you did there.

Matt G said...

But that's unpossible! Everyone knows that your revolver will break in 4 pieces if you dry-fire it! 8 pieces if it's an airweight!

;),
-M.

TBeck said...

Check out the LCR. It really is a better mousetrap. The trigger is very good right out of the box, the gun weighs about twelve ounces, and the combination of the Hogue grip and the polymer frame really do mitigate the nasty recoil of the +P loads.

Tam said...

"Check out the LCR. It really is a better mousetrap."

I've shot a couple.

Meh.