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Convince me not to buy this hand cannon....

adk_mechetech

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
65
Location
06076
I stopped by the LGS on Saturday with the intention of practicing a bit, but the place was absolutely mobbed. I ended up just wandering around for an hour looking at the used section and some of the other stuff I hadn't seen before.

I found THREE of these in their "used" case with the bands still on the grips. They had one stainless Compact, a standard in black, and I think one of the two tone standard size also. http://www.coonaninc.com/pistol-showroom

port-com-ss-swg_A.jpg

port-cla-ttdc-bag_A.jpg



I originally passed them by glancing at the price tag and assumed they were an Ed Brown or some other high end 1911. I did take a closer look and noticed it looked funny, (larger grip, huge ejection port) and then I noticed ".357 magnum" on the side.... I had never even heard of it so I looked them up when I got home.

To keep it short and sweet, I'm seriously considering buying one just because it's a semi-auto .357 mag. There really is no other good reason to buy one other than that it's really cool. I'm sure many others can relate. It's really too big to carry comfortably, and regular practice would end in carpel tunnel eventually. Everything I can find online says that they were really well made and had very few if any feed problems. The only negative I saw was that even with the lighter (supplied) recoil spring, .38 +p was not very reliable. Oh, and price. I think the compact they had tagged for $1300.
 

MAC702

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
6,331
Location
Nevada
I've wanted one for 30 years. I love their ad:

7bd843b8645ae8063253e2b10f70c946.jpg
 

DWCook

Activist Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Messages
432
Location
Lenexa, Kansas
I'd take the bottom one in the black and silver. That is one powerful pistol I must say! I be bent between buying another 1911 .45ACP or this beauty for a 357 magnum carry round.
 

adk_mechetech

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
65
Location
06076
I'm somewhat of a newbie, but it wouldn't be my first gun. I have a 9mm and i'm perfectly comfortable shooting 45 and love the 1911. I have shot .357 mag in a revolver so I have an idea of what to expect. Honestly, I would certainly still be careful the first time out with it.

I do love that ad though. I may have to go take a closer look and get it in my hands to see how it feels. I swore my next purchase would be all SS, but I'm not sure I like the compact that much.
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
Convince me not to buy this hand cannon....

OK. Don't buy it.

If you want a hand-cannon for coolness factor, you want a S&W 629 with a 3" barrel (.44 mag, stainless). Or, even better, a Ruger Alaskan. And, those are little cannons. Plenty of serious gunners consider anything under .454 Casull a wanna-be.

Full disclosure: I ain't in that class. I'm a wuss. No .44 mag for me. Been there, done that. Ouch. :D
 

adk_mechetech

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
65
Location
06076
OK. Don't buy it.

If you want a hand-cannon for coolness factor, you want a S&W 629 with a 3" barrel (.44 mag, stainless). Or, even better, a Ruger Alaskan. And, those are little cannons. Plenty of serious gunners consider anything under .454 Casull a wanna-be.

Full disclosure: I ain't in that class. I'm a wuss. No .44 mag for me. Been there, done that. Ouch. :D
Hah! That's not very convincing...

Somehow I see myself parting with a significant sum of money in the near future.
 

MAC702

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
6,331
Location
Nevada
...The only negative I saw was that even with the lighter (supplied) recoil spring, .38 +p was not very reliable...

Think about it. This ain't a plinker. Would you EVER want to shoot .38's through it? No...
 

adk_mechetech

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
65
Location
06076
Think about it. This ain't a plinker. Would you EVER want to shoot .38's through it? No...
Exactly why that really doesn't make much difference to me. It's a big round though. Why would I want to put it in a small gun? [emoji57]
 

adk_mechetech

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
65
Location
06076
That is a nice gun, I'm just not a revolver guy. Besides, a lot of the draw for me is that it IS semiautomatic. It just shouldn't be, but there it is and it just works. It's the novelty. Granted an expensive one, but still...
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
They are great to carry but a real pain in the hand to shoot with full house mag loads.

I carry +p 38s in my small frame 357.

My TI 41 mag is enough also.

If you ever NEED to shoot it you will never notice any recoil.

Well, not until some time later.

Practice with those things should not be bullseye shooting at 25 yards but half-hip point shooting at a max of 2 yards.

The really nice thing about small revolvers is that they do not go out of battery when pushed up into abdominal/thoratic area. Nor do they suffer from FTE/FTF problems.

stay safe.
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
If you ever NEED to shoot it you will never notice any recoil.

Well, not until some time later.

Practice with those things should not be bullseye shooting at 25 yards but half-hip point shooting at a max of 2 yards.

The really nice thing about small revolvers is that they do not go out of battery when pushed up into abdominal/thoratic area. Nor do they suffer from FTE/FTF problems.

stay safe.

I don't know about that I used to carry my light weight 357 as my running gun. One afternoon while out on my normal 10 K run about a mile into the run a coyote ran across the road about 200 yards in front of me. I drew the revolver as I came to the spot where they coyote had crossed I noticed him standing in the woods facing me. I took aim and doubled action a round off. The 125jhp at 900fps took him at the base of throat and traveled into his body taking his spine out.

I then paced of the distance for 32 steps approximately 30 yards.

I also shot another one at a measured 49 yards with a 3.5 in 9mm.

I used my Ti 41 to kill a nice buck at 60 plus yards but that has a full 4 inches of sight radius .

As seen short barreled handguns can be used at distances further than a few yards if the shooter is up to it.
 

MAC702

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
6,331
Location
Nevada
On the subject of the 11-ounce .357 Magnum revolvers, I had one. I shot it a lot. Recoil doesn't bother me, but it does have effects. The recoil is so severe on this little revolver with Magnum loads that it absolutely will affect how well you shoot it, even if just how quickly, which is a critical factor in self-defense shootings. I carried mine with 4 .38 +P's and the last round a .357 Magnum.

If you have/get one of these, make sure you understand the special warning in the manual about testing your ammunition for bullet crimping. The lighter the revolver, the greater the recoil impulse (rate of change of acceleration, which is the rate of change of velocity, which is the rate of change of position, for us geeks). While Federal Hydra-Shok 158-grain never broke a crimp, I would routinely see broken crimps and longer ammunition with other loads, including non+P .38's; obviously, I carried it with ammo that tested stable.

Do not put boot grips on it. I bought a beautiful pair of Goncalo Alves for mine. I fired off a cylinder of the aforementioned Hydra-Shoks. Because my fingers were down behind the trigger guard instead of below it, that super fast recoil impulse drove the trigger guard into my finger and chipped the bone. You can't make this up. It affected my hand for three months.

Later, the gun exploded with a factory Hornady .38. We were shooting in the desert. After a half-hour search, no parts of the top strap or cylinder could be found. With no way to prove it wasn't a reload, S&W at first refused to do anything except offer me another one at a few bucks off MSRP (still above street price). After 18 months of negotiating, I received an okay deal, but I picked a different revolver. I still don't know what happened, but there's no way I can trust a titanium cylinder again.
 

WalkingWolf

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
11,930
Location
North Carolina
Considering that the 357 is a rimmed cartridge, and it's length in grip, personally I would pass on it. Especially since it costs as much as a custom 357 sig which will feed better, and loaded properly the same performance. Then there is the 38 super +P, 9X23 Remington, as well as the hot 45 ammo that will feed reliable, and not have a elongated grip.

But that is just me, and you should not base your wants on my choices. Want it? Go for it!
 
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