The Surprisingly Accurate Snubby

Guns Magazine, April, 2001 by Massad Ayoob

How much do you lose in terms of "shootability" when you select a snub-nose revolver as your primary home-defense gun? When I did one of my regular qualifications with the snubby I carry for backup, I noticed two things. One was that the little S&W 442 Airweight shot a perfect score, 250 out of 250. But the other was that the group wasn't especially tight.

Not long after, I had occasion to shoot the same course with a K-frame Smith & Wesson Model 15 Combat Masterpiece. This 4" sixgun had better sights and more grip-frame to hang onto than the 2" J-frame had offered. Since it could shoot six shots per string instead of the J-frame's five, the course lasted 60 shots instead of 50. Score was 300 out of 300, and the group was distinctly tighter than the belly gun's -- but even though the barrel was twice as long, the group wasn't twice as tight.

The next day I went out with a 6" barrel S&W 686. The heavy-barreled L-frame revolver hung steady in my hand, and that plus the 2" greater sight radius gave a 300/300 score with an even tighter group. But again, while tighter than the shorter guns, it wasn't that much tighter.

At the close ranges employed in home defense confrontations, you're not losing enough accuracy to make the shorter barrel gun a liability. What we've discovered is that the venerable "snub nose" may be the ideal revolver for home and personal protection.