Where is Your K38?

[ezekiel38]

If you don't mind me butting in I have the Vzs both checkered and smooth on K/L guns (Model 10, 64 2" 586 4") I also have a pair for a 629 RB Smooth, I love them on the K/L frames as both the smooth and checkered work great on. This is on the 38s and the smooth on the 357s. I find the checkered ones on the 629 very abrasive. One thing about all of them with a sweaty, bloody or oily hand one grip is all you need. Very secure and they are comfortable to wear, in a tight to the body, high ride holster.

[petep]

Thank you very much!I was also curious about how they handled with wet hands and you answered that,how about weight say compared to some Pachmayr grips?

[MackaySagebrush]

Mine usually performs house chores as the wife's "Go-To" gun, along with an old nickled 442 that came from an NYPD detective.

When loaded with full wadcutters it is great for whacking jacks on the high desert.

[MackaySagebrush]

and another one....

[halfmoon]

MackaySagebrush

I think our pre-15 combat masterpiece had the blue worn in almost the exact spot and pattern at the end of the barrel :-)

Ours is usually in the four handgun case waiting for the next range trip. Teaching the stepson to shoot and it makes almost every trip. He actually takes his time with the K38 and is beginning to shoot decent-ish. Hand him a semiautomatic though and he's still prone to spray and pray. He's beginning to think of the k38 as 'his' special shooter. Once he's old enough it probably will be his to take.

[ezekiel38]

The VZs are heavy but not much more than a dense hardwood, heavier than a Pachmayr. Just put a smooth set on my 624 Square Butt frame and they work just fine. Miss the adjustable sighted Ks. Gave my last Model 14 to a friend that just graduated Police Academy (Idaho POST) as a graduation gift.

[45MAN]

I HAD/HAVE A 6 INCH K-38 SO LONG AGO THAT I CAN'T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT HOW IT SHOT. I CONVERTED IT TO A 22 CF REVOLVER. I FITTED AN 8 3/8ths 22LR BARREL TO IT AND A RECHAMBERED MODEL 53 CYLINDER IN 218 BEE (I BOTHCHED THE RECHAMBER JOB) AND NOW HAVE A 22 SUPER JET CYLINDER ON IT. ONE OF MY "PROJECTS" THAT I NEED TO WORK ON.

[seancass]

k-frame 38's? Never heard of her.
well, dang, i guess this is most of them....

[dale53]

I got this from a good friend, new, after he won it in a pistol match. It was a very favorable price. He and a mutual friend had a grip making business and he custom made the grips to fit me. I was trained as a machinist, wanted to shoot it in PPC matches. I couldn't afford a heavy barrel, etc. so I added a Bo-mar rib (drilled and tapped the barrel, my self) and competed in the local matches. It has been a VERY satisfactory piece. It has taken a number of rabbits (both cotton tail and snowshoe rabbits as well as an occasional grouse).



FWIW
Dale53

[45MAN]

DALE 53: VERY NICE LOOKING GUN. COMPETITION TYPE SET UPS LOOK COOL AND USUALY SHOOT GREAT, BUT CAN BE A LITTLE BULKY FOR FIELD CARRY.

[bradshaw]

Jun 9, 2018 22:25:45 GMT -5 dale53 said:

I got this from a good friend, new, after he won it in a pistol match. It was a very favorable price. He and a mutual friend had a grip making business and he custom made the grips to fit me. I was trained as a machinist, wanted to shoot it in PPC matches. I couldn't afford a heavy barrel, etc. so I added a Bo-mar rib (drilled and tapped the barrel, my self) and competed in the local matches. It has been a VERY satisfactory piece. It has taken a number of rabbits (both cotton tail and snowshoe rabbits as well as an occasional grouse).



FWIW
Dale53

*****

Dale.... this is a K-38. Do not recall when I was young ever hearing of a K-22, K-32 or K-38 as anything but the target model K with 6-inch barrel. Smith & Wesson gave up nothing in accuracy to anybody in those days, with some of the finest barrel making ever hung on a sixgun. The specialization which grew out of PPC----“Practical Pistol Course,” “Practical Police Course,” shooting “Practical Pigeon Cartridges,”----refined & defined accuracy as never before on the double action stroke. To this end, a heavier barrel and sharp black sights with a latitude of precise adjustment become the ticket. Far as I know, no one has surpassed Bo-Mar for precise repeatable adjustments, these are the Olympic choice as further evidenced in IHMSA silhouette. I think folks at Bo-Mar would just as soon go fishing as make sights, but when sights were made they were made right.

Ron Power knows sixguns inside out and out, built PPC revolvers, also his own rib sight with with a horizontal dial wheel front sight to instantly adjust from 25 to 50 yards, etc. I never liked the dial wheel arrangement, was not a PPC shooter, my concern twofold: 1) durability under a heavy recoiling magnum, and 2) I trust precise elevation clicks more against the variability of light conditions. Wichita Engineering also got into the precision sight act for PPC and silhouette. Again, Bo-Mar is the Steinway.
David Bradshaw

[dale53]

Bradshaw;
I agree with the feller above who stated that a k-38 such as mine can get a bit bulky when hunting, but many times I took it anyway (:>)). As I said above, I have taken cottontails, snowshoe rabbits and the occasional wounded or sitting grouse. My hunting areas were local, Eastern Ohio, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as well as an occasional foray into neighboring Indiana as well as south to Kentucky. One thing about it, that K-38 never failed me. Sometimes I failed it but it NEVER failed me.

I gifted my youngest son an ex-LEO Model 15. It is a near perfect field piece and it also makes a great house gun.

I favor the full charge wadcutter for field use in my .38 Specials as well as the .357 (using .38 cases) (3.5 grs. of Bullseye behind a home cast H&G #50 bb). It does a FINE job!

FWIW
Dale53

[kings6]

My K38 is setting right next to my 357 Registered Magnum, my Pre-29 5 screw and my early S prefixed 4" model 57 with the coke grips. I just need to remember where they were all put!

[dougader]

There's a used 14 down the road I have been drooling over for 2 weeks. I'm surprised someone else hasn't picked it up and relieved me of my inner fight to buy or deny...

[keano44]

My K-38 Model 14 and a Model 15 Combat Masterpiece: