In Favor of the Three Inch

by Glen E. Fryxell

In some ways, guns are like women, cars, steaks and whiskey -- everybody has their distinct likes and dislikes (for example, blondes vs. redheads), opinions on the most stylish accessories and paint jobs (metallic flake, racing stripes, flame jobs, etc.), the most savory way to prepare and season them (marinated, slow-cooked, grilled, Cajun blackened, etc.), as well as how they should be served up (straight up, on the rocks, with a twist, etc.).  Probably the ONLY agreement will come on the fact that we won't all agree.

The same is true for revolvers.  I'm not pickin' a fight here, but I'm prejudiced in favor of the stainless 3" round-butt Smith & Wesson revolver.  Not much gets said about these sweet-shootin' little guns, so I thought I'd speak up on their behalf. 

Obviously, the main competition that the 3" revolver has is from its 2 1/2" and 4" brethren (the 2" .38 snubby is a case unto itself -- it occupies a unique and valuable niche in the handgun world, but it's a very different beast).  Many will point out (quite accurately) that with typical revolver cartridges, when barrel length drops below 4", velocity starts to drop noticeably.  In addition, the shorter sight radius makes the shorter guns more difficult to shoot for some people (this is a personal issue and dependent on that particular individual's visual acuity).  In my experience, the velocity difference between a 3" and 4" revolver is usually about 50-75 fps.  But keep in mind that it's not unusual to see this much difference between one revolver and the next (of the same barrel length). In fact, I have 3" revolvers that routinely produce higher velocities than some of my 4" guns, with the same ammunition (it's unusual, but it does happen).  In the final analysis, I consider the minor velocity loss of the 3" to be acceptable (others may not).  As far as the shorter sight radius is concerned, I have good eyesight and can shoot the 3" guns as well as the 4" guns (again, others may not).  Without a doubt, the 4" revolver is an excellent compromise, but my main reservation is that the 4" revolvers usually come only in the square-butt grip-frame. I have smallish hands and the S&W round-butt fits my hand like a glove.  To each their own.

The 2 1/2" guns are designed specifically for concealed carry.  In my experience, that 1/2" difference has more of a negative impact on velocity and accuracy than it does on improved concealability.  Here is where the shorter sight radius starts to have an impact on marksmanship (with my eyes anyway).  If I want to carry concealed, I can still tuck away the 3" revolver with the same ease that I can a 2 1/2", but I can shoot the 3-incher much more accurately.  Advantage: 3-inch.

These guns get called by many names -- trail guns, workin' guns, carry guns, kit guns (but I must confess that I'm partial to Taffin's "packin' pistols", although he might object to me using it with barrel lengths less than 4"), but the semantics aren't that important.  Some revolvers are designed especially for bullseye competition, some for silhouette, some for hunting, and some for cowboy action shooting.  The 3" RB isn't designed for any of these specialized tasks -- it is designed simply to BE THERE whenever the need arises, and then to allow its owner the ability to accurately place his shot where it's needed, and to deliver that shot with sufficient "thump" to get the job done.  Yes, this job could be handled by other revolvers, particularly the 4" square-butt, but the 3" RB rides so much better (on my hip anyway).

Back in the mid-80s, Lew Horton contracted with S&W to produce a run of 3" round-butt stainless N-frame .44 Specials.  These Lew Horton 624s are one of the best day-in, day-out working revolvers ever built.  I picked one of these up years ago, and it has logged many, many miles in a well-worn thumb-snap, basket-weave holster made by Tex Shoemaker and Sons (on those occasions when more concealment is called for, the factory S&W pancake serves discretely).  The 624's cylinder is usually filled with 6 rounds featuring Elmer Keith's time-honored SWC (Lyman 429421) over 10.0 grains of Winchester 540, producing right at 900 fps from the 3" N-frame.  Many a summer afternoon has been spent in the mountains, cutting the winter firewood supply, with this fine revolver at my side.  When autumn, and hunting season, roll around, I still strap on that trusted 624.  This time though it serves in the roll as back-up on those occasions when I'm hunting with one of my Contenders.  Over the years, that beautiful 250 grain chunk of lead has been used to finish off crippled elk and mule deer, as well as put an occasional cottontail in the camp stew-pot.  It's there when I need it, and it's done everything I've asked of it.  I can think of no stronger endorsement.

My fondness for things 3" dates back to the 1989 release of the 3" full-lug adjustable sight Model 60.  I remember reading a review of this little revolver and the concept of an adjustable sight "kit gun" with a the power of a .38 appealed to me.  The next day I went down to Wheeler's Gun Shop (now closed, sadly) to find out what they knew about the Model 60 and its availability.  They were unpacking that morning's UPS shipment and said, "What? You mean a Model 60 like this one?".  Uhhhh, yeah...  I bought it.  It has been a close personal companion ever since.  It commonly rides in a Bianchi pancake holster, loaded with the Federal "FBI load" (158 gr swaged lead SWC-HP). 

There's a reason I like the Federal FBI load:  years ago, I was in Montana shooting prairie dogs, it had been a long, hot day, and I was headed back into town looking forward to a shower and a meal.  I was still 20 miles from nowhere when I crossed through a creek drainage that was crawling with jack rabbits.  The varmint guns were cased and locked away in the back of the truck, but the Model 60 was handy.  Montana raises big, tough jack rabbits.  Time and again the FBI load proved itself formidable on those husky Montana jacks.  I left that drainage impressed with both the Model 60 and the Federal FBI load.

Every so often, our local pistol club puts on a Snubby Lovers Match, which is limited to centerfire handguns, .32 caliber and larger, with the "rifled portion of the barrel limited to no more than 3 inches" (that wording was chosen because autos and revolvers have their barrels measured differently, and we wanted everyone to be able to compete on a more or less level playing field).  The course of fire is a standard indoor (50 foot) 30-round National Match course (10 rounds Slow Fire, 10 rounds Timed Fire and 10 rounds Rapid Fire).  This is followed by a 20-round "Dueling Course" in which the shooter is given random 2-second presentations of the B-29 half-sized silhouette target (this is done in 4 strings of 5 presentations, with the shooters reloading between each string).  Between presentations, the shooter must return the gun to the bench, or to the "at ready" (muzzle vertical) position.  All shooting is done one-handed (this IS a bullseye match afterall).  The Snubby Lovers Match is one of the more popular matches we hold, and the competition is usually fierce (as well as somewhat comical, grown men have been known to cry after Rapid Fire).  A couple of years ago I won the Snubby Lovers Match as a result of the fine accuracy of that S&W Model 60.  What's more, that little 3" full-lug J-frame is a very fun plinking gun.  Stoked with 4.0 grains of Red Dot underneath a 150 grain SWC (Lyman 358477), it'll put 10 shots into less than 1 1/2" at 50 feet. Velocity runs 830 fps and it's deadly on both ground squirrels and pop cans.

In the mid-1980s, the United States Customs Service placed an order with S&W for a run of 3" round-butt 686's with which to arm their officers. These revolvers are known as the "CS-1" because that's how they were stamped by S&W, denoting that they were made specifically for the Customs Service.  They were retired from duty in the early 90s, when they were replaced with an autoloader.  These guns were being sold off to distributors when the Clinton Administration discovered it was promoting the Brady Bill at the same time they were selling handguns designed for concealed carry.  Well, the CS-1 supply mysteriously dried up, virtually overnight.  I'm glad I got mine during the few months that they were available, because the CS-1 (outfitted with a set of Pachmayr Compac-Pro's) is the one of best combinations of power, portability and concealability that I've yet handled.

There are many, many very good .357 Magnum factory loads out there from which to choose for serious work.  My CS-1 is usually found with either CCI Lawman 125s or Federal's fine 125 grain HP tucked into its cylinder.  For recreational shooting, I generally just use the Lyman 358429 (173 grain Keith SWC) over 12.7 grains of H-110. It does shoot to a higher point of impact, but not so much as to be a problem.  I can remember one sunny afternoon out at the local rifle range where a young man had set up 3 of his steel chickens at 100 yards to plink at with a scoped .22 rifle.  He had propped the chickens up with dirt clods so he wouldn't have to re-set them, and he'd spent the better part of 2 hours plinking away, having a grand ol' time.  Well, a couple of yahoos showed up (both were shooting belted magnums), and started teasing this kid about the little "tink, tink, tink" his .22  bullets made when they hit the steel.  They were gonna show him what a REAL rifle would do!  Well, we all know that those belted magnums would have utterly destroyed those mild steel chickens.  I had the CS-1 in my hands and had just closed a freshly loaded cylinder when the yahoos started their trash-talkin'.  Knowing that a 170 cast SWC at about 1100 wasn't going to hurt his steel targets, I loosed 6 shots to tumble those 3 chickens (OK, so I missed twice, and one chicken took 2 shots to go down -- the first to bust up the dirt clod and the second to knock it over -- but the CS-1 got the job done).  The kid was grateful (and impressed). Don't let anybody tell you that short-barreled revolvers are inherently inaccurate.

I remember well coming home from work late one night and picking up the mail.  Seeing the latest copy of HHI's Sixgunner there, I immediately opened it up and started reading.  When I saw Taffin's "Sixgun Scribblin's" column reporting on the new 5-shot .44 Special L-frame (a package that I had been wishing for for years), I immediately called my local dealer at home.  Garry had never heard of the S&W 696, but I extracted his promise that I would own the first one that came to the area.  He called his distributor first thing the next morning, and they just so happened to be unpacking their first shipment of 696's from S&W (they hadn't even been advertised to dealers yet)!  Three days later I got a phone call and was told to get my worthless backside down to the store and get MY gun out of THEIR safe.  Three had been ordered and I was given the pick of the litter.   Now THAT is customer service -- going from dreaming about a previously un-cataloged S&W .44 Special revolver to owning one in 4 days.  Thanks John.  Thanks Garry.

For a carry load I feed the 696 Cor-Bons, as no other factory offering in .44 Special even comes close to performing as well as the Cor-Bons do.  For practice, I generally just shoot the Lee 210 grain wadcutter over 3.8 grains of Red Dot (630 fps).  This load is very accurate and it shoots to the same point of impact as the Cor-Bons (heavier bullets shoot much higher in my gun).  It's also great load for head-shooting grouse and cottontails!  Another dandy field load for the 696 is composed of the Nosler 200 grain JHP (with its pure lead core) over 8.0 grains of Unique (950 fps).  I'm not really sure if this bullet really expands or not at this velocity, but it most certainly whacks the stuffin' out of critters when it gets there!

Well, there it is -- one man's testimonial to a love affair with the stainless 3" round-butt S&W; one that's lasted for over 10 years.  They often get over-looked, being considered neither fish nor fowl, but they are dandy revolvers any way you look at 'em.  We tend to think of DA revolvers in terms of 2", 4" and 6", but the 3" offers much of the accuracy and power of the 4", along with many of the carry (and concealment) advantages of the 2".  Think 3!