Wife's New Trail Gun, S & W "Governor" and "Guide's Choice" Holster
- Thread starter Stitch
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I think the guy was trying to demonstrate how easy it is to draw the gun, without pointing it at the camera (we the viewers). Also probably not a good idea to buy a holster before you buy a handgun. You might change your mind about what you want.
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I really like this gun for a truck gun . I have yet to shoot one but since it's a Smith, I'm sure it's quality . One thing people don't mention is this wheelgun will also shoot 45 Gap . In fact the G&A test on this gun showed 45 Gap as the smallest groups @ 15 yards
I dig the holster with the flap, but doesn't that thong that grabs the hammer impeded a fast draw?
Also, have you looked up how fast the handgun rounds come out the short barrel? A 3" barrel, + 1" of chamber might not add up to a barrel long enough for those rounds to pick up much steam, making a heavy recoiling/fireballing but under powered shooter?
Its against one of the 4 rules, but you do what you have to do.
A lot of serious people carry their handguns inside their waistband in a holster over their appendix, pointing at their junk. It's not dangerous so long as you can keep your finger off of your trigger, a gun doesn't just "go off".
Also, have you looked up how fast the handgun rounds come out the short barrel? A 3" barrel, + 1" of chamber might not add up to a barrel long enough for those rounds to pick up much steam, making a heavy recoiling/fireballing but under powered shooter?
Its against one of the 4 rules, but you do what you have to do.
A lot of serious people carry their handguns inside their waistband in a holster over their appendix, pointing at their junk. It's not dangerous so long as you can keep your finger off of your trigger, a gun doesn't just "go off".
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Maybe I missed it on the website listing, but is this holster made for the Governor specifically?
Andy
The thong can be removed if a threat is present. This is not a quick draw holster.
The recoil is very mild. My wife is 5'6" & 120 pounds. She is able to do head shots @ 10 yards on a IDPA target.
I think it is funny that so many people think that it doesn't have enough veocity to do the job, but are okay carrying a 3" barrel 1911 that is occupied by 1.275" inches of ammo effectively giving them 1.725" inches of barrel. The Governor has an extra 1.455" of barrel length by comparison.
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My favorite 45 Colt load for the Governor is the Buffalo Bore standard pressure, low flash 225 grain full wadcutter load. This bullet has a full-caliber flat nose, hits hard, and leaves the muzzle of the Governor at just over 930 feet per second.
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http://www.gunblast.com/SW-Gov.htm
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It's funny how many people will dis on this type of platform, then go on to loudly laud the merits of .45ACP or .45LC as defensive cartridges. Concerning the Governor specifically, I have been seeing some information recently which indicates that this revolver MIGHT be capable of handling +P ammo in both .45ACP and .45LC, as well as .45Super. I AM NOT CERTAIN OF THIS AND ANYONE WHO WISHES TO TRY THIS HOTTER AMMO IN THEIR GUNS SHOULD FIRST CONFIRM THIS INFO WITH S&W BEFORE DOING SO!!!
But, if the Governor can handle the hotter loads, it would be a huge step up over the Judge line, which cannot handle such loadings.
Andy
To the OP:
Now that you've shot this thing some, what do you see its optimum role as--what does it seem best suited for?
Have you fired off the .410 round, yet? I am personally skeptical of .410 revolvers, but am always willing to give actual users a fair hearing. My prediction is that the rifling will spin the shot column, causing donut patterns, making its effective range < 10 yards. Amiright?
Have you grouped it with pistol cartridges @ 25 yards? The results would be very enlightening.
Now that you've shot this thing some, what do you see its optimum role as--what does it seem best suited for?
Have you fired off the .410 round, yet? I am personally skeptical of .410 revolvers, but am always willing to give actual users a fair hearing. My prediction is that the rifling will spin the shot column, causing donut patterns, making its effective range < 10 yards. Amiright?
Have you grouped it with pistol cartridges @ 25 yards? The results would be very enlightening.
In my opinion the optimum roll for this revolver is as a lightweight backpacking gun sutible for self defense against 2 & 4 legged varmints up to the size of Black Bears. I am also leary of the .410 at this point and have not shot any. The list price for this is much less than a 325 night guard and it can use more calibers.
The farthest we have shot it is 10 yards as most self defense shootings occur at ranges of 21 feet or less. At 10 yards it is point of aim point of impact.
I would never advocate a 3" 1911.
As far as velocity, the 1911 doesn't have a portion of its barrel unused chamber, then a gap, then a forcing cone, then the real barrel. That is a lot of potential loss, I would guess that a 3" 1911 would be about similar velocities, with similar loads to .410 snubby. Bullets aren't designed to expand at the velocities either gun offers.
My BB gun was 700fps or so. We could see pellets and BBs coming out of it, in the right light and at the right angle.
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I'd feel more comfortable carrying that then a sharp stick and a rock any day. If your wife likes how the pistol feels and shoots that is what's important. Now go shoot more and have fun!
I guess you missed the above post... So, here it is again.
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My favorite 45 Colt load for the Governor is the Buffalo Bore standard pressure, low flash 225 grain full wadcutter load. This bullet has a full-caliber flat nose, hits hard, and leaves the muzzle of the Governor at just over 930 feet per second.
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http://www.gunblast.com/SW-Gov.htm
The above load = 432 ft/lbs of muzzle energy.
A .45 ACP 230 grain @ 850 fps = 369 ft/lbs of muzzle energy. This is the stardard load/velocity out of a 5" 1911A1.
It seems like there are a lot of internet gun commandos here that really don't know what they are talking about.
I'll never understand why anyone would buy one of these, UNLESS they encountered snakes on a daily basis. Would you carry a .410 Shotgun into battle? How about for home defense? No on both....well why would you carry a .410 pistol with a rifled barrel that is too short to effectively handle a threat? Sure, you can keep your .45LC in it all day, but then again, why not buy a Smith actaully made for that?
Show me another S&W revolver with a scandium frame that shoots, .45 GAP, .45 ACP, .45 Schofield & .45 Colt with a MSRP of $640.00? I have never once advocated the .410 for defense. The Mountain Gun in .45Colt does not shoot .45 ACP. The 325 TR, .45 ACP, lists for $1289.00 and it does not shoot .45 Colts.
We were doing head shots yesterday @ 15 yards on an IDPA target with .45 ACP 200 gr LSWC, .45 ACP 230 gr XTPs & .45Colt 250 gr grain XTPs. In my opinion this would handle any threat.
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I did miss the Buffalo bore stats, that is a hell of a load out of such a short barrel.
I used to type things like that too, but then I started addressing the issue at hand instead of tossing insults at strangers.
The new batch of .410/.45/whatever revolvers are all hype, mediocre at everything (on their best day) and good at nothing in particular.
It's not "internet gun commando", it's common sense shooter not looking for a reason to buy every new thing.
Edited to add:
To clarify my position: Buy what you want, but understand that when you come onto the internet to brag about something, you may appear to have missed something and others will add their input. It's the point of an online forum.
I learned a lot from this thread, thanks for the debate.
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I have been addressing the issues at hand by providing links from people that have actually tested one and from personal experience.
In my opinion an internet gun commando is speaking from theory not facts. You have a theory that this gun is inaccurate and mediocre which you have no problem saying so. The facts do not support your theory. A gun that groups 2 1/2" @ 25 yards is not a match gun, but it is more than adequate for self defense distances.
I am a former NRA Pistol / Personal Protection Instructor. I have an Expert Rifle Badge & Expert Pistol Badge from the USMC.
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Buffalo Bore Plus P 230 grain jacketed hollowpoint grouped five shot clusters into two and one-half inches at twenty-five yards.
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http://www.gunblast.com/SW-Gov.htm
^
I get all that, but what I haven't been able to get across is that there is more to a handgun than velocity, energy, group size, etc.
You're right about the .410 revolver being capable of pushing a 230 grain bullet at impressive velocity, what I'm saying is that there are better ways to go about it.
Start by defining what you want - a 230 grain pill coming out of a tube at 900 fps to defend yourself against bears or badguys or whatever. Now that we know what the goal is, how do you best go about doing that?
It's not going to be the humungous 5 round shotgun pistol that is the size of the torso of whoever will be carrying it, not when there are less expensive, lighter, more ergonomic, higher capacity, lower recoiling, easier to shoot ways of doing the same thing, that don't require an exotic $200 holster.
You could do it with a Glock 36, Glock 30, Glock 21, Glock 21 SlimFrame, Sig P220, 1911A1, S&W 624, S&W 24, etc. and any one of those would be better for the job than the .410 revolver, and you could carry them in a $50 kydex or leather holster on a belt.
Most people's theory overrules the facts. You have a theory that the Governer is ideal for a situation, in spite of the fact that it is bigger, less convenient, holds fewer rounds, is harder to shoot, etc. than needed to do the same thing. Either we are both here to have a discussion, or we are both internet gun commandos using theories instead of facts. I'll go with the former, I think this is a good discussion with everyone bringing their own experiences to the table.
Again, I'm glad that the Governer works for you, but anyone looking to do similar might want to shop around a bit longer.
We can agree that your setup looks like it will work for what you want it for. What is being pointed out is that you had to go out of your way to make an exotic gun work by puchasing an exotic holster, exotic ammunition, and extra training when there are better solutions for the task at hand.
Enjoy your setup, I do think it's pretty cool, and you definately found ways to make it work for you. Not to mention that you've trained and tested it and found the gun/holster/ammo adequate
I get all that, but what I haven't been able to get across is that there is more to a handgun than velocity, energy, group size, etc.
You're right about the .410 revolver being capable of pushing a 230 grain bullet at impressive velocity, what I'm saying is that there are better ways to go about it.
Start by defining what you want - a 230 grain pill coming out of a tube at 900 fps to defend yourself against bears or badguys or whatever. Now that we know what the goal is, how do you best go about doing that?
It's not going to be the humungous 5 round shotgun pistol that is the size of the torso of whoever will be carrying it, not when there are less expensive, lighter, more ergonomic, higher capacity, lower recoiling, easier to shoot ways of doing the same thing, that don't require an exotic $200 holster.
You could do it with a Glock 36, Glock 30, Glock 21, Glock 21 SlimFrame, Sig P220, 1911A1, S&W 624, S&W 24, etc. and any one of those would be better for the job than the .410 revolver, and you could carry them in a $50 kydex or leather holster on a belt.
Most people's theory overrules the facts. You have a theory that the Governer is ideal for a situation, in spite of the fact that it is bigger, less convenient, holds fewer rounds, is harder to shoot, etc. than needed to do the same thing. Either we are both here to have a discussion, or we are both internet gun commandos using theories instead of facts. I'll go with the former, I think this is a good discussion with everyone bringing their own experiences to the table.
Again, I'm glad that the Governer works for you, but anyone looking to do similar might want to shop around a bit longer.
We can agree that your setup looks like it will work for what you want it for. What is being pointed out is that you had to go out of your way to make an exotic gun work by puchasing an exotic holster, exotic ammunition, and extra training when there are better solutions for the task at hand.
Enjoy your setup, I do think it's pretty cool, and you definately found ways to make it work for you. Not to mention that you've trained and tested it and found the gun/holster/ammo adequate