Are j-frames really useless?

[outdoorsman4880]

I had a beef with this one instructor who was former LE. I'll admit this individual was a giant douchebag and disrespectful saying .38 j-frames are useless. I don't know about y'all but my shooting at 7 yards isn't the best, but I can confidently shoot my 642 and take out a bad guy. I like my Glocks , m&p, and 1911, but j-frames are serviceable and accurate as long as you practice.

 

[outdoorsman4880]

Many bad guys have made it to the pine box cuz of the ol .38 special

 

[Hayata]

Useless until you're standing in the front of one of 'em.


Then I'mma gonna guess the song changes tune.

 

[medium187mph]

It’s not that they are useless, they have a limit of capacity which under extreme stress situations, even with proper training, can lead to poor shots and an empty cylinder

 

[medium187mph]

Not trying to steer away from the subject at all but a while back I saw a clip of a training video to represent an active shooter situation in a class room.

They actually had a single person in the class CCW some type of paint ball style pistol and already aware of the doom coming into the class room.

They did several scenes using a random untrained person as well as a fully vetted super shooter who did regular competition run and gun style… guess what, the super shooter missed all of his shots possibly because he was training 99% on still targets not real life threat training.

It was eye opening and made me switch up a few things personally

 

[mikey357]

Nobody wants to get shot, even by a "Lowly J-Frame"...

 

[rockyfatcat]

The 38spl round was for many decades the minimum acceptable round for LE/defensive use. Any revolver is never going to have an auto-jammer issue. Failure to feed, failure to eject, and a failure to fire is simply corrected by pulling the trigger again.

The FBI has reported that 90+% of all shootings take place at a distance of less than 7 yards and use less than 3 rounds of ammo.

A J-frame is going to reliably shoot 5 +P rounds all day, any day. You may not like the kick but it’ll do the trick.

 

[Burning Love]

I like to carry a j frame for very niche circumstances. IMO it’s got a purpose but for most general things, a modern high cap semi auto will do them better. They’re still far from useless.

 

[lostchild]

Nobody wants to get shot, even by a "Lowly J-Frame"...

In my limited experience when I was a young man, folks were 0 for 4 continuing festivities when one was produced.

 

[MaconGuns]

Nobody wants to get shot with a bb gun or a sling-shot.

I carried one for a long while."For me" It's an up close and personal gun unless you're a shooting prodigy. I can shoot the Shield better than the 642 but, the 642 is easier to pocket carry.

For "normal" problems like a random car jacking the 642 should be fine. If you decide to try and stop a mass shooter then I wouldn't want a 642.

Its also not something I'd want as a woods/trail gun. IMHO it's a great pocket carry urban option for most situations IF you can shoot it accurately.

That quote about having a gun is better than the one left at home ect...