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So this afternoon, I purchased a new snubbie — a S&W M&P340 — to replace my 640 as a pocket carry gun.

Here's the the S&W website page for it.


I was originally trying to buy an Airlite 340 PD with the titanium frame and scandium cylinder (11.3 oz), but those are a little bit pricier and harder to find. This one was priced right and has a stainless cylinder with titanium frame. So at 13.3 oz, it still weighs a little less than a 642 (15 oz). Mine has the Uncle Mike type boot grips instead of the Hogue grip that is pictured. I'll probably swap that out later for the Hogue. And unlike the 340 PD Airlite, this gun has a large white dot front site from Trijicon with a tritium insert. The sight channel and rear notch in the top strap has been cut more deeply than the 640 or 642 sights and registered to fit the front sight very well. It actually presents a very serviceable sight picture - much better than on my other snubbies. This pistol has a trigger lock and a lanyard loop in the bottom of the grip frame. The ejector shroud is full length under the 1-7/8" inch barrel.

The entire gun is coated in a matte black finish. There is a white outlined "M&P" logo on the ride side of the frame with "SFLD,MA" and "S&W U.S.A." engraved into that side, and a white circular "S&W" logo on the left side of the frame with "Military" and "Police" banners at the top and bottom of the circle. The left side of the barrel has white lettering with "SMITH & WESSON" on it, and the right side of the barrel has ".357 S&W MAG" engraved into it.

I also bought a 25 round box of 125 grain Hornady Critical Defense .357 ammunition for carry use, based on the Camp's Corner review of the same in .380 and .38 Special.

Pictures will be forthcoming, and I'll post an after action report after my first range trip. Anyway, I'm tickled pink. I traded away my 642 for that 640 of mine. I really like the 640, and I'll keep it, but it weighs just a bit too much for really comfortable pocket carry; and while I do enjoy this gun, I've since come to regret getting rid of my 642. That said, I get a kick in the pants out of the .357 cartridge, and as long as I'm going to lose velocity and power to a short barrel, I think I'd rather have the .357 than the .38. And if it is just too much to handle, I can always still step down to +P .38 Special. But I'm a reasonably experienced shooter, and I'm used to .44 magnum power, so the .357 isn't particularly intimidating to me. And even if stings my hand to shoot it, I don't think that's actually going to be much of a factor in a real shooting situation.

edited to correct a misspelling: "mat" to "matte"

Nice gun TAM. If you like it so much why did you post in the "For Sale" section?

WildBill wrote:Nice gun TAM. If you like it so much why did you post in the "For Sale" section?

I just noticed that...He's still learning how the forum works.

USA1 wrote:He's still learning how the forum works

WildBill wrote:Nice gun TAM. If you like it so much why did you post in the "For Sale" section?

Cos the hammer is missing?

Just kidding, Nice gun TAM.....I really must try a wheel gun again sometime.

Oh Lordy!!! I didn't realize that I did that.

Will some moderator kindly move this to the appropriate forum?

The Annoyed Man wrote:Oh Lordy!!! I didn't realize that I did that.

Will some moderator kindly move this to the appropriate forum?

I moved it TAM. If you decide to sale it to me I will move it back for you.

carlson1 wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Oh Lordy!!! I didn't realize that I did that.

Will some moderator kindly move this to the appropriate forum?

I moved it TAM. If you decide to sale it to me I will move it back for you.

Sorry Carlson, this one's a keeper! I love this little pistol.

USA1 wrote:

WildBill wrote:Nice gun TAM. If you like it so much why did you post in the "For Sale" section?

I just noticed that...He's still learning how the forum works.

Yeah, I guess I haven't posted enough times to figure it out.

Excellent find. Congratulations!

I occ carry a nite guard S&W 8 shot 357 mag. Weight is 24 or 27 oz. Im used to shooting magnum loads in 44 and 50 DE. You will be fine but make no mistake about the recoil is sharp. I fig yours is smaller as mine is on an N frame so def give us a range report. I'm about the buy a Springfield Socom 16 As I'm looking for a close qrtrs rifle and none of the 223 black rifles apeal to me like the 308 M1 does. How do you like your springfield? I have a DPMS SASS 308 rifle for long shots (18 inch barrel) but at 15 LBS with scope it's a little heavy to carry around for any length of time.

Very nice, congratulations.

Well, we (wife, son, and I) went to DPC yesterday afternoon and I got a chance to shoot my little M&P340.

I was also shooting 4 or 5 1911s, a Glock 19, a Model 29 .44 magnum, a couple of .22s, an M&P 45, a 642 .38 Special, and a 640 .357. I shot about 30 rounds through the M&P340... not a lot, but enough to get an impression. Also, I was shooting steel plates, not paper targets, so I would be hard pressed to say anything about group size. This was at the Dallas Pistol Club, and the steel plates varied in size from about 8" to about 18", and one rectangular plate of about (guessing) 6"x18". Distance to the plates was maybe 12 yards.

First, sights and accuracy: I was able to hit a plate on every shot, although I couldn't tell you anything about group size. I moved from plate to plate to plate, instead of concentrating on just one. But, the sights worked very well — as well as the sights on any of my 1911s or the M&P 45, and better than the sights on either my 640 or my wife's 642. The combination of the large, high visibility dot on the front sight and the deeply cut sight channel with a well defined rear notch is a very good choice for shooting at self-defense distances.

Second, controllability and comfort: I shot 3 different loads though it. I started off with Winchester White Box 110 grain .357 JHP, then 5 rounds of the Hornady Critical Defense 125 grain .357 for comparison; then I shot some WWB 130 grain FMJ .38 Special, before shooting some more of the 110 grain load. It goes without saying that, at 13 oz, this gun is so light that perceived recoil is pronounced no matter what load you shoot. So, I put that out of my mind and just didn't worry about it.

The WWB 110 JHP .357 produced very strong recoil, but it was entirely controllable, the gun did not buck that hard, and it did not hurt my hand. I could shoot this load all day long if I had to. The heavier bullet of the 130 grain WWB FMJ .38 Special still had pretty strong recoil, but it didn't have the snap of the lighter magnum load. The 125 grain Hornady .357 load was in a league of its own. I only shot 5 rounds of it because that's what I had left over for practice work, but I would not want to shoot a whole box of it at once, even if price were no issue. It wasn't fun, but that said, it wasn't that bad either. Searching around the 'net, I've seen reports of muzzle velocities of 1,200 fps out of a 2" barrel, producing 400 ft lbs of energy. The first couple of rounds felt extremely strong, but it was at about 5 rounds that shooting it began to sting my hand a bit. However, it didn't sting so bad as to interfere with my ability to get a proper grip on the gun or to affect my accuracy with it, and it didn't change my rate of fire. After trying it, I am perfectly comfortable using this as my carry load.

Edited to add:

One thing I noticed on cleaning the pistol last night was that the finish on the front face of the cylinder was pretty badly scorched. It cleaned up OK, but it does not look anything like the finish on the rest of the gun anymore, and there are a couple of tiny spots where the stainless steel shows through. So, I expect that over time, it will get burned off almost entirely. Given that this is a carry gun and not a museum piece, it's not that upsetting to me, and the fact that it is stainless steel means that, with proper care, this gun is not going to become a rust bucket. But if I were in the Smith & Wesson design department, I might specify bead blasting a dull finish onto the front face of the cylinder rather than giving it a coating there. It won't hurt the pistol's performance, but it will enhance its long term appearance.

OK, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the pistol. Here they are:


The Stainless pistol is a Model 640. It's the same size frame, but the barrel is 1/8" longer and the grips are larger. And it weighs literally twice as much as the 340.

This is one mean, compact, little pit-bull of a pistol.



Compare the cylinder face in this picture to the one in the first picture. In the first one, the gun is brand spankin' new. In this one, it has had about 30 rounds put through it. Notice how scorched the cylinder face is even after cleaning.





The holstered pistol fits neatly into my left front pocket without a trace, and the two speed loaders go in the cargo pocket on the other side.




edited to correct file path on images

Oh yeah! Me likey.