We finally got the gun S&W shipped months ago – through a paperwork foul-up, it was just recently transferred and it made it to the shop.
As you’ve seen in previous coverage, the Smith and Wesson Model 642 UC is a collaboration between the manufacturer and Lipseys, a major distributor in the US. Like other 642s, this is a stainless cylinder wrapped in an aluminum (not Scandium) frame. Unlike others, the stainless-steel barrel is shrouded in an aluminum shroud with an ultra-green XS front sight.
It’s stocked with the VZ Grips High Horns Boot Grips made specifically for this project. With a covered backstrap, the G10 rides high on the rear of the frame. It’s cut for speed loaders and is a great piece of work – a collaboration between Lipseys and VZ, with lots of back-and-forth on the design.
That’s why I felt bad that the effort didn’t work for my hand. No one can make a revolver stock that fits every conceivable hand. The reach to the trigger had my hand open enough that the hard stock rubbed the interior of the proximal joint of the thumb, leading to a friction blister with any but the lightest loads.
Back to the drawing board.
On the Model 432 UC, a 32 H&R Magnum revolver, I found that even those loads were wearing with the effort from VZ Grips. I surrendered to installing a vastly larger stock, the Hogue J-frame “Tamer” Overmolded stocks. With those on board, I can literally shoot the gun all day.
And it gives me more to hang on to than an attacker trying to get the gun away from me.
Enter Hamre Forge, a company upon whose website, the “contact” button says “If you have a product idea or want to improve something existing, feel free to let us know.”
I imagine that led to a cluster of emails calling for a version of the hand filling high horn stocks designed and produced (one at a time) by master stock maker Craig Spegel.
They reached out and, in partnership with Craig Spegel, designed and made the HF Spegel Boot Grip. Produced in their “Roughout” texture, the hard little stock is made for the concealed hammer Centennial guns in high horn-fashion and lower to fit exposed hammer revolvers. An additional option is to have the right-side stock panel rendered as the Hamre Force Hamre Hook, which hooks over your waistband to wear without a holster.
The company is known for its Hamre Hook, but a good many of us just wanted a regularly available high horn option for Centennial revolvers. We have it now. The website notes, “Due to high demand, expect a 1 to 2 week lead time for this product.”
I can testify to that.
The stocks are made via Selective Laser Sintering, a process I don’t understand, that makes objects that are strong, dimensionally correct and easier (than 3D printing) to manufacture in batches. The downside is cost.
A full set – both sides, plus a Hamre Hook side for wear without a holster – runs around $65.
Try to price a set of Spegels lately? Have you seen how long the wait is?
The set I bought arrived just after the M642UC did. Do you think I changed them?
I already shot the factory supplied version in February, as well as my first range trip with the M432. I made the change before the first 38 range trip.
That first range trip saw me trying six different loads out of the new gun from 20 yards. The first was the Black Hills Ammunition 148 grain wadcutter. I noted how high it shot, five inches over point of aim (“ball” deep in the “bucket”). That didn’t bode well.
The results follow:
Load Vel. Group Best 3/5 Notes
Black Hills 148gr WC 615fps 5 ½” 2 ½” hit 5” high at 20 yards
Atlanta Arms 158 SWC PPC Match 612fps 5” 2” hit 2” high
Hornady Critical Defense Lite 90 gr 905fps 5 ½” 3” 0
Georgia Arms Ultimate Defense WC 755fps 3 ½” 1 7/8” ca. 6” high over sights
Federal +P 130 HydraShok Deep 794fps 5” 7/8” 3 centered, two high
Hornady American Gunner 125 XTP 728fps 2 3/8” 1 ½” just under sights
A look at the chart tells a tale; loads that the gun likes, it likes a lot. Loads that hit to the middle are surprising, based on how they tried to regulate the sights.
I didn’t talk about the advantages of the gun. I can see the sights – anyone can see these sights. The action is fine, a better DA than on most. And I didn’t get a friction blister as I normally would have.
I posted a B-8 repair center to shoot at ten yards freestyle to see where the rounds would strike relative to the sights when held in a more likely scenario.
The Georgia Arms UC Wadcutter hit high, from a hit high in the “7” ring down to a high “9.” Five rounds of Winchester 130 grain FMJ struck in the “X” up to a high hit in the “10” ring. I only had two rounds of the very-accurate-in-this-gun Hornady American Gunner load and it struck on the right of the “10” ring with one in the low-9 (likely shooter-induced).
The Federal 130gr. HydraShok Deep +P load put five rounds in the upper part of the “X” up to the upper part of the “8” ring with a “it was me” flyer in the high “7.”
I’m liking this little cannon. And the stocks would likely cause trouble with hot loads over time – more so than the Hogue Tamers. Most fights are over more quickly than that, so I don’t consider it a huge problem. I was surprised at the relative comfort level that the Spegel-inspired design allowed.
— Rich Grassi