S&W 386 XL and the Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake

[SCBaldr]

Let me begin by saying, "Yes. I will post pictures tomorrow hopefully."

About a month and a half ago, I bought myself a brand new Smith & Wesson 386 XL revolver. Its my first wheel-gun and I have to say, I never thought I would be enjoying a pistol of this type and description nearly as much as I have. I chose it over the 686 plus because I preferred the way it balanced in my hand and because of multiple people giving good accounts of the scandium frame and barrel/shroud design. I had heard that some of the hottest factory .357 magnum loads would jump the crimp in this gun but not in the 686 plus. So far, I haven't had one that I have tried jump its crimp. (I measure with a set of Mitutoyo digital read calipers.) I will admit that even I am a bit wary of the Buffalo Bore high velocity 158 grain loads and I have not shot any of them through this revolver yet.

So far I have put 440 rounds of ammunition through the 386 XL and I think I can now write a full review. 350 of those rounds were 38 special jacketed rounds as you might expect. I have fired around 90% of this in double action mode. I want to wear in the DA trigger and smooth it out a little bit. The other 90 rounds were .357 Magnum rounds. (50) American Eagle 158 grain jacketed soft points also in DA, (20) Speer 158 grain gold dots (half in SA and half in DA) and 20 more 145 grain Winchester Super-X Silvertip Hollow Points (half in SA and half in DA). The remaining 30 in the box are my defensive ammo. Recoil was not as pronounced as I had thought it would be. So long as I maintained a solid grip on the gun, the additional snap was quite simple to control. All that was necessary was to add a little more wrist strength to shooting style and presto! What extra recoil?

None of these rounds jumped their roll crimps, even when I intentionally limp wristed six shots in a row to see if they would. I did notice that the 386 shot the Winchester Silvertips much more accurately than the Speer Gold Dots or the A.E. JSP rounds. The Speer and A.E. shot roughly the same group size of 2"-2.5". With the exception of two fliers for the Winchesters and a dozen more for the Speer and A.E., (my fault, [gasp!] I'm not a perfect shot.) the Winchesters delivered sub 1" groups. One three shot group went through exactly the same hole. It looked like it had been shot by my 45-70 once. I should note that it has shot all of the 38 special rounds quite accurately regardless of brand or type. All of My accuracy testing was done at 25 yards from a sandbag rest for 10 shots. Its a pretty simple and reliable accuracy test which I will continue to use in the future. So accuracy on this revolver is better than any of my semi-automatic pistols, but I expected that from a gun whose only moving part when firing is the hammer and a six inch barrel.

Steve NE Phila suggested a Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake for good gun-leather. So after failing to find anything that sounded or looked better, I took him at his word and ordered that same holster in black leather with fish-scales embossed into the body. It arrived a few weeks ago and I have been using it on the range when I work as an RSO and Instructor. It is quite a large holster and at first glance, it seems too large to be comfortable over a full day of carry. When I started using it, that turned out not to be true. It carried quite nicely. Part of that is the Aluminum/Scandium frame of the 386 XL. It weighs just over 2 pounds when loaded and the pancake spreads that load out enough that it feels even lighter.

I originally wanted a thumb break leather holster because they tend to retain guns better than the open top designs. As something of a disclaimer, I know that retention is much more a matter of skills and awareness than holster design. Even so, I still prefer more secure designs. Steve assured me that the retention properties of the Sourdough Pancake were sufficient. "Even if you were a longshoreman who had a habit of doing hot yoga on the tallest yardarm in the middle of a storm." Or something like that. Long-story-short is that he was right about the holster. It has the best retention of any holster that I have yet used. (Except duty holsters) It has to be said that it takes quite a few draw strokes to break it in enough so that it can be drawn easily. So I can recommend this product, the Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake, without reservation.

I was also impressed by the Hi-Viz red fiber front sight. Its very easy to pick up and it grabs the eye. So much so that the image of a bright red glowing dot inside a white u-notch has become a recipe for dead foxes, groundhogs and all manner of other pests on the farm. The Hogue finger-groove grip is a very snug fit for me, I have monstrously huge hands and the K-frame that I looked at was simply too small for me, but by contrast the N-frame just felt bulky, almost like it was big-ness for big-ness sake. The L-frame grip is a snug fit, but it has grown on me. This combination of L-frame, Hogue finger-groove grip and Sourdough Pancake allows me to get a really solid grip on the first grab and a subsequently good draw to match it.

I had a chance to compare the S&W 386 XL to a Taurus Model 627, a 4" barreled 7 shot steel framed revolver. This came about because a guy had brought and several guns including that one to the range at which I work. He saw the grip and part of a scandium framed S&W at the top of my holster and we struck up a conversation. It wasn't long before we were comparing wheel-guns. The look on his face when he was testing the trigger on the 386 XL was amusing. A mixture of surprise and appreciation. I was shooting his Taurus 627 and enjoying the experience for the most part. It had relatively few rounds through it and had not been fully broken in yet. It shot reasonably accurately with most of the ammo we fed it and it soaked up the muzzle flip wonderfully as you might expect from a ported barrel. It felt like there was sand in the trigger and cylinder compared to the 386 XL and it did something strange when we were shooting it too. I would begin to squeeze the trigger and about a quarter of the way through the Taurus' trigger travel in DA mode, the entire mechanism would lock up. It was not possible to force the trigger through the rest of the travel. I would have to let off and try again. Sometimes the gun would work fine and sometimes it would lock up again. Trying to thumb back the hammer for an SA shot would not work either. We removed the ammo and pulled the trigger in DA mode again and it functioned fine. Weird. When I asked if this had happened before and its owner said that it had, he was just going to put 200 more rounds through it before sending it back to make sure that it was not a break-in issue. I told him that it was probably not a normal break-in issue and he should send it back filthy to show that it has, in fact been fired a few hundred times. Supposedly, Taurus' revolvers are the most reliable and best products they make. After seeing this happen to a Taurus wheel-gun that was bought brand new... If I ever wanted to buy a Taurus, that experience just killed it.

Over all, I am quite happy with the Purchase and consider it $737 O.T.D. very well spent on the gun and another $100 similarly well spent on the holster. I use an Uncle Mike's single speed-loader case in nylon for holding one extra speed-loader right in front of the holster on the strong side. If anyone can recommend a good set of black leather speed loader pouches for a 7 shot revolver, I'd be interested. I ended up enjoying the S&W so much that I bought a Ruger LCR with an XS front sight very shortly after buying the S&W. It now rides in my pocket when I don't feel like carrying anything else.

This Smith & Wesson 386 XL is turning out to be perfect for the use to which I am putting it. I didn't think I would end up liking it as well as my HK45C or my HK P30 V2 LEM, but I do and now, what I carry is more a question of use than anything else, like it should be. The right tool for the Job.

[Steve_NEPhila]

Great review of a modern masterpiece revolver. Revolvers remain relevant and effective tools for many purposes. Double action revolver shooting is a versatile skill that will translate into better trigger control for all weapon types. Thanks for the review...

[SCBaldr]

I promised pictures and here they are with my LCR thrown in.

It really is a case of the 386 and the sourdough pancake being the perfect tools for the job.

[BionicMan]

I have the same holster for my Ruger SP101 3", just a great piece.