It’s 5:00 AM and I’ve been awake for a while. Time to ramble.
Most people have never heard of the Model 12 S&W. Model 10, yes, people recognize the old “cop .38”. All the .357, .41, and .44 magnums are well known. But WTH is a Model 12?
The 12 is what S&W called the Airweight M&P. It’s simply a Model 10 with a frame of aluminum alloy instead of steel. A K-frame (medium) .38 Special. They were made for over 30 years and never were all that popular, selling just enough to stay in production. You had limited choices of variations: 2” or 4” barrel, and round butt or square butt grip.
Not a very interesting gun on the surface.
So why would a gun that didn’t sell well when revolvers were king be of any interest now?
For me, the 12 fits a narrow but important role, especially the 2” barreled versions. Let me break it down. I like snubs for some things. They are hard to shoot well, but I think they are without equal in close quarters. If you can barely get to a gun and get it pointed at an attacker, the snub works, and I suppose I mean that literally. If pressed into a belly, the snub will fire until empty, with no slide pushed out of battery or getting blocked by anything. A snub can even be fired from a pocket or within folds of clothing and continue to do so until empty. In a struggle, the snub gives the bad guy very little to get his hands on. What it does give him is an awkward, irregular, rounded shape. It’s all about leverage, and you have it.
And the DA revolver is about the only thing I’m willing to carry appendix, which I think is a great spot for a close quarters gun.
So let’s agree a snub has its place. Why is this one special?
The little S&W J-frame and equivalent Taurus guns are extremely popular for the reasons I just gave, in addition to being super easy to carry. The M12 is a medium K-frame, so it’s a little bigger. This makes it a little harder to conceal carry, but not a lot.
The slight size difference does make a difference in how easy it is to shoot. The grip is still smaller than many, but is enough bigger than a J-frame to matter. The sights are the same way; still a simple grooved top strap rear sight, but larger and more visible than the J’s. The front sight is a lot easier to use on the M12 than that if a J. Overall, it might not be a night and day difference, but it’s definitely a difference. I can shoot an M12 easier than any J-frame and not by a slight amount either. This is shown on the target and on a timer, not just a feeling.
Plus, you get a sixth round in .38 Spl.
Best of all, you get the K-frame trigger.
Does the extra size matter to carrying? It takes a big pants pocket to pocket carry a 12, but if we’re honest, a lot of people could use a bigger pocket to hide their pocket-carried J frames, too. Jacket pocket carry is easy. Carried IWB or any other method I can think of, including on the ankle, the difference isn’t worth mention.
The weight difference might be closer than many would think.
My 2” RB M12 weighs 19.3 ounces empty.
My 442 J frame weighs 14.4 ounces empty.
Five ounces gets you better sights, better trigger, a better grip, and a sixth round.
My 642 UC has better sights but weighs 16.4 ounces- only 3 oz less than my 2” RB 12.
One downside to the Model 12 is that they were never approved to use +P ammo. It won’t take much looking to find internet discussions on whether that matters in these guns or not. Some claim +P will crack the frame, but never seem to have details or photos. There is a heavily viewed thread on a S&W forum where a user shot over 1,000 carefully documented +P rounds through one with no signs of damage.
Many people don’t care one way or another about +P ammo, but when you look at .38 Special choices, most of the defense loads are +P with a lot fewer standard pressure choices.
Just to be on the safe side, I carry standard pressure ammo in mine. I already have some of that ammo on hand, so it’s no trouble. If I had to find standard pressure .38 defense ammo just for these guns, I doubt if I would. My speed strips or speedloaders are filled with +P since the bullet shape loads into the chambers easier. My opinion is if my SD shooting requires shooting a cylinder of +P ammo, it’s the least of my concerns.
Smity and Wesson stopped making 12s after 1986. If you want a Model 12, they are pretty scarce in gun shops but easy enough to find on Gunbroker. There are usually around a dozen on there, with sales prices starting around $400 and going to whatever you’d like to spend.
S&W did make a special run of a gun called the Model 315 NG (NightGuard). These were basically a Scandium alloy framed Model 12. S&W introduced these with little mention in mid-2008 and they were sold out almost immediately. There are a lot of people who regularly badger S&W to bring back the 315NG or a new Model 12. This picked up when the UC series of snubs came out a couple of years ago, as a Model 12UC or 315UC would be ideal. I brought this up to reps from Lipsey’s and from S&W at last year’s RevolverFest, and I was NOT alone. The response I got from one was “Yeah! That would be neat, wouldn’t it?”
Well???
Most people have never heard of the Model 12 S&W. Model 10, yes, people recognize the old “cop .38”. All the .357, .41, and .44 magnums are well known. But WTH is a Model 12?
The 12 is what S&W called the Airweight M&P. It’s simply a Model 10 with a frame of aluminum alloy instead of steel. A K-frame (medium) .38 Special. They were made for over 30 years and never were all that popular, selling just enough to stay in production. You had limited choices of variations: 2” or 4” barrel, and round butt or square butt grip.
Not a very interesting gun on the surface.
So why would a gun that didn’t sell well when revolvers were king be of any interest now?
For me, the 12 fits a narrow but important role, especially the 2” barreled versions. Let me break it down. I like snubs for some things. They are hard to shoot well, but I think they are without equal in close quarters. If you can barely get to a gun and get it pointed at an attacker, the snub works, and I suppose I mean that literally. If pressed into a belly, the snub will fire until empty, with no slide pushed out of battery or getting blocked by anything. A snub can even be fired from a pocket or within folds of clothing and continue to do so until empty. In a struggle, the snub gives the bad guy very little to get his hands on. What it does give him is an awkward, irregular, rounded shape. It’s all about leverage, and you have it.
And the DA revolver is about the only thing I’m willing to carry appendix, which I think is a great spot for a close quarters gun.
So let’s agree a snub has its place. Why is this one special?
The little S&W J-frame and equivalent Taurus guns are extremely popular for the reasons I just gave, in addition to being super easy to carry. The M12 is a medium K-frame, so it’s a little bigger. This makes it a little harder to conceal carry, but not a lot.
The slight size difference does make a difference in how easy it is to shoot. The grip is still smaller than many, but is enough bigger than a J-frame to matter. The sights are the same way; still a simple grooved top strap rear sight, but larger and more visible than the J’s. The front sight is a lot easier to use on the M12 than that if a J. Overall, it might not be a night and day difference, but it’s definitely a difference. I can shoot an M12 easier than any J-frame and not by a slight amount either. This is shown on the target and on a timer, not just a feeling.
Plus, you get a sixth round in .38 Spl.
Best of all, you get the K-frame trigger.
Does the extra size matter to carrying? It takes a big pants pocket to pocket carry a 12, but if we’re honest, a lot of people could use a bigger pocket to hide their pocket-carried J frames, too. Jacket pocket carry is easy. Carried IWB or any other method I can think of, including on the ankle, the difference isn’t worth mention.
The weight difference might be closer than many would think.
My 2” RB M12 weighs 19.3 ounces empty.
My 442 J frame weighs 14.4 ounces empty.
Five ounces gets you better sights, better trigger, a better grip, and a sixth round.
My 642 UC has better sights but weighs 16.4 ounces- only 3 oz less than my 2” RB 12.
One downside to the Model 12 is that they were never approved to use +P ammo. It won’t take much looking to find internet discussions on whether that matters in these guns or not. Some claim +P will crack the frame, but never seem to have details or photos. There is a heavily viewed thread on a S&W forum where a user shot over 1,000 carefully documented +P rounds through one with no signs of damage.
Many people don’t care one way or another about +P ammo, but when you look at .38 Special choices, most of the defense loads are +P with a lot fewer standard pressure choices.
Just to be on the safe side, I carry standard pressure ammo in mine. I already have some of that ammo on hand, so it’s no trouble. If I had to find standard pressure .38 defense ammo just for these guns, I doubt if I would. My speed strips or speedloaders are filled with +P since the bullet shape loads into the chambers easier. My opinion is if my SD shooting requires shooting a cylinder of +P ammo, it’s the least of my concerns.
Smity and Wesson stopped making 12s after 1986. If you want a Model 12, they are pretty scarce in gun shops but easy enough to find on Gunbroker. There are usually around a dozen on there, with sales prices starting around $400 and going to whatever you’d like to spend.
S&W did make a special run of a gun called the Model 315 NG (NightGuard). These were basically a Scandium alloy framed Model 12. S&W introduced these with little mention in mid-2008 and they were sold out almost immediately. There are a lot of people who regularly badger S&W to bring back the 315NG or a new Model 12. This picked up when the UC series of snubs came out a couple of years ago, as a Model 12UC or 315UC would be ideal. I brought this up to reps from Lipsey’s and from S&W at last year’s RevolverFest, and I was NOT alone. The response I got from one was “Yeah! That would be neat, wouldn’t it?”
Well???
