Way back in the mid-1980s, after the United States Army adopted the Beretta 92F as its new standard sidearm, police agencies around the country began to follow suit. Living in Maryland as I was, and not far from the Beretta plant in Accokeek, Maryland, I noticed a lot of local agencies making quick transitions to the 9mm pistol. With one local agency that meant getting rid of their Smith & Wesson Model 64 stainless steel revolvers. These revolvers, in .38 Special sporting a 4-inch barrel, were being surplused onto the market through various dealers. I happened to have been lucky enough to purchase one of them and have enjoyed it for about twenty years now. In this week's review, we're going to take a look at the revolver as a field gun while hunting, camping, etc., and specifically the S&W 64 as it still performs two decades after being phased out of police use.

At about 8.5 inches in overall length and weighing just over two pounds unloaded, the six-shot stainless steel revolver was once widely used as a police sidearm. Even today there are many educated shooters who would rather depend on the reliability of a revolver instead of the capacity of a pistol in life and death situations.

Originally introduced in 1899 by Smith & Wesson, the revolver has been around for more than a century in its basic form. That puts it on par with the legendary Government Model 1911 .45ACP. What we need to remember is that the .45ACP cartridge was adopted to defeat an enemy that took repeated hits from .38 caliber weapons without falling.

But let's consider the S&W 64 as a field gun. Far from being the mean streets of most major metropolises, the backwoods and fields of our great outdoors don't usually carry large threats. Most animals are sensible enough to run if they feel threatened in any way; that is, unless we are invading their territory or they're protecting their young. Yes, there are those animals out there big enough to consider we humans prey. The good news is that sometimes they'll be intimidated by loud sounds and they don't like pain. The bad news is that if they are well and truly pissed off, your .38 is not going to be terribly effective against them.

.38 Special ammunition is available in a variety of loads and it is that variety that may make this weapon appeal to outdoorsman dependent on their need. .38SPL ammo can be had in round nose, hollow point, jacketed hollow point and other bullet designs. Shot shell loads are also available. Now, while shot may not do you a lot of good against that aggravated grizzly (not any good at all unless you get his eyes) that same shot load would do you well against a coiled rattlesnake.