Hi: New to the forum, in fact new to .357 all i've had was an old m&p .38 special. I went to a gun show and this mod.19-4 with 6" barrel kinda leapt off the table and attached it'self to me! it looks to be in excellent shape sure does feel nice I read some of the posts about barrel cracking with lightweight bullets would 140gr. be heavy enough? or should i just stick with the158gr. i plan on useing jacketed bullets. [2] To avoid the cylinder carbon fouling by useing .38 special couldn't i just use the .357 case and load to .38 special specs? [3] can i shoot >38 special+p in this? aguy gave me 2 boxes and i can't use them in my old m&p [4] The ser. no is 41k81xx mod 19-4 is there any way of dateing this? thanks for any and all help i need lots of it John

Hi, and welcome! To answer your questions, heavy use of full-power .357 loads of any bullet weight should probably be reserved for an L or N frame. The 125 gr loads seem to cause the most wear and damage, but occasional use of 140-158 gr loads should be fine.

Yes, you can load .38 Special-level loads in .357 cases, but in my experience you would have to use a lot of .38 loads to cause the fouling problem mentioned. Cleaning after every shooting session should prevent this.

.38 +P ammo is perfectly safe in your model 19, and would be a good way to test the fouling issue also.

Your production date is late 1978 to early 1979. Please post some photos if you can, and let us know how it shoots.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Thanks for the answers i doubt that i will ever load full power loads i tend to be a middle power guy, but why invite trouble by useing a bullet known to cause it. if i could figure out how to post pictures i would maybe my kids could help! probably will not be much shooting for a while since we seem to have a snowstorm every 3 days John

My first S&W was a four inch 19-5 bought new in 1990. I put a LOT of full power 357 loads in several bullet weights through that gun. Why? My best friend had a private outdoor range, and we would shoot whatever we could get from local grocery stores for targets: old apples, tomatoes, melons, canned goods, sodas, whatever. High power = big splatter per tomato. If shooting steel gongs or paper targets, I would go for cheaper 38 special, I suggest you do the same. If your gun's a shooter, shoot what you want; if you "wear it out" (doubtful) well, you can get another.
Hint: if you shoot rotten produce like we did, hang a white sheet behind it to get the maximum visual. Fun.

The supposed "weaknesses" of the M19 have been far overblown in my opinion. Unless you feed it thousands of rounds of full power .357's you are very unlikely to have any problems, and then it will most likely be easily corrected endshake - NOT cracked anything! This is based on owning three M19 over 30+ years and firing thousands and thousands of factory and handloads through them. Shoot all the .38 Specials you want. Any fouling is easily cleaned and should never present a problem. My advice is to stop worrying and enjoy one of the finest revolvers ever produced.