PHOTO OF NEW GRIPS ADDED IN POST AT BOTTOM OF THREAD.

Bought this from a fellow member.

Picked it up Thursday, changed grips and went shooting.

The sights were so far off to the left it was surprising. It was shooting low too, but that could be bullet weight and velocity. I was shooting 158gr LRN 38spl.

Feeler gauges say it’s in spec, but CG is near max,
and so is end shake, while headspace is actually a little tight. Timing is perfect.

It was a joy to shoot.

Seller’s photos, which are better than I can do, plus one with the Thai combats I put on.

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Congrats, great revolver.

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Pine_Worker
Ex-LEO, NRA Life

Nice gun!

Since headspace is tight and CG at max, pull the cyl off the yoke and check inside the cyl center hole for shims that have been added.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Thanks. Will do, but then what?

Seems that if I were to remove a shim I would decrease CG (so long as I was pushing the cylinder forward,) increase HS (so long as I was pushing the cylinder forward) but also increase end shake. What am I missing? (My limited experience must be obvious!)

Any help greatly appreciated!

Just to know whatcha got.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Got it, thanks.

Looks nice, congratulations !

That is true, but if there are no shims, then adding a shim will tighten the endshake issue while providing more barrel-cylinder clearance.

Not surprised it shoots low with 38 Special ammo, it is a 357 Magnum and I suspect that full power 158 grain magnum loads will be much closer to point of aim.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I wouldn't worry about the headspacing unless the cylinder rubs the recoil shield when the cylinder is closed. The recessed chamber seats the case head completely, and the case headspaces against the inside of the rim, so the case would only rub if the cylinder does. Pull the hammer back just far enough for the cylinder stop to retract and rotate the cylinder, feel and listen for rubbing.

That's a beautiful gun, I couldn't imagine and function issues, there's hardly a turn line on it so it can't have been used a lot. I need to find a M19 snubbie to go with my M66-1 snubbie. The blued version looks so different.

Congratulations, that is a beauty! Bob

Very nice revolver! I have a nickel 19-4 snubby that I really like. Shooting low and left can sometimes also be attributed to excessive finger pressure and trigger pull, especially with snubbies with smaller stocks. However, I would think that the larger combat stocks you installed should alleviate some of those issues.

I didn't put a scale to it, but the single and double action pulls of the 19-3 were great, in line with what I would expect of any top condition K frame from the era.

6" left and 5" low at seven yards. Definitely the sights.

Weak sauce 38spl cowboy loads to +P to screaming 357s, none of my other revolvers show much vertical spread between loads at practical SD ranges. And essentially zero horizontal spread.

I'm familiar with trigger "push." When I got my Sig P365 it was something I needed to overcome. Switching to the longer frame X model or the longer magazines in the original pretty much cured the issue.

The Thai combats were really great to shoot with, they fit like they were made for my hand. I liked them so much I ordered a second set for my 547. Might even try a set on my 386 Night Guard.

ETA: Other guns I shot that day were a new to me 4" Model 13-1 with Magnas, a new to me Model 386 Sc Mountain Lite with the factory rubber grips and an FN 509 I had an Apex trigger installed in. Unlike some others, I like Magna grips (prefer then to targets for shooting) and the rubber grips on the Sc are good for the application. The 13-1 had slightly less muzzle rise than the 19-3, as you would expect, but both were a joy to shoot. The 19-3 especially since the grips fit like they were tailor made for my hand. The Sc wasn't nearly as unpleasant as my 386PD. Not sure yet why. maybe different ammo, but I'll shoot them back to back sometime this week to figure out why.

John Patrick what a sweet revolver and a 2 1/2 in to boot.Enjoy it and shoot it as often as you can.

Thanks, heeter3!

Will do.

Sweet. I need a 19-3 snubby to go with my 19-3 6 in. and 4 in. Enjoy yours.

Thanks to a member here, my M19-3 has a great looking set of combat grips!

And so does my M547!

Both sets of grips feel great in the hand and point naturally.

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There is one of those at a local GS. Same configuration but showing some holster wear on the cylinder and a turn line. It's a nice gun and I like the K frame RB. He's asking $899 which I think is a little too much. But what do I know, not seeing 2 1/2" RB 19-3 that often to get a handle on the price.

John

These days, that's about average in price for one. You might be able to get the price down a little based on finish wear.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Couple years ago I saw another one at an upstate GS. The $649 price also included an extra set of nice Stags. I missed the ball on that one!

John

Very nice……. I got it’s nickel twin a few weeks back!

Put some nice Culina Combat grips on my 19-4

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Love the dark grips!

Stumbled onto this thread and realized this was my old gun. After recognizing the OP as the buyer, the first post here was 7 days after I received a PM from the OP implying that the gun was terribly out of spec, “bubba’d”, only really worth a fraction of what he paid and implied he’d begrudgingly go ahead and accept the gun. It seems his posts here are exactly the opposite of what he told me. Certainly not singing the same tune. Just thought I’d share.

Here is the PM I received on 1/10 from the OP:

“After spending an hour and a half with good light and feeler gauges I think I can say that the 19-3 is a very lovely but bubba’d piece needing a lot of work and worth a fraction of $XXXX. Nothing is in spec.

The mechanical condition is a mystery to me, other than the fact that nothing is in spec, and well beyond my limited knowledge of how and why what should be a quality revolver got to its current mechanical state.

That said, my curiosity has gotten the best of me and I’ll accept the 19-3.

I’m going to sit with my local S&W revolver smith and have him teach me about this revolver.

John”

All that is true. I did send that PM and the revolver was that out of spec.

Iirc, there was excessive barrel/cylinder gap and end shake and someone apparently messed with the cylinder stop indents, perhaps trying to fix a timing issue.

Thankfully, a knowledgeable ‘smith at my LGS was able to resolve the issues, except the odd work in the cylinder indents.

The revolver is beautiful, and I’m pleased to have it.

John Patrick

ETA: Going through the revolver with the ‘smith was very educational. A relatively large step for me in the endless journey learning about these working pieces of art and craftsmanship.

Nice looking revolver. Love the blue.

I hope you guys can be friends. We all hate seening this kind of ill will towards one another. We are all adults here, please accept his explaination.

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ask questions- then shoot!