And they never returned his 19 did they?
The Model 19 "Controversy"
- Thread starter ImDrRich
- Start date
And they never returned his 19 did they?
KiloDeltaCharlie
Member
The newish 19 Classic should be good to go with any grain Magnums; correct?
I'd say any factory load, yes.
HOUSTON RICK
Member
The Model 19 was on my short list to acquire, but so many good firearms and so little time and money. Thanks for posting.
Anybody wanna see my J frame 640 with at least 1k rounds of 357 through it? Hasn't hurt the gun a bit but my hands sure don't like it much...
Make the K frame look like a truck in comparison.
If S&W didn't think the gun would hold up,I'm pretty sure they would not make it..AND back it with a lifetime warranty..
Make the K frame look like a truck in comparison.
If S&W didn't think the gun would hold up,I'm pretty sure they would not make it..AND back it with a lifetime warranty..
My model 19 was one of my duty guns. I fired over 10,000 rounds of Smith & Wesson full factory loads given to me and a friend by the factory. I've never had a problem. I don't know what he was talking about.
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Again Back then in the mid 70’s I chose the python over the m19 glad I did
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BigBill
Absent Comrade
The m19 was designed to be a heavy shooter, to begin with.
In the 70’s I was shooting 4 to 5 times a week.
In the 70’s I was shooting 4 to 5 times a week.
sigp220.45
US Veteran
I’ve always wondered why the Model 19 has such a prominent forcing cone.
Look at a Chief Special - there’s really no forcing cone to speak of.
Why didn’t they either make the cylinder longer, or the frame window shorter?
Look at a Chief Special - there’s really no forcing cone to speak of.
Why didn’t they either make the cylinder longer, or the frame window shorter?
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Maybe we touched something with the forcing cone? Maybe the forcing cone should be a steeper flare when the bullet enters the barrel?
bmcgilvray
Member
My first duty revolvers were Colt Trooper MKIII's and then the S&W M66, but our duty loads were always .38 Spl. +P.
Now, being young, a gun geek and reloader, I ran lots of magnums of all bullet weights through my 66 and it never seemed to balk.
- Now, I'm wondering how much internet traffic could win the topic of most discussed? - M19's forcing cone cracking or the whole 'Can my .38 shoot +P's?
It may very well be a toss-up.
I too hold the view that the internet firearms forums have ballyhooed this topic as well as a few more* until things are blown all out of proportion. I turn a blind eye to it myself. The Model 19 here, as well as Model 19s I've owned in the past all see full power 158 grain handloads. Nary a problem ... yet. I'll get back with you when a dreaded crack appears.
Meanwhile, the Model 19-4 that roosts here.
*Other topics that are overblown since the rise of the internet yet not necessarily so. All that is required to perpetuate any of these is to read it once on a forum and repeat it as gospel for ever after.
1. Colt Pythons and other classic V-Spring Colt double-action revolver designs are delicate and go out of time easily. Oh yeah, and no gunsmiths are capable of working on them.
2. M1 Garands are delicate and require both special ammunition and special adjustable gas plugs.
3. Low serial number single heat treat 1903 Springfields are all unsafe and will grenade on you if you dare to shoot them.
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
I had the misfortune of meeting him once. The most unpleasant, self agrandizing Alpha hotel I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. God help you if you held an opinion differing from his. Have nothing but my hunch but the way he held Germany in such high esteem gave me a good deal of pause. I felt it was no accident that the uniforms covers and insignia he used at his gunsite were remarkably similar to that of Nazi Germany during WWII. Really never had any use for the man nor the pompous mannerism of his speech and writing after my meeting with him,.I only met him once at a SHOT Show where he was signing autographs on his book along with his daughter...To say the least, he was a character......Ben
A pompous boor.
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cowboy4evr
Member
I just got through this past weekend shooting my 19 , snubby with my full magnum hand loads (158 gr cast) for the entire time . Nary a problem and I didn't expect any . It says " 357 magnum " on the side of the barrel , so that is what it gets .
I also have a Colt Old Model Trooper , 4" . It's the poor mans python . Has the same frame and mechanism as a python . It lacks the ribbed / vented barrel and lustrous finish . It gets the same loads . And it's amazing , " it's still in time " ! Regards Paul
I also have a Colt Old Model Trooper , 4" . It's the poor mans python . Has the same frame and mechanism as a python . It lacks the ribbed / vented barrel and lustrous finish . It gets the same loads . And it's amazing , " it's still in time " ! Regards Paul
elm_creek_smith
US Veteran
After I retired from the Army and started the whole badge/gun thing, I carried a 4 inch S&W Model 65-1 loaded with 158 gr JHPs. When our agency changed to .40 Glock 22s from S&W Model 4006s, I had to switch to a S&W Model 686 loaded with Remington 125 gr SJHPs The week before I retired in 2018, I turned in the last L-frame 686-6 and carried the 65-1 loaded with Speer 135 gr "Short Barrel" .357 Magnums. (I kept carrying revolvers due to seniority and the fact that none of my officers could outshoot me at qualification.)
Off duty I carried a 3 inch S&W Model 13-3 loaded with .38 +P or, later, the Speer "Short Barrel " loads.
BUGS were a nickel-plated S&W Model 37 loaded with standard pressure .38s (until I realized I couldn't see the sights in sunlight), a Model 642 loaded with .38 +Ps, and finally a S&W Model 12-2 loaded with standard pressure .38s.
Never had a problem with forcing cones or frame cracks under the barrels with the Airweights.
I changed my EDC to 9mms
( a Ruger EC9s and a S&W SD9) after retirement after realizing I couldn't afford to replace my revolvers if I had to use them and my lumbar disks decided to disintegrate. The 9mms are nice, but they are just guns.
Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk
Off duty I carried a 3 inch S&W Model 13-3 loaded with .38 +P or, later, the Speer "Short Barrel " loads.
BUGS were a nickel-plated S&W Model 37 loaded with standard pressure .38s (until I realized I couldn't see the sights in sunlight), a Model 642 loaded with .38 +Ps, and finally a S&W Model 12-2 loaded with standard pressure .38s.
Never had a problem with forcing cones or frame cracks under the barrels with the Airweights.
I changed my EDC to 9mms
( a Ruger EC9s and a S&W SD9) after retirement after realizing I couldn't afford to replace my revolvers if I had to use them and my lumbar disks decided to disintegrate. The 9mms are nice, but they are just guns.
Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk
Tytan01
Member
Thousands of .357 Magnum rounds shot through this 19-3 including some scary hot reloads from friends. Still as smooth and accurate as day one.
I know it's a model 19 because it says so on the buttplate..
It still gets shot a lot..with full power rounds. It ain't scared and neither am I.
Love that buttplate. But I am a butt-guy after all....
Hey...settle down, Francis.
IrishFritz
Member
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Being neither a ballistician nor a metallurgist please take my comments with a grain of salt. The 19/66 guns were designed long before the advent of engineered high performance hollow point ammo. As I remember the prefered load of the day was a soft core half jacket semi-wadcutter at 158 grains. The half jacket was basically a gas check and did little to restrict the plasticity of the bullet so one can make the case that these revolvers were designed as lead bullet guns. I acquired a 19 2 1/2" back in the early 70's and my preferred defense load was a Keith designed Lyman 358429 hollow point at about 155 grains when cast of 1-16 tin driven by 6.5 of Unique, my practice load was the solid of that bullet with 5.5 grains of Unique. Over the years I must have shot thousands of rounds of that load from 19's and 66's without issue. It is my belief that beginning with Super Vel the pressure curves of modern engineered hollow point ammo changed significantly from earlier loadings. Couple that to the steels available to S&W during the 50's, 60's, and 70's and you get what amounts to design overload. Smith tacitly admitted that by going to the 686. To sum up, I believe that if you shoot the K frames with judicious 357 lead bullet loads the guns will probably run forever without problems. If you choose to shoot the K frames with a steady diet of performance 357 JHP's you are asking more than the design can give you. IrishFritz
Good article that goes over the K frame issue as it pertains to the development of the L frame:
The Smith & Wesson L-Frame Story - RevolverGuy.Com
The Smith & Wesson L-Frame Story - RevolverGuy.Com
Seems to me the .38 special +P+ was, in practice, a politically correct .357
Agencies that adopted it almost always had some political policy prohibition against ."357 mangle 'em" as being needlessly mean to criminals. Usually the same whiny bunch that complain cops use ammo that would be against the "Geneva Conventions."
Now there's an oxymoron. LOL
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