Ahhhhhh The 60's were good years.

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In 1967 I was a freshman in high-school. I was working on a farm for $5.00 a day during the summer. I don't think I had ever seen a real handgun, much less fired one. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a "gun magazine." My grandfather handed down his Field and Stream and Outdoor Life magazines, but there was almost nothing there about handguns.

One of the guns I think I would have liked would be this Model 28 Smith and Wesson in 357 Magnum. Yea. That would have gotten my attention.

Model 28-2, S/N S288XXX which as best I can read in the book makes it a 1966-67 Model.

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It came to me with a set of Pachmayr presentation grips that I replaced with the Altamont "Cokes" it's wearing now. Not period, but not bad.

Flash forward a couple of years, and it's 1969. I'm a junior in high school now, still dreaming of actually owning a handgun. I'm still working on the farm, but before too long I'd be working downtown in an office.

I had discovered gun magazines by now. Jeff Cooper, Bill Jordan, and by now I had discovered Skeeter Skelton. Skeeter had convinced me that a medium frame, 357 revolver, with a 4" barrel is the "best" handgun for someone who's only going to have one. Well, one was about all I could imagine in those days, so it was going to have to be a Model 19.

Sort of like this one. A 19-3 which according to the S/N (K916xxx) left the factory in 1969. With the target hammer and trigger, it too came to me wearing Pachmayr Presentations grips. I had a set of smooth target grips stashed away that seem to work well.

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They're not the only ones I've owned over the years, but they're a couple nice examples. I have fired the 28 before. The 19 is still waiting it's turn.

No particular reason for this. Just it's cold out, and it's starting to snow. Just something to do really. :)
 
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I'm glad you were bored CB, those are very nice to look at on this boring day at work. (well I'm officially off the clock now) I wish my 28 looked that nice, but even those grips wouldn't do it. Very nice indeed.
 
Ok. I got a question for the braintrust. I just picked up the Model 19 today. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't notice the cylinder is not recessed. :confused: Nothing else seems amiss. It has a VERY nice trigger. It is marked as a 19-3, and the S/N puts at 1969. The barrel is pinned. 357 rounds chamber with no problems.

Any theories?
 
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I was a latecomer. :rolleyes:

My 1996 M640-1 was the first gun that I ever purchased. I bought it in 2008, new unfired with the money Obama gave me with his stimulus package. I'm pretty sure that's what he wanted me to spend the money on. :D



I added some Combats and it was my EDC for the next 6 years.




In 2014 my brother gave me this 1978 M28-2 and the M642-1 that he had carried as his backup for yeas when he was in LE.

The M642-1 replaced my M640-1 as my EDC.

He also gave me the original Magna stocks. He bought the 28-2 new and told me I was the only one who had ever fired it.



Today this is how it rests on my nightstand.

I've put more .357 rounds thru this one than all the rounds thru all my other guns combined. And its killed a bazillion rabbits too. ;)
 
That's what I'm thinking.

Most likely it went back to S&W after the supply of recessed cylinders was depleted.
The 19-3 had the gas ring on yoke, the 19-4 revision moved the gas ring from the yoke to the cylinder, The 19-5 eliminated the cylinder counterbore and barrel set pin (although late "transitional" 19-4's are found without barrel set pins).

So unless they reworked the original 19-3 yoke arm to fit a 19-5 cylinder its probably likely they just replaced the yoke and cylinder at the same time.

For a shooter gun the change isnt a big deal but it does hurt the value for collectors.
 
Most likely it went back to S&W after the supply of recessed cylinders was depleted.
The 19-3 had the gas ring on yoke, the 19-4 revision moved the gas ring from the yoke to the cylinder, The 19-5 eliminated the cylinder counterbore and barrel set pin (although late "transitional" 19-4's are found without barrel set pins).

So unless they reworked the original 19-3 yoke arm to fit a 19-5 cylinder its probably likely they just replaced the yoke and cylinder at the same time.

For a shooter gun the change isnt a big deal but it does hurt the value for collectors.

That's what it looks like has been done. The thing looks so well done that I didn't even notice the lack of recessed chambers until I went to drop snap caps in.

Since I got it to shoot I doubt I'm going to worry too much about it any more.
 
Hello there Mr CajunBass,

As many of your posts as I have read, this is the first time I've noticed you're only about a day's ride East of me (by a sufficiently fast horse.) I came along about four years earlier than you, and although born in the City of Monuments I followed Horace Greely's advice when I was about 10 years old and moved with my family to the Hill City. :cool:

Anyway, I dreamed of guns even earlier than you, but didn't get my first revolver (a High Standard Sentinel) in 1970, and my first S&W a few years later. As Jerry Garcia sang, "What a long, strange trip it's been'" ;)

Froggie

PS Where was the farm? I used to hang out with my cousins out on Beulah Rd when that was "way out in the country." Right after WW II all of my uncle's friends said his was crazy to buy land "that far out from Richmond!" :D
 

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Hello there Mr CajunBass,

As many of your posts as I have read, this is the first time I've noticed you're only about a day's ride East of me (by a sufficiently fast horse.) I came along about four years earlier than you, and although born in the City of Monuments I followed Horace Greely's advice when I was about 10 years old and moved with my family to the Hill City. :cool:

Anyway, I dreamed of guns even earlier than you, but didn't get my first revolver (a High Standard Sentinel) in 1970, and my first S&W a few years later. As Jerry Garcia sang, "What a long, strange trip it's been'" ;)

Froggie

PS Where was the farm? I used to hang out with my cousins out on Beulah Rd when that was "way out in the country." Right after WW II all of my uncle's friends said his was crazy to buy land "that far out from Richmond!" :D

I grew up in Hanover County, the Cold Harbor area. I went to Lee-Davis back when Lee and Davis were still there. I moved south of the river after high school.
 
Most likely it went back to S&W after the supply of recessed cylinders was depleted.
The 19-3 had the gas ring on yoke, the 19-4 revision moved the gas ring from the yoke to the cylinder, The 19-5 eliminated the cylinder counterbore and barrel set pin (although late "transitional" 19-4's are found without barrel set pins).

So unless they reworked the original 19-3 yoke arm to fit a 19-5 cylinder its probably likely they just replaced the yoke and cylinder at the same time.

For a shooter gun the change isnt a big deal but it does hurt the value for collectors.

I get all that, but it looks like there is an extra "step" on the frame lug to properly retain the cylinder and prevent excessive fore and aft movement since a non counterbored cylinder is shorter.
 

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