I recently picked up a very nice 4" Model 19-3. The gun was a bit dirty, but looked to be in excellent condition. Here in California, these aren't easy to come by. I bought it from my LGS and it was one of the owner's personal guns he had placed on consignment. I did a detail strip/cleaning once I was able to get it home, and unfortunately, I noticed the barrel had an internal bulge about an inch back from the muzzle (it wasn't visible from the outside). Otherwise, the gun was a beauty. I talked with the LGS owner and he said he had no idea the barrel was bad (I believe him). I told him it was no big deal as I had a couple of Python barrels and would have a Smolt built on the gun. He had some extra S&W parts and I found the rear sight for the short barrel guns that extends to the end of the frame, which is perfect for the conversion as it meets up with the end of the Python rib. He gave me the sight for the issue with the barrel and I took it to my local smith for the conversion. He got this baby done in three weeks and I love it! This is Smolt #3 for me.


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