Model 19-5 Cylinder chamber diameter

[Patmcclat]

Is the cylinder chamber diameter designed to be the same from front to rear?

I will occasionally shoot .357 Magnum rounds in my Model 19-5. When I do, some .357 Magnum casings are difficult to remove using the hand ejector.

Looking at the chambers, there appears to be a smaller diameter to the chambers at the front of the cylinder. Is that by design, or do I have a build up of fouling at the front of the chambers from usually shooting .38 Special rounds?

The information available on this forum is fantastic. Thank you for any insight and information you may be able to provide.

 

[Alk8944]

The diameter of a .38 Special or .357 Magnum charge hole is nominally .378". There are two things you are seeing, the throat of the chamber is ca. 358" with a smooth tapered area leading up to it. If you see a rough area extending about 3/16" behind the tapered area that is fouling from the gun being shot with .38 Special ammunition without being properly cleaned afterward. This area can result in difficult extraction if .357 ammunition is hot because the case can stick in this fouling area. If the fouling gets bad enough it can even make loading the .357 ammunition into the gun.

Probably that is fouling, and if you clean the charge holes it should make extraction normal, at least until more .38s are fired in the gun.

 

[Patmcclat]

Thank you for the explanation. I have some cleaning to do on those chambers.

Is the tapered area on the front of the cylinder (closest to the barrel), when installed in the revolver?
Tapered from a larger diameter to the nominal 0.358?

 

[Model19man]

Scroll to page 36 to see the SAAMI industry standard for the 357 Magnum chamber and case. The case is .359", the bullet is .358" and the rifling is .355".

https://saami.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SAAMI-Z299.3-2022-Centerfire-Pistol-Revolver-Approved-12-13-2022.pdf