truth about shooting .357 ammo with a model 19

[corbach]

there is alot of desinformation on the net regarding the model 19 and shooting .357 ammo on a regular diet.

Some says there is no counter indication and some says the gun will wear faster

is any of you guys has some answers on that?

 

[HUMONGO]

Shoot 158g .357s in it to your hearts content.

 

[maxicooper]

Shoot 158g .357s in it to your hearts content.

If you could find some of the rounds in the market.

And yes I'd love to hear some facts as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[randomoutburst]

My hubby owns a 19-3. Firing .357 through it regularly hasn't seemed to harm it at all. It's still as tight as the day we bought it. In fact, we both fire .38s through it more than .357...but right before we pack up we fire 6 rounds of .357 through it to knock the lead off the front of the cylinder!

The 19 is a nice model, I understand your concern for any damage firing .357 could cause but IMO it's not a problem.

Now the question is, why would you want to? More expensive and hard on the hands.

 

[flagman1776]

Any mechanism will wear. The hotter the loads, the more it will wear. Back when the M19 was designed, into the era when I was working, it was customary to do most practice with 38 Specials... and mild ones at that. Towards the end, the switch was on to practice more with 357s... typical loads were 158 LSWCs. The whole point was to pack the wallup of the 357 into a package that was compact & light weight.

In the years following, it was found that light bullet loads were harder on the K framed magnums. People who shot them a lot with full house Mags found they required more tune ups & occasionally someone would crack a forcing cone.

I still have my M19 & M66 from back then & have had no problems but then I've pretty well shot them as intended. You need to think about the kind of shooting you intend to do.
Russ

 

[Cool Hand Hodge]

The problem is the light projectile moving at a fast rate of speed smashing into the forcing cone eventually cracking it. Look at the forcing cone on that 19. You will notice that a substantial amount of material has been removed at the bottom. This is the week spot and why heavier slower projectiles should be used. Now beyond that...19s are awesome guns the typically shoot very well. I have a 66 and i absolutely love it! I should be so lucky to shoot it enough to wear it out! I would retire it and hang it on the wall but i honestly dont think ill get that much lead down the tube.

 

[Marshall 357]

I really dont like shooting 357 out of my 66. I only shot 6 rounds of 357 thru it. My 586 does a better job shooting magnum loads.

 

[corbach]

than you all for your precious advices

 

[Chop]

I have six Model 19's. My favorite is a 4" nickel 19-3 I have had for 20+ years. I estimate I have put 12,000 factory rounds downrange with it. Mixed .38 spec. 130 gn FMJ, .38 spec. 158 gn FMJ and .357 mag 158 gn FMJ. I don't see any damage to the revolver frame at all. It still cleans up nice and seems accurate to my old eyes. I suspect that it will still be in good shape when I pass.
Chop

 

[Cary]

there is alot of desinformation on the net regarding the model 19 and shooting .357 ammo on a regular diet.

Some says there is no counter indication and some says the gun will wear faster

is any of you guys has some answers on that?

My answer is from first hand experience. I lost a nice M19-6 shooting 357 mag in it. The majority of the bullets I used were 158 grain in size. The forcing cone developed a crack in the 6:00 position one day at the range when I shot a few loads with 125 grain bullets in them. I tried to find a replacement barrel to put on it and found out that this problem was not uncommon on the M19 and thus there are few if any replacement barrels around. I ended up returning the gun to S&W and they replaced it with another model gun. At the time the gun was damaged I was unaware of this potential problem with the M19. If I had known I would have avoided this problem. They are nice guns but not as robust as others are like the 686.
Cary

 

[RidgwayCO]

My opinion (which may have little relationship to the facts):

The K frame .357 Magnum was fine with loads using the 158gr bullet (actually, probably any bullet between 140gr and 180gr). It ran into trouble with the lightweight bullets (110-125gr) moving so much faster than the heavier bullets. It's not unusual to read of people cracking the forcing cone on K frame revolvers using magnum loadings with the lightweight bullets.

In my M65 and M66, I shoot primarily .38 Special, saving the .357 Magnum loads for the M681, M686+, and M627. I wouldn't have any problem shooting the Magnum rounds in the K frames, I'd just make sure I limited them to 140gr bullets and above (after scrubbing the chambers thoroughly to get the .38 Special "ring" out).