S&W Revolvers...Now I get it.

[Pokem807]

Finally picked up my first S&W revolver yesterday, and had to show it off a little. I've only ran about 24 rounds through her, but now I understand why people rave about the triggers in these things.

It's a Model 19-3, and based on the serial number it dates back to around 1972. The grips are original, the finish is in great shape, and everything is nice and tight.

I'm going to completely disassemble and clean her up this weekend, and put a few hundred rounds downrange, and then I'll have some more thoughts and probably a bunch of questions. If anybody has any info about this Model, feel free to hit me with some knowledge.

 

[Johnny]

Make you a screwdriver with the nub on it for putting the sprin back on.

The sticky at top of this forum is very good tutorial on disassembly and cleaning.

Don't shoot hot 125's though it. Stick to the 158's. The 125's are rough on the k frames.

Ohhh yeah. She is beautiful. Congrats. Enjoy her.

 

[ldp4570]

Make you a screwdriver with the nub on it for putting the sprin back on.

The sticky at top of this forum is very good tutorial on disassembly and cleaning.

Don't shoot hot 125's though it. Stick to the 158's. The 125's are rough on the k frames.

Ohhh yeah. She is beautiful. Congrats. Enjoy her.

I'll second the comment about the 125gr loads, its best to just stay away from them, and if you just have to run her with .357mag loads look into 145gr an 158gr loads. If it was mine I'd run hot .38spl loads and leave it at that. She'll last along time that way.

 

[Dukester]

Ha, you do realize you won't be able to stop at one right?

 

[ldp4570]

Ha, you do realize you won't be able to stop at one right?

Worse than Lay's potato chips!!!

 

[dennishoddy]

Nice buy.

Put your fingers on a S&W K-22 Masterpiece. Its a trigger like no other before lawyers got ahold of them.

 

[Boehlertaught]

They are addictive.

 

[Brandi]

That is a sweet Smithie!

What's with the no 125's, are they that weak? I realize it's a K frame but wasn't it built to handle full blown .357 magnum? I don't know that much about them is why I'm asking, just seems like they should be plenty tough to handle 125's, what's the scoop?

 

[aeropb]

That is a sweet Smithie!

What's with the no 125's, are they that weak? I realize it's a K frame but wasn't it built to handle full blown .357 magnum? I don't know that much about them is why I'm asking, just seems like they should be plenty tough to handle 125's, what's the scoop?

K frame is a hybrid. It is both light weight and not too large to make carrying it unwieldy. Though it is a high performance machine designed to be capable of shooting both 357 and 38 but not designed to shoot bountiful amounts of 357.

 

[Johnny]

That is a sweet Smithie!

What's with the no 125's, are they that weak? I realize it's a K frame but wasn't it built to handle full blown .357 magnum? I don't know that much about them is why I'm asking, just seems like they should be plenty tough to handle 125's, what's the scoop?

They will handle full loads no problem. Take a look at the forcing cone where it meets the cylinder. At the 6 o'clock position it is thinner to clear the crane. This is on the k-frames. The stories I have read say that after 1000's of rounds of 125 grain bullet the forcing cone will crack where it is thin. The round count was crazy high for this to happen. Supposedly it is blamed on the fast 125s are shorter (less bearing area) and they make the jump from cylinder to forcing cone maybe getting a little cocked and beat the crap out of forcing cone.

Like I said count has be super high for this to result. This was the purpose of the L frame guns. Beefed them up. The K frames are like beutifully built German car, but just because it will do 180 MPH turning 5000 RPM you dont drive it like that every time you hit the key. It won't last as long. Respect it and it will last for ever.

There are few stories about cracked cones you can read up on it.