Bought Another Handgun. Is it any Good?

Sparty_76

Had my heart set on a new S&W 686 .357 when I went to gun store yesterday. Salesman showed me a S&W 19-3 in mint condition. It was beautiful with a target hammer and trigger and adjustable sights. I saved myself $275 and bought it. Did I do good? The 686 felt like a tank compared to the 19-3 and seemed more like my .44 Mag. Thanks!

perry shooter

your model 19 is an American old school Classic. Blued steel and wood checkered grips [^] along with a very good set of adjustable sights. [^]. One word of caution This pistol is made to chamber and shoot 357 MAG . However If it were mine I would practice with 38 Special loads and shoot a Minimum amount of 357 mag loads and this pistol will last you a life-time

rufe-snow

Take PS's advise to heart. To many hot .357 loads could cause a crack in the forcing cone area of the barrel, just forward of the cylinder.

If you have any questions about this take it to a competent gunsmith for inspection. While he's at it, have him check the timing and lock-up of the cylinder.

beantownshootah

Let's put it this way. I like these "a little bit". In my household, this is the proverbial "nighttable" gun:









What can I say about these. . .

Smith 19 was designed as a "fighting" gun. Its basically the old "military and police" double action .38 revolver beefed up a bit to handle .357 magnum pressures, and with nice adjustable combat sights.

The Smith model 19 was THE standard police issue sidearm for probably 25+ years, and believe it or not, there was a time when these guns were in such high demand by police agencies, that you had to wait to get one as a civilian.

Most of these were made back in the day when Smith was hand tuning each gun before it left the factory. . .lots of them feel slick as glass, basically as good as custom tuned guns

So yeah, its a great gun, they don't make them like "that" anymore, and they probably never will.

Compared to the Smith 686 (or the blued version thereof, the 586), the model 19 is a little faster handling and easier to both carry and point. The 686 is a little heavier to carry, and stronger.

Obviously, a blued steel gun needs a bit more maintenance than one that's stainless steel. If you keep a thin film of gun oil on the gun (wipe it down with an oiled rag after using), that will prevent rust, or fingerprint-acid induced corrosion.

The big downside of this gun is that being built on the modest Smith and Wesson medium sized "K" frame, the gun isn't all that robust. It will stand up to all the .38s and .38+Ps you like, but the rear of the barrel where it meets the frame is somewhat thin, and a lot of .357s, particularly the 125 grain .357s with their shorter bullet, may crack the forcing cone.

So, as mentioned, try to keep the .357s down to a minimum, and if you do shoot those, try and stick with .158 grain bullets (not 125 grainers). Typically, people practice with .38s, but keep the gun loaded with .357s for "emergency" use. Do that, and your grandkids will be enjoying the gun!

Edit: Did you do good?

Well, that depends what you want the gun for, and what you paid for it, but assuming you want a gun for home or personal defense, target shooting, training, and recreation, and you paid $450 or less for it, yeah. . .you did good!

Smith isn't building .357 magnum K frames anymore, and although LOTS of them were produced, prices on these older "pinned and recessed" guns only continues to go up.

In terms of pricing, values on these are all over the place. For one truly in like new condition, $500 wouldn't be out of line. $450 would be a fair price, and anything at $400 or less would be an "excellent" price. Obviously, you mark down accordingly based on condition.

FWIW, I think I paid just under $300 for the 99% 4" 19-4 gun in the top picture about 8 years ago, which gives you some idea how these things not only retain their value, but actually appreciate.

Bamavol

This is good info. I have wanted a S&W 19, and still do, but did not know about the posible problem. I just like a revolver with the firing pin on the hammer.

bartman45

Great pistol.......I'll take an old Smith any day .....

bpost

You did good!

45er

tifitz,

'Nother nod for the Nineteen-- no doubt anyone would disagree you did good, with it's well proven venerable history as evidenced here with respected members highly touting of.

My experience, it is without doubt one of the best accurate out-of-the-box of many owned revolvers. Handloaded for practice, as with any .38/.357 handgun, I use .357 casings, (loaded with 158gr lead to mild-.357/hot-.38 specs), to avoid the extra scrubbing the cylinder needs from the ring of crud left behind by .38 ammo, so .357's then slip in like silk. Thousands of rounds gone through without a hitch, only thing found to be aware of, is the cylinder release latch screw needs tightened now and then. Yes, the don't make 'em like this no more.

Only change made, after finding Pachmyers to be too hard a rubber & the G. Alves factory grips too cumbersome for utility use for my hand, was adding Hogue grips, which keeps the occasion full power-house .357 load easily manageable.

Enjoy!
45er

machine gun moran

I've always thought that the 19 will be regarded as the '1851 Navy of our times'. I can't say enough good about it.

For the continual hammering of targets with full-house loads, there were the 27's and 28's.

62fuelie

The M-19 was Bill Jordan's favorite duty pistol, that should tell you something.(See "No Second Place Winner") I carried K-frame S&W Magnums as long as my department used revolvers. One other concern with the M-19 is a tendency to flame cut on the underside of the topstrap at the cylinder flash gap if too many hot loads are used.

Laredo Lefty

You "had my heart set on a new S&W 686". That must have been before you picked one up since you say it felt like a tank. Thats because the 686 "L" frame is a frame size larger than the model 19 "K" frame and a frame size smaller than your model 29 "N" frame.

I carried a model 19 back in the day when wheel guns were still being used in LE. As already mentioned the 19, and its stainless brother model 66 (that I also carried) are great guns. They are light enough to be easily carried, yet still pack a pretty good punch. And, yes, save the magnum ammo for serious work.

I also love the 19's. Your question "Is it any good"? Hell yes, its better than any good, its a classic. The price you payed was a great deal. If I could find "mint" model 19's for $275, I would buy a dozen more.
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