By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
It was an image from 11 years ago on Facebook, reminding me of the soft spot I have for a particular wheelgun, my classic Model 19 Smith & Wesson with a 2 ½-inch barrel, a set of Herrett’s stocks, its capability to handle a healthy full-house .357 Magnum handload, tucked in a belt holster I built.
That revolver has been along on some interesting adventures, and it’s my usual packin’ pistol when cutting firewood in the Spring, which will begin again shortly.
The Model 19 was pretty much the brainchild of the late Border Patrol legend Bill Jordan, and S&W engineers. Jordan was a very tall gent from Louisiana who was definitely one of the fastest men with a gun I ever saw.
Introduced in 1957, the K-frame Model 19 was a lighter revolver than older, larger-framed Smiths in .357 Magnum. It became a mainstay in law enforcement across the U.S. for decades, and in 1966, the company introduced the snub nose model with a 2 ½-inch barrel and round butt.
I bought one back in the 1980s from the old John Jovino shop in New York City, had it shipped to my local FFL, took it home and immediately gave it a bath in Hoppe’s No. 9 before heading to the gun range with a couple of boxes of factory 125-grain JHPs and set to work sighting it in at 25 yards.
Here was a wheelgun that I could carry unobtrusively into a lot of places with no visibility, yet I’d have a fight-stopping, fire-breathing magnum-powered handgun which could be brough into action in any emergency.
I immediately ditched the small factory grips and originally mounted a Pachmayr rubber grip which sucked up a lot of recoil, fit my hand rather well and melted away under cover of a jacket or pull-over sweatshirt while carried in a Safariland upside-down shoulder rig.
Later, I mounted a pair of Herrett’s stocks, and they have served me well for many years.
Stoked nowadays with handloads pushing 158-grain JHPs ahead of either 2400 (when it was available!) or H110, this handgun is one eye-catching, attitude-adjusting deep blue wonder gun. A pal of mine, a now-retired game cop, once shot dead an injured cow elk with his 2 ½-inch Model 19, which speaks well of the cartridge and the accuracy of the handgun.
Whenever I carry this revolver, I always have at least two HKS speedloaders plus six rounds carried on a belt slide. My sixgun usually rides these days in an old Bianchi Shadow pancake-type holster, or a newer holster from DeSantis. It’s on my belt in the timber country in the event—however unlikely it might be—that the roar of a chainsaw doesn’t deter the curiosity of a mountain lion or black bear.
The rifling twist is 1:18 ¾-inches, so a bullet traveling through the 2.5-inch bore of my little snubby will barely get a spin, but it’s enough to put my bullets into a silhouette target at 50 and 100 yards, so who’s complaining?
Aside from its accuracy capabilities, this little sweetheart clears leather oh-so-fast. Blink, and you miss it.
My particular specimen has never had an action job, yet it shoots double-action smoothly, and in single-action mode, it breaks at about 3 pounds, delivering the goods at just under 1,500 fps with full-house loads.
At dusk, the muzzle flash is stunning, and the muzzle blast can be deafening. You really don’t want to touch this off inside unless it’s an emergency, and take my word for it, by the time you’ve emptied the cylinder, you have the whole neighborhood’s attention!
Originally, S&W offered this revolver with recessed chambers but that all changed in 1982. My sixgun has the un-recessed chambers and the barrel pin also is not present either. It was one of the first models with that change, but I’ve never felt disadvantaged as a result.
Even when carried with +P .38 Specials, my particular Model 19 is fairly impressive downrange. Shooting 125-grain JHPs over HP-38 or CFE Pistol produces good results, and I once tried some loads with 2400 and the 125-grain pills, and was not at all disappointed.
I never abuse revolvers with overly hot loads, which is a good way to knock any revolver cylinder out of time, or screw up a handgun altogether. However, I’m confident the 2 ½-inch Model 19 can digest stout loads on a regular basis.
The Model 19 was discontinued in 1999, but it was resurrected in 2018 as the Carry Comp with a 3-inch barrel. Last year, S&W ditched the internal lock.
