By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Okay let’s not kid around and open the debate: Was the Model 19 Smith & Wesson with the 2 ½-inch barrel and rounded butt the sexiest .357 Magnum revolver you ever saw?
It was more commonly seen in movies and on television than the 2 ½-inch Colt Python, which is also an honored symbol of firearms “eye candy.”
In its stainless steel version, the Model 66, it was carried by actor Jameson Parker, who played A.J. Simon in the popular series “Simon & Simon” on CBS.
Back in the days when revolvers were carried by police and sheriff’s deputies, the short-barreled Model 19 was often the choice of plainclothes detectives. It hides well and packs a wallop.
When I first laid my grubby hands on one back in the mid-1980s, my publisher at the time spirited it away into his office for a look, and when I went to retrieve it, he remarked how dandy a gun it was. I had to remind him to whom it belonged, new in the box.
I had purchased it from the old John Jovino gun shop in New York for a good price, and it came in the classic blue S&W box with a short cleaning rod and attachments, wrapped neatly in that yellowish paper. I still have the box, and the cleaning rod, and that classic S&W short screwdriver with the fluted aluminum handle.
After a bath in Hoppe’s No. 9 to wash off any factory oil, I added a couple of drops of Outers gun oil into the action—there was no internal lock in those days and the firing pin was still mounted on the hammer—I grabbed a couple of boxes of .357 Magnums and .38 Specials and beat feet down the road to the gun range. As I recall, off a sandbag rest with a two-hand hold, the little sixgun shot a bit high and to the left, so with a few clicks to the rear sight to adjust the windage and elevation, I started putting them in the black at 15 and 25 yards.
The Model 19 was introduced back in 1957, but it took a while for the 2 ½-inch version with the rounded grip frame to make an appearance. The short barrel became standard in 1966 as the Model 19-2, and in 1982, S&W eliminated the counter-bored cylinder with the introduction of the Model 19-5.
I’ve carried this little powerhouse concealed in all kinds of environments, sometimes in an upside-down Safariland shoulder rig (a’la Steve McQueen’s “Bullitt”), or in an old Bianchi Shadow pancake-style belt holster, and later in a DeSantis belt rig. I also personally built a couple of holsters, including a little field holster and a rough-out IWB concealment rig just to prove one can carry a K-frame Smith & Wesson comfortably inside the waistband, deftly hidden from view by a loose shirt, vest or sport jacket.
It’s my companion when cutting firewood in the spring, primarily because where I get wood is also where black bears and mountain lions seem to wander—I’ve found their tracks, and don’t plan to be on the menu—and one can never know when trouble of the two-legged variety might become a nuisance.
While one loses a bit of muzzle velocity out of the 2 ½-inch barrel, even when loaded with full-house Magnums, this snub gun still packs a wallop.
Thanks to the short barrel, the Model 19 snubby clears the holster fast and comes up just as swiftly. I’ve actually managed to hit targets out to about a hundred yards with this gun, but with the shorter tube, I realize this is primarily a handgun for, shall we say, “close encounters of the worst kind.”
Sometimes, when stoked with +P .38 Specials, my little wheelgun still barks with authority and a muzzle flash that just might blister a hot dog. Let’s say it is quite impressive in subdued light.
Some years ago, I got rid of the factory rounded grip panels and replaced them with a wraparound Pachmayr molded rubber grip. Not only did this provide a more positive hold in wet conditions, it also sucked up some of the felt recoil, which can be pretty impressive.
About ten years ago, maybe less, I swapped the Pachmayr out for a set of handsome checkered grips from my pal Rod Herrett. This particular grip style was dubbed the “Detective,” as I recall, and it had a square butt end, and fits my hand perfectly.
My favorite handloads for the .357 Magnum are either topped with a 125-grain JHP or a 158-grainer. Propelled either by a charge of Alliant 2400 or Hodgdon’s H110, I get the most out of this particular .357 Magnum, without pushing the envelope. Long ago I concluded that many a handgunner has done his or her sidearm no favors by using “hot” loads. If you can’t stop a threat with a projectile that clocks somewhere above 1,100-1,300 fps, maybe you ought to just stay home, eh?
Never let anyone suggest the Model 19 2 ½-inch revolver leaves one under-gunned. With a couple of HKS speedloaders or spare ammunition carried in a speed strip, on a belt-slide or a dump pouch, this classic handgun—discontinued back in 1999, and later re-introduced—is a handful of wallop, should the need arise. Despite the short barrel, it is still a very accurate handgun, thanks largely to the adjustable rear sight, enabling the shooter to shift his/her point of aim and impact with a few turns of the adjustment screws for windage and elevation.
Was this the sexiest of the .357 Magnums? Hard telling because there is some stiff competition out there, not just from the Python, but from other Smith & Wesson models such as the Model 27 with the 3 ½-inch barrel. Wouldn’t mind having one of those, if I could ever find one in decent condition for a reasonable price.
In the meantime, I’ll just happily keep my little S&W well-fed and pampered.
