All this talk about pressure and bullet weight and stuff...
I've got a Model 19 I bought brand new in 1972, and a couple of 66's that came later on.
The K-frame guns have a reputation for not being super heavy duty when shooting magnum loads, and I'll buy into that as much as the next guy.
But what I wanted to come in and throw out to all you guys who are afraid of putting too many magnums through your 19's is that this is a
perfect opportunity to get into handloading.
With a revolver, you don't have to scrounge all over the ground for spent brass because you can eject it right into a box on your bench, so brass is no problem.
On my shorter barrel K-frame .357's, I have no hesitancy to carry them for SD with factory magnums because you (hope) you're not going to need to shoot them very often.
But for shooting at the range and training, I routinely reload my .357 brass using the low end of the powder tables so while I may be shooting .357, I'm only putting cartridges through that have the energy of a .38 Special (maybe "+P").
There is also that little issue that if you shoot a LOT of .38 Special brass in a .357, then you will form a ridge in the cylinders that will make a .357 hang up if you don't keep the cylinders squeaky clean.
Shooting mild loaded .357 brass takes care of that little problem as well.
Reloading is a heckuva lot of fun, and I can't think of a better way to solve the "magnum" problem (if you think there is one) in your Model 19's or 66's.
So basically, I'm pushing the idea that some of you need another hobby.. of reloading.
Also, you don't go through as much ammo with revolvers as you do with autoloaders, so I find that my plain 'ol Rockchucker is plenty fast enough without having to spend the big bucks on a progressive reloader.