S&W Model 19-2 Range Report

[edman79]

Well after having the gun for two weeks I was finally able to go to the range. I ordered some cleaning supplies from Midwayusa.com and some ammo from cheaperthandirt.com. Well, what can I say, this gun is NICE!!! Very accurate and attracts attention. I was shooting double action andmostly at about 10 yards, give or take since there aren't any markings at the range. I was also getting compliments from the guys next to me on my shooting.

Now for the ammo that I was using. I bought the cheapest ammo that cheaperthandirt had since it's only for practice. Well, wasn't that a mistake. It was fairly accurate I guess since I did pretty well. But I think I have the only revolver with FTF and FTE problems. After shooting it was very hard to extract the casing due to the expansion. I had to push the rod vs the stand at the range or smack it very hard. And sometimes the round wouldn't fire at all. Sometimes it would fire if I put it back in, others wouldn't go off regardless of how many times I fired it. It's probably the ammo, hopefully not the gun. Unfortunately I only took that one brand, which is Lellier & bellot 158grs btw, so I can't be too sure. Overall I am very happy, even though my trigger finger is kinda sore after 150 rounds.

About 10 yards about 50 rounds


Old and New Smiths


An Intellectual Smith

 

[SnWnMe]

Nice gun. Why are you trying to extract the bullets? They're no good anymore.

 

[edman79]

LOL, sorry I meant to take out the casing after they are fired in the cylinder. The casing expands to the point where it's very hard to push out. Terminology fixed in the post.

 

[SnWnMe]

I know what you meant

Try another brand of ammo and it will probably go away.

 

[Brian Williams]

Nice 19, and some good shooting. Are the charge holes nice and spotless clean?? If not they should be real smooth and shiny. Do not put any oil in the charge holes either, they shoud be fairly clean and dry of lube.

Try some other ammo and see if it comes out easier, If not check the charge holes and see if they are bulged???

 

[Steel Talon]

Hello edmund,

Run a bore brush through the cylinder, sounds to me like you may have a bit of buildup in the chambers.

Was any of the rounds difficult to insert into the cylinder? Was/is the cylinder hard to open after firing the rounds? Is the timing (indexing) of the cylinder ok? One last Q. were any of the spent casings cracked or bulged?

Peace,
Steel Talon

 

[Steve C]

Nice pistol!

Regarding your FTF's. Check the strain screw, it is at the bottom of the grip frame and puts tension on the main hammer spring. You will have to remove the stocks. Sometimes people will back this screw out a couple turns to lighten the trigger pull a bit but it also weakens the hammer blow. The screw should be trurned in all the way. In older S&W's they used to adjust the screw length at the factory to provide the right amount of tension to reliably fire all kinds of ammo.

In general I've found S&B ammo to be of good quality. As mentioned earlier, clean the chambers. The previous owner may have shot mostly .38 spl's and not cleaned up the chamber as well as should be for firing the longer .357 rounds.

 

[Jackal]

Just a tip on the S&B ammo you used. It's made in the Czech Republic and like most ammo from that general area (Russian, Yugoslav, and the like), the primers are usually harder than American manufactured ammo. Thats probably why you had the FTF trouble. However, for some reason, the guns from those regions just seem to eat the stuff with no problems at all. I have about 600 rounds of S&B through my CZ52 pistol and it's never had one malfunction.

Just to let you know, I have found that ammo is cheaper at Wal-Mart than most mail-order companies after shipping is included in the price.

 

[edman79]

I tightened the tension screw last night. Maybe next week I'll be able to go to the range and see the results. I still have two boxes of the stuff left. Im going to order some .38s to take it easy on the gun. It was born in 63 so I don't want to kill her.