Low & No-Go S&W 19

[BLTsandwedge]

Two years ago I didn't know about the hazards of feeding a full-speed 125g Jacket to a S&W 19. One cracked forcing cone later, I do. A shame- great gun. A month ago a 4" revolver turned up at a good price (I'm still looking for a barrel for the first one). The 'new' 19 shoots low with the rear sight maxed....as in about 6" low with .38 H&G 50 and .357 #358429 loads of varying temperatures. I don't want to take metal off the front sight if I don't have to. Aside from trying a longer rear sight screw and spring (nor do I want the rear sight up as high as all that), does anyone have any brilliant ideas?

Thanks much......

[txbirdman]

I have a Model 27 with the same problem but it had a pinned front sight so it's an easy fix. As I recall the 19 front sight is one piece though. Could you get a replacement rear sight blank to replace the slotted blank you have. If so you could cut a shallow sight channel which should solve your problem. I'd check with brownell's.

[376Steyr]

A replacement rear sight leaf is a lot cheaper than fixing a cut down front sight. Brownells has them in assorted sizes.

[KCSO]

If you file the sight in SLOWLY and carefully you shouldn't have any problems. Did you sent the gun with the cracked forcing cone to S and W ? They might have replaced it for you. We had one out of 19 do that on the PD and it was fixed for free. I don't know how many full house loads you shot but my partners M19 is 30 years old and he shoots 100 rounds of full house loads each year for quals and it's still going.

[dubber123]

A replacement rear sight leaf is a lot cheaper than fixing a cut down front sight. Brownells has them in assorted sizes.

And thats the best answer in my opinion. I just replaced the leaf in a 6" Mod 14, and a 4" Mod 15 to get the rear sight down some. $14 at Brownells with the required replacement screw. I believe 3 heights are available.

[BLTsandwedge]

Thanks gents, hadn't thought of changing the leaf. That's 'cuz as an infant I was dropped repeatedly........

KCSO, not too many. I'd run maybe 200 or 300 125g jackets through it with various loads- blue dot, W296 etc. What cracked the cone was a full load of 296 under a 125g Gold Dot. I'd fired about 20 out of a box of 50- and all the sudden the cylinder wouldn't rotate without a lot of effort. Sure enough, the cone was visibly cracked. I brought it off the line and showed it to the guys I shoot with. That's when one genius said "yeah, didn't you know about them model 19s......" Thanks alltohellandback for the timely warning. Geniuses travel in packs......

[leftiye]

Use heavier boolits.

[Wayne Smith]

Use heavier boolits.

More specifically, all else being equal, how high a short gun shoots is a function of bullet dwell time in the barrel. Thus light bullets exit the barrel sooner and shoot low, heavier bullits stay in the barrel longer and shoot higher.

Use heavier boolits, just as leftiye said!

[Thin Man]

BLT,

Concerning your split forcing cone, you should inspect that revolver's frame at the 6:00 position directly under the barrel where the yoke closes. Check the frame very carefully, looking for a fracture line. You may be able to only feel it with a finger nail if it cannot be seen. Quite often the frame goes with the forcing cone in the 19s. If you can see or feel what appears to be a fracture in the frame, stop everything. Call S&W and explain what you have found. Odds favor they will make the firearm right for you. Even if you got by lucky and did not lose the frame, still call S&W with your story of a barrel failure. Good luck.

Thin Man

[BLTsandwedge]

BLT,

Concerning your split forcing cone, you should inspect that revolver's frame at the 6:00 position directly under the barrel where the yoke closes. Check the frame very carefully, looking for a fracture line. You may be able to only feel it with a finger nail if it cannot be seen. Quite often the frame goes with the forcing cone in the 19s. If you can see or feel what appears to be a fracture in the frame, stop everything. Call S&W and explain what you have found. Odds favor they will make the firearm right for you. Even if you got by lucky and did not lose the frame, still call S&W with your story of a barrel failure. Good luck.

Thin Man

'preciate it Thin Man. I'll do exactly that.

Tom