S&W M19 questions

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YosemiteSam357

New member
I'm the proud new owner of a S&W M19-3, pinned and recessed, nickel finish, Pachmayr grips, apparently hardly shot prior to coming into my possession. It's quite a nice little piece, if I do say so myself.

In checking it out I found that the cylinder gap is about .006" on one side, but about .008" on the other. Is the difference in gap normal? The forcing cone looks pristine, further indication of having not been shot much.

Can anyone recommend a place to get replacement springs for this gun? It doesn't need them at this point, but I was thinking the DA pull could be lightened a bit. I see Brownells has a single spring available for this gun, but they don't list any real description of it, like its weight or comparison to a stock weight.

Thanks in advance,

-- Sam
 
Having a gap differ on the two sides of the cylinder is NOT normal.
Presuming the .008" gauge stops when it reaches the far side of the forcing cone this could indicate a couple of problems;
* Bent or tweaked cylinder yoke
* Bent center pin
* Barrel forcing cone not squared

Check each chamber. If the measurements remain the same then it's likely the cylinder's face is true. Have a 'smith inspect the gun for the above problems.

p.s. Most 'smiths consider .008" as the maximum flash gap. Factory specs call for the flash gap to be .003" to .006"
 
Hi, guys,

A condition like that is not "normal", but it is not uncommon either, especially with guns made in periods where S&W's QC was not all it should be. The usual cause is simply that the barrel end is not true. That can be corrected as Dave Sample says, but the gap will be increased to at least .008 all the way around. It does no harm, and I agree with Dave that it is best left alone. In addition, the person doing the work might well mess up the nickel finish. (I hated to work on nickel plated guns because any damage really shows, and a touch of cold blue won't fix things.)

Jim
 
If I can pull the cylinder backwards by hand, using firm pressure, and open up the gap as little as .002" doing this, is it a bad thing? Is that the start of "end shake"?

"At rest", with no pressure applied, the gap is about .004" on one side and .006" on the other. If I pull back on the cylinder it opens up to .006" to .008". And I have to use a fair amount of pressure to hold it back.

It looks like the difference in gap on either side is pretty consistent as the cylinder is rotated. It varies a little bit, but not more than .001".

Is there any place online I can find instructions for shimming the cylinder? I don't have any gunsmiths in my area, so if I have to have it professionally worked on I'm going to have to ship it somewhere. Not looking forward to that, and I've got a fair amount of experience working on guns (springs, replacement triggers, etc).

Thanks for the replies so far,

-- Sam
 
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