[lilrichthedragon]

I have a model 19-6 and had heard some rumors about using less than 158 gr. 357 rounds and using alot of 158 gr bullets could cause a crack a 6 o'clock of the forcing cone. I have shot about 30 rounds of 158 gr 357 bullets and 70 .38 special through mine. Checked it as soon as I saw the article on the internet. It looks good but I wanted to know if any of you fine folks on this forum had heard of this or experienced it 1st hand.

[trip286]

Only model I heard of it happening to is the 65 variants. On those, the bottom of the cone was cut out to make a flat area to clear cylinder pin.

If the bottom of your forcing cone (or 6 o'clock position) is flat, then just take care in using the right ammo, as explained to me, the heavier, slightly lower velocity ammo.

[CA357]

Just shoot 158gr. 357's and .38's and you'll be fine. Model 19's don't like a steady diet of .357's. My suggestion is to practice mostly with .38's and just a few cylinders of .357's. Do not shoot +P's or +P+'s. Stay away from hot loads altogether. Do this and you'll be able to pass it down in the family.

BTW, the Model 19 and the 629 are my favorite S&W's.

[lilrichthedragon]

Thanks. Are there any grains I need to stay away from outta 38 special

[Olympus]

Stay away from 125 grain bullets with hot charges. You'll be just fine. I shoot a lot of .38s out of my 66s. I think my best target load is 3.0 of Bullseye behind a 158gr Lead SWC.

[CA357]

Just stay with 158gr. in everything and you're good to go. My favorite practice round is 158gr. lead semi wadcutters. Just don't use +P's.

[lilrichthedragon]

Got it. Thank you

[mag318]

This is why S&W developed the L frame revolvers, to address the K frames cracking forcing cone. Some departments required their officers to qualify with full power duty loads, hence these cracks started showing up. At the time many departments issues 125 grn. 357 Magnum duty loads. My department (Chicago) issues 158 grn +P LHP ammo and even after many thousand rounds my Model 66s forcing cone was fine. So as recommended above if you stick with heavier ammo you should be fine. If you look at an L frames forcing cone it is round with no flat milled into the bottom 6 o'clock portion. The Model 66s and other K frame 357s were designed to handle sparingly light use of 357 ammo, and most owners shoot mostly 38 Special ammo through theirs with an occassional 357. The L framed Smiths such as the 581,681,586 and the 686 can take a steady diet of the hottest 357 loads with no ill effects. Enjoy your Model 66 and just be aware of this.

[trip286]

Now, is this all k frames? The only one I'd heard of was the model 65. Now, that may be only because that's the model I had, so it's the only one I researched.

[mag318]

This is for all K frames, the 6 o'clock portion of the forcing cones are milled flat to allow for the cylinder crane clearance. Here are some photos of several different K frames to illustrate what I'm talking about.