19-4 reloads

[jbisky]

picked up a s&w 19-4 over the weekend and was wondering on the reloads you would suggest?Ive read about the 125 grains and the splitting of the cone.I have some 158 grain swc.what is a good starting point for this bullet.I have hp38 titegroup & unique.thanks

 

[earplug]

For what use?

Four grains of HP38 in a 38 spl case with a 158 grain bullet keeps me happy.
We don't know your experience, your plans or your needs.

 

[jbisky]

ive got some reloading experience,i do reload for my 45s and my revolvers.my plans are to use it as target shooting and plinking with...4 gr HP38 in a 38 spl case sounds good I'll definitly work up a few and see how they work for me.How about a mild 357 load? I mainly ask for the simple fact of the forcing cone...

 

[txloader22]

Probably my favorite gun to shoot is my 4" M66 no-dash (same gun, stainless instead of blued). I have two 158 gr. mild/mid 357 loads that shoot great in it. One is Hornady's swaged 158 swc over 4.8 grs. Unique. This is a super-accurate load and does about 950 fps. The other is MBC's 357 Action (also a 158 swc) over 6.5 grs. Unique. This load gives a little over 1100 fps and is a great mid-powered load. For both I use standard small pistol primers. Hope that helps!

 

[gamestalker]

The issue of 125 gr. bullets damaging the forcing cones was addressed by S&W and found to be without merit. The culprit was not th bullets or velocity of 125 gr. jacketed ammunition but infact was related to a build up in the forcing cone not being cleaned out. S&W says they put 250,000 rounds through a K frame and cleaned it every 100 rounds and nothig falied. But when mixing the rounds with lead, allowing a build up was determined to be the primary cause of fractured forcing cones, especially when a high velocity rounds gets shoved into a dirty forcing cone. Even low velocity rounds being pushed into a dirty forcing cone can quickly cause premature failure, so the key here is keeping it clean.
I've put thousands of 125 gr. jacketed, loaded with H110/296 through my K frames without any problems. In all complete honesty I load exclusively with H110/296 and shoot about 90% 125 gr. jacketed the rest are 110 gr. or 158 gr. jacketed.

 

[rcmodel]

I have used a 140 grain JHP, usually a Hornady XTP, over 14.5 grains 2400 powder in my 19 & 66 since about 1970.

It simply won't hurt them.

And I agree the cracked forcing cones had more to do with cops practicing with lead bullets all day, and then switching over to balls-to-the-wall 125 grain loads without cleaning the leading out of the forcing cone first.

rc

 

[mbopp]

I've got a 4" 19-3.
With lead 148gr DEWC's 4.5gr of Unique is a nice load. Using Berry's plated DEWC's I've gone up to 6.0gr with good accuracy and a little more ooommph for a field load.
I just got some of Missouri Bullets 158gr Action SWC's. They don't like Unique but 4.5gr (ish) of 231 shows promise. I need more load development here, maybe with a heavier charge of Unique since they're hard bullets.
7.0gr of Unique pushing a Hornady 158gr XTP HP makes a nice mid-.357 load.
For all-up 357 jacketed loads I use 296 and magnum primers. I don't shoot that many of them, for hunting I use either my T/C Contender or Ruger SBH.

 

[jbisky]

Thanks guys I appreciate the input.wasnt 100% sure about the forcing cone issue,but I feel alot better about it now....going to the garage to load em up.