S&W 19 vs Ruger Security Six

[zxcvbob]

I have a Security Six and a Model 15-4. (the 19 is basically a 15 cut for .357's) They are both good guns, but the Smith is more accurate and has a better trigger. It's my favorite gun, and the one I keep loaded for HD 90% of the time.

I recommend buying the 19 and shoot 158 grain bullets (mostly cast bullets) in it. Maybe some .38 Special 125 JHP's, but stay away from 125 grain .357's.

 

[Ala Dan]

I have a fondness for both, the S&W model 19 and the Ruger Security-Six;
having owned many over the years~! Right now, my luv is for the S&W 19;
as I just picked a cherry 4" factory nickel one up right before Christmas of
'07. Its an all original, UNFIRED weapon that came with box and docs. The
3rd edition of The Standard Catalog Of Smith & Wesson by Supica & Nahas
says that this model 19-3 with 7K26XXX S/N was made in 1975. I currently
do not own any Ruger Security-Six'es; but I'm always look'in to pick up a
cherry one too add to the collection~!

 

[tblt]

I have a ruger GP 100 great heavy,well built gun 25 years old still looks and shots like new.I have only about 3000 rounds thru it.

 

[Sunray]

"...other than the ejection rod which can work loose..." It does on a 19 too.

 

[MCgunner]

I'd go with stainless. I've owned both. The Ruger's trigger was WAY easy to lighten and slick up, trigger groups comes out easy, spring kits are easy to install. It had a better trigger AFTER I worked on it. It was one RUGGED, tough gun, better designed than the 19 and just as handy, same size. It'll take more abuse. The 19 was a finely finished gun, beautiful bluing (this was an early 80s gun). I made money on it selling it. I don't really miss it, nor do I miss the Security Six, really. Neither had the accuracy with .38s that I was looking for. But, that varies from gun to gun, nothing really to do with the model. The 19 was more pleasant to shoot. That Security Six really had a lot of recoil, sat rather high in the hand. It had more muzzle flip and was slower to get back on target than the 19. The 19 was the better gun ergonomically, at least for me.

I fed a LOT of hot rounds through that Security Six and it WAS getting loose when I traded it off. I would feed either a diet of mostly .38 if I were you, occasional hot stuff. Either will last a couple of lifetimes that way.

 

[slick6]

Ron in PA:

The information in the book about Ruger and his guns has many inaccurate statements in it. It incorrectly stated that the Security Sixes had trouble with the constant firing of the .357 magnum ammunition. This absolutely was not true. Ruger only introduced his GP100 to be directly marketed against Smith and Wesson's L-frame revolvers. But, not due to their Security-Sixes failing to hold up under the constant pounding of firing .357 magnum's. Smith and Wesson on the other hand, was forced to offer their stronger L-frame revolvers, due to the fact that their Model 19's could not hold up to and were never designed for the constant firing of .357 magnum ammunition. These Model 19's were intended for firing .38's for practice and the .357 magnum ammunition for duty use. This was in the ratio of firing one .357 magnum round for every nine .38 rounds fired. Most folks don't realize that Bill Ruger was well aware of this weakness in their Model 19's. Therefore he chose to design his new Security-Six from the ground up to withstand the constant firing of the .357 rounds! There was friction in his company for Bill Ruger's decision to have dropped the complete Six Series line of revolvers whenever the GP100 was introduced. Many feel that Bill Ruger had made a big mistake in doing this. The SP101 was supposed to take the place of these Six Series revolvers. However, the SP101 was a smaller gun than these Six Series revolvers. To set the record straight, the bottom line is that the Security Six was a very strong revolver that was designed for firing constant .357 rounds where the Smith and Wesson Model 19's were just beefed up .38 revolvers that were designed to only fire the .357 rounds approximately 10% of the time and the .38 rounds 90% of the time. S&W needed the L-frame but Ruger didn't require the GP100 due to any weakness in the Security Six. Bill Ruger just made the mistake in thinking that he should just market his GP100 to compete directly with Smith and Wesson's L-frame revolvers in the market place-that's all! There are over one million Security Sixes out there that have been proven in the field to be strong, durable revolvers with very few needing repairs. Bill Ruger never built any weak guns! He over built them!

 

[kmrcstintn]

well...here's the update on my decision...I took another closer look at the Ruger Security Six...bluing is ultra clean (may be a reblued gun); trigger is comparable to a newer Smith & Wesson revolver; no gas cutting on the top strap; very tight lockup and very little play in the cylinder lockup when hammer is cocked (not much more when hammer is down);

I put 25% down [$228.99 total cost] on a 90 day layaway; woulda bought it outright, but the store had a clean used Mossbery 835 (woodlands camo, 28" barrel) for $189.99...been wanting a 3 1/2" chambered shotty for waterfowling; not sure what I'm gonna do with the S&W 19...depends on how tax season pans out & how it shoots vs. the Ruger Security Six (getting a Pachmayr Gripper for it)

 

[esq_stu]

I would not put lot of full power .357 loads in a 19. You can put just about anything in a Ruger.

 

[slick6]

Despite the fact that for the constant shooting of .357 magnum's, and the Smith and Wesson Model 19 not being nearly as durable as Ruger's also fine, Security-Six, I do love both of these revolvers for very different reasons! Proof of this, is shown in the following pictures of an early(Rare-only 500 made!)Ruger model RDA-36(.38 special)revolver and an Model 19-3, that is in my collection! Both are gorgeous revolvers!:

 

[Confederate]

I think you done good.

The Model 19 was designed to be a .38 Spc. that could pull duty every now and again with .357, though it would shorten the life of the gun.

But Bill Ruger designed the Security-Six to be a true .357 magnum from the ground up, though it could pull special duty as a .38, which would then lengthen it's already long life.

And best of all, you can buy a Ruger and use the extra $$$ to buy a great trigger job and a box of ammo or two.

I do love the old Model 19, with that deep, dark blue. And I really had a thing for the pinned and recessed model. But when it comes to shooting, the Ruger and it's modular design is just unbeatable.

 

[slick6]

Confederate:

You are correct on all counts.............and, well said too!

 

[Dienekes]

I am among those who feel that dropping the Security Six guns was a mistake. The SPs, while good little guns, are not replacements for it; and the GPs are pretty big guns to pack around.

S&W has no problems keeping various frame sizes in production, and IMHO the Security Six guns with a modular grip system like the GP has used (up till now) would be a decent seller even now.

I have various K frames including a M66 and the Ruger is almost invariably the one that comes along.

 

[slick6]

I agree with you 100%! I have a variety of Security-Sixes, Service-Sixes, and Speed-Sixes, and some Smith and Wesson Model 66's also. But, the Ruger's have stolen my heart. They are great guns and I love their modular costruction and their superior strength. The K-frames are great too-but, Ruger's modular construction was an ingenious and very innovative design. The GP100's are too large and not as easy to handle, as were the Security-Sixes, Service-Sixes, and Speed-Sixes.

 

[Confederate]

Well, why not write Ruger and let them know?

The GPs were able to save money in production by eliminating much of the grip part of the frame. This is fine, and I know I'm being a bit picky, but I like having a full grip on the frame itself. You can take the grip panels off a Security-Six and still shoot the gun, though it might not be pleasant.

Putting only a spring shaft on the GPs saves $$$ and reduces the weight somewhat, but it's a niggling little preference to have a full grip on the frame itself.



The GP-100 uses a similar modular construction
as the Security-Six, but provides only a spring
housing, which is enclosed by the grips themselves.

 

[RON in PA]

Slick6: And the source of your information is?

 

[slick6]

RoninPA:

I have been collecting the various Ruger Six Series revolvers for many years. In my research over these years, I had found several sources not only touting the superior strength of these Six series revolvers compared to their competition-but, the fact that there was distress inside the Ruger Company regarding Bill Ruger's decision to discontinue these revolvers in favor of his newly introduced GP100. Many of the Ruger Engineers felt that since there were no strength problems with their six Series revolvers holding up under the continued firing of .357 magnum's, they thought that there was no need to offer the GP100 to the market. But, Bill Ruger had insisted due to wanting to compete directly with an equal Ruger firearm to the S&W L-frame revolvers. All of my sources are in bits and pieces stored away. It would take me awhile to find this documented information? However, I can assure you that in this documentation it was made clear that the GP100 was not needed due to any inherent strength problems with any of Ruger's Six-Series revolvers and that the GP100 was only put on the market to compete head on with the S&W L-frame revolvers. There had also been other reports indicating various inaccuracies reported in the book entitled, "Ruger and His Guns" including inaccurate serial numbers etc.! This was still a very good book-but, does contain a few errors in it! I tried to report all of the information above, in my prior posting, from memory-but, I will dig into my sources to report back here to give you some accurrate source information, if you would still be interested? But, it will take time to research this again! One thing to consider, is that with over one million Six Series revolvers having been produced, that Ruger only had one man in their Service Department with very few reports of their Six series revolvers ever coming back to Ruger for repairs! Although any gun can be shot loose with the hot .357 magnum rounds, the Six Series revolvers have held up far better than the Smith & Wesson Model 19's over the years! And, you read about the Model 19's problem with their cracked forcing cones quite often. Not true, regarding Ruger's Six Series revolvers!

 

[RON in PA]

Thanks Slick6, if you can retrieve any of that info in the future I would appreciate it. Always good to learn the facts. I wonder if the author of the Ruger book was fed his info from "official" company sources that may in fact vary from the truth.

Actually while I have both a Six and a GP100 and think both are great guns I do prefer the GP100 because of its grip and, at least to me, a slightly superior trigger.

 

[Pa.Bill]

I am a S&W 19/357 person

 

[kmrcstintn]

thanks for the replies & great pics to boot!!! tax prep showed that I am gettn a good refund on federal, I owe a bit on local occupational, and state & local earned income broke even...at this point, I won't have to sell the 19 to offset the cost of the security six ; I like my S&W 19 alot & I'm anxiously awaiting the Security Six alot...I might just make the Smitty a house gun and use the Ruger as my hunting camp 'work detail' sidearm

 

[slick6]

RoninPA:

1)You are welcome! Yes, if I can find the time to dig out all of the facts from my various souces, I'll try to put something together to post here.
2)I think your idea is correct, that the author of the Ruger book was fed some information from "Official" company sources that may have in fact, varied from the truth!
3)I agree with you about the superior grips found on the GP100. And, I have found the trigger on my GP100's to be pretty nice too. However, the same is true for some of my Security-Sixes, Service-Sixes, and Speed-Sixes. I tend to like the fixed sight GP100's due to their being sleeker than the adjustable sighted GP100's as well as several ounces lighter.

 

[JNewell]

I think the whole design of the trigger in the GP/SP series is better than the Six series...much better out of the box and easier to tune afterwards. Not every task needs an F350 or a Ranger. Sometimes you just want the F150, and that's the -Six series, in my opinion.

 

[dogngun]

There really is nothing wrong with the Model 19, but I'd go with the Ruger. I have owned both and if it were fo concealed carry, I'd recommend the Smith.
As far as the trigger, the Six's have been around for a few decades now, and the last few I have owned were finally starting to wear in. They will probably be really smooth in another 20 years or so but they are getting better.

They are excellent revolvers.

mark

 

[WIFF]

i don`t have a security six but it would have to be a very, very good gun to match my model 19.

 

[Moonclip]

I never liked K frame magnums much though I own a 4" 65-2 I got for a song and I want a snub 19 or 66. I'm big on durability though that 19 in that pic is very nice as well as the Ruger is, I generally don't like Ruger bluing or styling either but there is exceptions!