Long, long ago, right here in our
very own galaxy, on our watery blue planet, meticulously quality-conscious
partners Smith & Wesson designed and produced revolvers based on a
medium-sized frame. The company’s variously sized frames were designated using alphabet
letters, with the smaller “J-Frame” and mid-sized “K-Frame” models becoming the
most popular. Even today, these models are commonly chosen by discriminating wheelie
shooters and remain good sellers despite the increasingly popular pizazz of
tacti-cool semi-autos.
Recently we came across two
examples of S&W’s stellar quality from 45 years ago in the form of a Model
17-3 and a Model 19-3 – both with 6” barrels and accessorized as the “Target”
variant (oversized grip panels, adjustable rear sight, etc.). They came out of the S&W factory in 1970 and were purchased in
1972. These one-owner guns were fired a very few times and then properly stored
so that their condition today is no less than “mint.” Even the boxes and
original paperwork show very little handling wear. They will not, however,
become safe queens. While the fit ‘n finish of Smiths from this era is
excellent, the real beauty of the K-frames is their operational beauty much more
so than their aesthetic beauty. The triggers are crisp and smooth, and they
print lead consistently right on point of aim.
S&W offered the various
K-frame models in numerous configurations (more so then than now) to
accommodate various shooting styles and purposes, such as competition, target,
self-defense, concealed carry, etc. With
the growing popularity of semi-autos, revolvers are in less demand today for
some of these activities. In the ‘60’s
and 70’s, though, a K-frame revolver with a 6” barrel was about as good as it
gets for target and competition shooting.
There were some mighty fine Colt wheelies around in those days as well;
before Colt started – a few years later – its downhill slide in quality.
And, as good as the Smiths of those
days were, a few were produced with slightly “off-spec” chamber bores which
caused accuracy problems with certain ammo.
Test-firing the wheelies is the best was to determine if a particular
serial number is one of the “good ones” (likely), so our intention was to give
the newly found treasures a good workout with various ammo of known quality.
Knowing already that the aesthetics and trigger feel were superior, it remained
only to be proven that bullets could be thrown from the beasts with equal
excellence.
The 17 (22lr) and 19 (357mag) we
found contentedly resting in storage were inspected, oiled up, and taken out for some
exercise at our first opportunity. 2” and 3” paper targets and 5” and 8” steel
swinging targets were set up on the backstop so that firing could be
accomplished at 10 and 25 yard distances.
A Caldwell front rest was set up on the bench so that most of the
“shooter-induced” variance could be eliminated from the some of the tests.
A course of fire was followed for
each of the guns to gauge its inherent accuracy and the ergonomic qualities
which lead to the shooter being able to utilize the gun’s quality without
distraction.
A few rounds were fired from each
to familiarize the shooter with the sight picture and trigger feel, and to
allow for sight adjustment. During these
tests, which were not really intended to gauge the accuracy of the gun, it
became apparent that they were “keepers.”
Only a minor adjustment in the sight was necessary to bring the bullet
hole group to point of aim, and the size of the group was surprisingly small –
although not the real goal of these first few shots. With a bit of trigger time
and sight tweaking out of the way, we were ready to subject the Smiths to some
more rigorous accuracy tests.
One of our Bunch is a former
competition champion who can regularly print groups of the half-inch variety at
10 yards (standing; freehand) on a good day – given a decent gun and ammo. Both the 17 and 19 easily produced this kind
of result, and our shooter reported the clean, crisp triggers aided in the
production of the excellent results. A
big smile was noted on the face of the shooter after each session.
Next we moved to the Caldwell
rest to allow for some 25 yard shooting from a sitting position. We loaded up some ammo from a questionable
(not safety related, but accuracy challenged) and got disappointing
results. It seems the venerable S&W
was not capable of straightening out ammo that lacked the design quality to fly
on a consistent vector. Changing to our
benchmark 357 cartridges (ones that have been accurate in other guns) settled the
situation down, giving a 1 5/8” group at very close to point of aim. Experience tells us that the group would have
been “one ragged hole” if shot from a Ransom Rest.
Pretty amazing accuracy for 25 yards. Two of the 5 shots went through one hole and the entire group would fit into the trigger guard. Forget that the group is at the bottom of the circle - that's where the shooter was aiming.
All of the above shooting was
done in single action mode, where the hammer is “thumb-cocked” instead of being
drawn back by trigger movement, because maximum “target-shooting” accuracy is
attainable from a double action revolver when fired in this manner. Evaluation
of the guns utilizing double action trigger mode is less important when the
gun’s intended use is target marksmanship than it would be in some competition
regimes or self-defense training/practice, but evaluation of the gun for its
overall quality in that mode is important nevertheless.
While these guns are intended for
“target marksmanship” use, evaluation of the D/A (double action) operation was
carried out to determine the overall build quality of the pieces. Remembering that both of these guns are, for
all intents and purposes, brand new (fewer than 100 rounds on the 17-3 and
fewer than 40 rounds on the 19-3) some “stiffness” or “roughness” is to be
expected in D/A operation.
The 17-3, to our very pleasant
surprise for a gun not yet broken-in, handled like butter throughout the D/A
pull on all chambers. The trigger
movement was smooth and consistent all the way back to the “break” with no “stacking”
(variation in trigger pull weight along the way) and this made for achievement
of excellent D/A accuracy.
The 19-3 exhibited a mildly unpleasant
feel during D/A trigger actuation. The
pull weight was about as heavy as we expected and the weight was consistent (no
stacking) but there were a couple of spots on a couple of chambers where there
was some extra drag or roughness, as if one piece of the mechanism was having
to overcome a burr or rough spot on another piece. This is not unusual in any new gun and is
typical of S&W’s of the era. The
condition will most probably work its way out as a few hundred rounds are fired
and, if not, a qualified gunsmith will be able to polish a part or two and
render the operation flawless. Aside
from this “glitch” the D/A feel is good-to-excellent and will (one way or
another) not degrade the quality rating of this piece.
In conclusion, K-Frame Smiths
from the late 60’s and early 70’s are excellent guns. The operational quality of the two we
reviewed here is seriously above average for these models and a better shooting
mid-sized revolver in 22lr or 357mag would be hard to find.
Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
September, 2015