Combat Magnum: The Story of the S&W Model 19 .357

By Chris Eger

Bill Jordon applied his experience as a Marine in WWII and Korea and along the Southern Border with Mexico to help produce the concept that later became the S&W Model 19 (Photos: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
SEE S&W M19S AT GUNS.COM FROM $617
Designed with input from an early legend in the gun community, the Smith & Wesson Model 19 Combat Magnum has been a hit with wheel gun aficionados for generations.
To get the appeal of the Model 19, understand that S&W first debuted their medium-framed swing-out cylinder revolvers, known today as K-frames, back in the late 1890s with the Hand Ejector and Military & Police models. Then came the larger N-frame hog legs in 1907 with the advent of the Triple Lock or New Century. While the “Ks” typically ran in .32 to .38 calibers, the “Ns” were offered in beefier chamberings like .44 Special and .44 Russian. Fast forward to the 1930s and when the dream team of Elmer Keith, Phillip Sharpe, and D. B. Wesson joined forces to create the .357 Magnum cartridge, they developed an N-frame model to run it, the Model 27.
And so, it remained for decades until S&W heard from a WWII and Korean War-veteran Marine officer and

Source: Guns.com