THE COMBAT MAGNUM

[Annihilator]

Good article and read on the “Combat Magnum” You just can’t beat a 4” .357 magnum. Always like reading articles by Bill Jordan back in the day.

The Combat Magnum

The Combat Magnum remains the easiest packing, finest looking, all-steel .357 Magnum S&W ever offered. Bill Jordan had a great idea. Progress killed it.

gunsmagazine.com

 

[Belt Fed]

I had one years ago, sold it to buy something else. little did i know revolvers would escalate in value a whole lot more than plastic pistols.

 

[Annihilator]

I had one years ago, sold it to buy something else. little did i know revolvers would escalate in value a whole lot more than plastic pistols.

I had model 19’s in 2 1/2”, 4” and a 6”, sold them all, like you never thought they would escalate in prices.

 

[WellArmed]

Here is my Combat Magnum

 

[HayesGreener]

I have the 2.5" I carried for years off duty and as a detective. I still have the original box and receipt. I paid $147 for it new. I also have a 4" with the smoothest action I ever encountered. They are fine revolvers.

 

[Sld1959]

Personal opinion, the Combat Magnum was perhaps the finest double action 357 magnum revolver design extant. Why? Because of its perfect size and balance it has ability to be a hunting revolver, service/defensive revolver, and concealed carry revolver all very successfully, and this last is very important, and did it all at a price point that the working police officer and man on the street could afford. Not saying it was cheap but it was well within reach of the average Joe.

There are .357 magnum frames which handle great quantities of hot magnums better, there are .357 magnums which conceal better, there are cheaper but excelkant revolvers, but I think the model 19 was the best at it all. There is a reason that Taurus and other companies copied it so closely.

I put it right up there with the Colt SAA design.

I do not currently own a genuine combat magnum but I will. I do own the first model 80s Taurus clone 6 inch and have used it for 40 years. The big reason for the clone when I said the 19 price point was affordable? Well when I bought, I was not even your average working joe on the street, I was a poor married college student who worked on the side and needed a revolver for home defense and hunting and the model 19 design was the obvious choice for me.

 

[Funwithfuel]

I have the 686+ performance center in 2½" and the performance center comp carry K19 . First revolvers I ever purchased and will be with me till I'm dead. They're both modern versions with the Hillary hole. The triggers are a dream. They are both so close in size that they share the same Galco holster even though the 686 is a + with 7 round cylinder. Both are tanks, compared to any semi-automatic except maybe a desert eagle. Carrying concealed is a little challenging. Being older, I've lost a bit of @ss, do keeping my pants up is a challenge. After 5 or 6 hours things tend to start slipping unless I cinch my belt like a corset.

 

[Belt Fed]

Oops, i messed up. still have the combat magnum, it was the 19 i sold.

 

[KillerFord1977]

I have competing models of 1971 Colt Trooper and S&W Model 19 .357 Mag in 6” barrel.
While not the combat magnum, they have been excellent pistols. Handed down to me by my father and father in law respectively

 

[Snake45]

I wonder what the pistol on the left is? It's not a Model 19. A rare heavy-barrel 15, maybe?

 

[Sld1959]

I wonder what the pistol on the left is? It's not a Model 19. A rare heavy-barrel 15, maybe?

Might be the new version with the sleeved 1/4 in longer barrel. Hard to tell on this small screen. I understand thry made it a bit longer so it could ne sold in Csnada, not sure if that is true.

 

[HansGruber]

I wonder what the pistol on the left is? It's not a Model 19. A rare heavy-barrel 15, maybe?

Could be an older K38 Combat Masterpiece…not sure if there was a HB option with them, though.

 

[HayesGreener]

Here are a few of my S&W's for comparison. Starting at 12 O'clock is an M&P in .38 S&W. It was a lend-lease gun from WWII. Going clockwise next is an original .357 magnum, pre-model 27. Then is a Model 15 Combat Masterpiece, .38 spl. Next is a model 27 5-inch, and then a Model 19 Combat Magnum. Then is a model 36, 3 inch heavy barrel, followed by a Model 19 2.5 inch. Then is a model 64 heavy barrel, .38 spl. Next a Model 629 Classic, .44 mag, and last is a Model 17, .22. I carried all of them except the M17, the M&P, and the 629 for duty at one time or another

 

[Recusant]

Could be an older K38 Combat Masterpiece…not sure if there was a HB option with them, though.

Yes, it is either the K-38 Combat Masterpiece, or the renamed the Model 15 when all S & W revolvers were given numerical model numbers in 1957.

 

[HansGruber]

So…Combat Magnums.

Personally, I agree with Colt when they named the (original) 3” Python the “Combat Python”—or when S&W made the original 27’s (the Registered Magnum) with a 3.5” barrel option.

Here’s my personal version of the “Combat Magnum”-the S&W 65-3, 3”.

However…the 2.5-2.75” versions are also pretty dang handy.

(Clockwise from top left: 686+, 627 Performance Center, 640 Pro, 66)

3” is slightly better, though, because you get a full-length ejector rod that will fully extract magnum cases.

 

[HayesGreener]

Yes, it is either the K-38 Combat Masterpiece, or the renamed the Model 15 when all S & W revolvers were given numerical model numbers in 1957.

Yes it compares well to my Model 15 pictured above

 

[HayesGreener]

So…Combat Magnums.

Personally, I agree with Colt when they named the (original) 3” Python the “Combat Python”—or when S&W made the original 27’s (the Registered Magnum) with a 3.5” barrel option.

Here’s my personal version of the “Combat Magnum”-the S&W 65-3, 3”.View attachment 38135

However…the 2.5-2.75” versions are also pretty dang handy.
View attachment 38136
(Clockwise from top left: 686+, 627 Performance Center, 640 Pro, 66)

3” is slightly better, though, because you get a full-length ejector rod that will fully extract magnum cases.

Love some big iron!

 

[HansGruber]

Love some big iron!

Right back at you…those are some gorgeous Smiths you posted.

Is the Pre-27 a registered magnum, or is it post-war?

 

[HayesGreener]

Right back at you…those are some gorgeous Smiths you posted.

Is the Pre-27 a registered magnum, or is it post-war?

It left the factory right after they stopped the registered magnum certificate program. I have the factory letter from Jinks-said they discontinued the registered program due to costs.

 

[Snake45]

Yes it compares well to my Model 15 pictured above

Your M15 above, near as I can tell, has the standard "pencil" barrel. Very familiar with that gun, I shot them by the dozens in USAF. The one in the pic I reposted has a heavy barrel like a M19, but doesn't have the ejector rod shroud. The cylinder might also be shorter than the M19 in the pic, hard to tell from the photo.