Originally Posted by casscade
New to these older guns, I picked a 2.5 inch bbl 19-3 satin nickle for 350 a few days ago. I was told not to shoot light loads like 125grain hot 357 in it. Is this true and what about the heavier loads, will it hurt this gun or is it primarily better as a 38. Also have some freckling on the gun, what can polish or get this out without hurting the finish. Thanks.

….nice gun/good price…..

….the suggestion to avoid 125 gr. bullets is due to the thin barrel extension on the bottom of the barrel:
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….it doesn't show too well in this photo, but the bottom of the barrel extension is milled flat and hence is slightly thinner than the rest of the barrel. This is done on K-frames to make room for the yoke/crane to close. There has been an inordinate number of barrels that have cracked at this point when 125 gr bullets have been used…..why? Someone explained it to me once, but I honestly don't remember the details---it was more along the lines of a warning when buying a used K-frame, not a suggestion not to use 125 gr. but IIRC had to do with the shorter length of the projectile compared to heavier bullets.

The blindness from subjectivity is indistinguishable from the darkness of ignorance.