Description

Even though I like 1911s more than any other handgun, I decided to include in the "Airsoft Project" some other guns, so that our members can get a better idea of what is available in the market.

In the past, I owned a S&W Model 66, with a 4" barrel. Lovely revolver, but just like any other revolver I've tried (and no matter with what grips), when I pulled it out of its holster in a hurry, the gun always pointed high for me, the barrel being at something like a 30 degrees angle (or so) upwards. I also found the 4" barrel somewhat too long for my taste. I didn't like the 2" ones either, too short for me. The only revolvers that looked nice and proportional in my eyes, back then, were the ones with a 3" barrel, but there weren't many of them around. Anyway I sold the Model 66 after about a year and never owned another revolver since then.

So, when I decided to include a revolver in the Airsoft Project, I went around and looked at what was available. What draw my attention, was the beauty shown below:



This is a 3" Tanaka S&W Model 65, with which I really fall in love. Unfortunatelly, it was impossible to find one. I searched almost every on-line Airsoft store in Europe and in Hong Kong, but nobody seems to have it. My next target was the Model 66 from the same firm, which didn't have the very nice wooden grips of the 65 (it comes with some rubber ones), and its barrel was 2.5". Again, no luck! Finally, I settled for the object of this report, the 2.5" S&W Model 19, from Tanaka. Here is what the postman brought to my door.



A colorful cover, over a styrofoam box, which contained the revolver, an instructions leaflet in Japanese, a small bag with BBs, another one with an allen wrench, a small copper tube (more on that later) and a plastic BB loader. The Tyler grip adapter, which is shown on the box cover is not included in the package.



The box is marked "Heavy Weight" and indeed the revolver feels very much like the real thing, in your hand. It might not weight exactly the same as the real one (some day, I have to buy a kitchen scale for ... my wife), but it does not feel light at all.



It is a gas operated, double action revolver, firing 6mm plastic BBs. Tanaka is using the cylinder to store both the gas (HFC 134A is recommended) and the BBs. The revolver's capacity is 11 BBs (more later). It's the typical K-frame Combat Magnum, with a wide hammer and smooth trigger (very appropriate for a combat/service revolver).



What attracted my attention, when I took the revolver in my hands, were the rounds which were already in the cylinder. These are dummy rounds, permanently mounted in the cylinder, and cannot be removed. Five of them are marked "R-P 357 Magnum", while the sixth one is marked "Gas" and has a hole.



In order to fill the revolver with gas, you have to align this hole with the gas loading gate, which is found at around 11 o'clock on the cylinder's face and use the above mentionned copper tube, as an extension of your gas canister nozzle. The reason is that the majority of the gas cans are thick enough and won't allow you to fit their nozzle directly in the filling valve, so this extension is mandatory (another small thing to loose).



The BBs are loaded from the front of the cylinder. There is a hidden, fixed magazine inside the cylinder, which takes 6 BBs and which can be loaded either with the supplied loader or with your hand, and the other five cylinder holes take one more BB each, for a total of 11 BBs. Some folks have reported that they were able to load 12, but I didn't want to break anything so I didn't force the last BB in the magazine. As you see, the severe look of the front of the revolver is seriously degraded by the white BBs, someone should come out with BBs in lead color to imitate the real .357 round nose bullets.



This revolver (actually all K-frame Tanaka revolvers) has a feature not found on other models of the company's line. It features a cone-shaped plastic extension, at the rear of the barrel, which seals the cylinder hole with the barrel, in order to improve the performance of the revolver (no gas leaking at the cylinder gap). In reality, this is an extension of the inner barrel of the gun. On top of that cone-shapped part, you can find the hop-up adjustment screw.



The S&W Model 19 comes with adjustable rear sight, with a white outline and a red insert in the front ramp one, just like the real gun. Well, actually the real gun has an orange insert, but this is a minor discrepancy. The insert was not a tight fit and could move around a bit, so I secured it with some Crazy Glue, since it will most certainly get lost, when I start shooting the gun.



The revolver's top is serrated, like on the real thing.



The gun features full inscriptions and two S&W trademark signals, one on the frame (which however does not say S&W, but Tanaka Works),



and another in the medallions of the grips.



The revolver is of the round butt frame type, and the grips look as if they are made of very nice wood, however they are in reality plastic. What is even worst, is that their rear is not uniform, so adding weights in them is not an easy task. Not impossible, but not a 15 minutes job. I didn't care much about this, since I have some plans for the better looking and more hand-filling grips, shown in the first picture on the Model 65.



The gun's quality is quite high, but there are some things which are completely crazy. For example, the frame cover plate is of slightly different color and texture, than the rest of the frame (see the picture above, as well as the picture showing the right side of the revolver, a little higher up). This is probably because the two parts are not made of the same material. Also, the seam between the plate and the rest of the frame, is not as clean as on the real S&W guns. I am sure Tanaka could have done a better job here. Minor details, but they need to be noted.

Overall, the gun is a very nice revolver, quite authenticly styled and giving very much the impression of the real one.

In the next page, you can read about our shooting tests results.