The Smith and Wesson M-19 .357 Magnum

Specifications

PRICE:                       £34.99
MAG CAPACITY:          6 rounds
BATTERY:                  none
MUZZLE VELOCITY:     100 fps (just a guess)
RATE OF FIRE:            12 rounds per minute depending on reload time

This is a springer link no other, this is a springer revolver.  Now most springer are quite accurate to the real thing like having a safety that works the same or the slide clips back in the same way but none I have seen have gone to the extraordinary level of detail as the M-19.  Let me show you what I mean.

Firstly it looks like the real thing but is all plastic (I'll get to the plastic later), the plastic seems to be strong enough to cope with being used quite a bit.   But to really show you have has impressed me so much I just take you through the loading and firing procedure:

To start with you need to load the BBs, most springers use a mag for this.  Not the M-19, Oh, no.  They wanted it to be authentic and as such you have to individually load BBs in the back of fake plastic bullets.  YES individual bullets!   You get 12 of these so you can do an entire reload.  The BBs just pop in the back of the fake bullet and are held in by some tight fitting plastic.

Next you load the bullets into the chamber, the real pull out the side of the gun chamber.  The chamber takes 6 rounds, each round fits neatly into place.

If you need to get the bullets out of the chamber you don't just have to let gravity work (though you can if you want) you can actually press the front spindle which pushes the bullet release out, pushing all 6 bullets out about 4mm. 

This is a very nice touch, not that your going to use it much but it is still a very nice touch.

Once all the bullets are placed in the chamber you can swing the chamber into the receiver with a nice satisfying click.  Unfortunately due to the plastic you have to push it closed as it doesn't have enough weight to click in by itself.

Now to get the spring pulled back, I wonder if you can guess?  Yep, that's it, you have to pull the hammer back.  This can be done with the thumb while holding the M-19 in one hand but can be a little stiff.  It does clip back with a satisfying Crunch-Click noise, and is actually quite a suprisingly real sound.

The hammer does feel a little thin but doesn't feel like it will break under the pressure.  Pulling the hammer back also rotates the chamber onto the next round and moves the trigger back into a firing position.

If you wish to make it safe again without firing you can, simply have your thumb on the hammer and pull the trigger, slowly release the hammer up.  This again makes a very real sound of clicking and crunching.

Next you need to sight up.  The rear sight is adjustable and can be moved from side to side (you will need a really small screwdriver to do this).  The front sight has a nice orange night aid which is another nice touch.

Now all you need to do is pull the trigger, and bang.  The bb will land about 5 feet from you..... Oh, That's one of the bad points, this springer has less power than an EBB but is just enough for plinking paper targets.

There is a safety button that also works as the chamber release switch.  This is the button just behind the chamber in the left side of the M-19.  Pull it back to make the springer safe or push it forward to enable you to swing the chamber out.

You can cycle the chamber round by just pulling the trigger without moving the hammer back which is another nice touch.

Now we come to the bad points.

The Power of the shot is extremely bad, so your not going to be taking this skirmishing any time soon, but as I've said it is nice for a funky bit of plinking fun.

However the thing that really lets the M-19 down is the plastic.  The quality of the plastic is not that good, well actually it's terrible.  The M19 looks very plasticy and weighs next to nothing which is a real pity considering the amount of work that has go into the design of this wonderful toy. If they had only used some better quality plastic or even some low grade metal this would have been amazing.

Conclusion

If you are looking for something really fun then this is for you, every action of the real steel version is there, even the spindle pusher!  But remember your never going to be taking it to use at a skirmish.  For the price though, you'd be silly not to get one.

This was purchased from Antics online store also know as bbguns.co.uk.  The service was good as all items were in stock.  They do seem to have an interesting range of non standard, non skirmishable bb guns like the springer M&W Thompson.