Originally Posted by
Rex G
A bit late to see this, but FWIW, I love the classic 4" S&W Model 19, and the 4" to 6" GP100. My 19 is a 19-5, which is post-Bangor Punta, but pre MIM/keyhole, which I acquired pre-owned a few years ago. (I think it is Lear-Siegler era.) I had previously owned Models 19 and 66 that had MIM parts, but were pre-keyhole, and a pinned-&-recessed 19, but sadly, sold or traded these when I started my serious 1911 buying in the late Nineties.
My favorite GP100 is 4", stainless steel, with a lugged barrel, that I bought in the early Nineties, when I finally admitted to myself that N-frames were too large for my hands. I started carrying it on duty in June 1993, as an interim weapon between selling my P220 with a heel-clip mag release, and acquiring a P220 with the push-button mag release. Well, two weeks into carrying the GP100, I used it to put a devastatingly-effective hole through an opponent, and this interim gun became my long-term duty sixgun, until I switched to lighter-weight K-frames about 1995. (I never bought the "American" P220, but did start using autoloading duty pistols in 1997.)