Ashlander and bigfatty,

Thank you for the valuable posts.

This is a completely different failure mode than with a canted single piece barrel.

This is simply an embarrassment for S&W.

Their design engineering department should have chosen a tab geometry adequate to ensure no yielding at the high end of the torque tolerance, while manufacturing should easily be able to control torque with a commonly available DC tool, with error proofing. This is a much easier challenge than a traditional single piece barrel installation (which is a completely different problem).

I don't know if S&W design or manufacturing is at fault, but either is an amateurish mistake. (I love S&W revolvers, which is why I want them to improve!)