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WTN1271 · 03-18-2017, 07:01 PM

Looking for your thoughts and opinions on a crack that I discovered on the frame of an older 3913, serial TEA 4XXX.

I have owned this pistol for many years although I have never fired it, just been sitting in the safe. It was purchased at a very reasonable price and was described as an "agency trade in". Dont know any other history. Overall condition is good with normal holster/carry wear on the dust cover, trigger guard, and beavertail area. It came with Hogue rubber grips installed, which I like, so I never removed them until recently. And thats when I discovered 2 cracks on the "ear" of the lower portion of the grip frame where the grip pin goes through, (left side).
The hole is a little oblonged also.

It looks to me that when the Hogue grips were installed the mounting block did not line up exactly and rather than trim or sand the block to fit, force was applied to the pin to make it fit and the frame was damaged.

I called S&W and explained situation but they confirmed that welding/repairng frame was not possible. Also they dont have any spare frames available for replacement or purchase. Kind of what I expected but just wanted to be sure.

So I guess I now have a parts gun. Lesson learned to remove grips as well as field strip before making purchase.

Has anyone ever seen this type if crack before? Any thoughts on other ways the cracks might have occurred? (The right side "ear" looks fine. No obvious signs of having been dropped). Lastly, how unsafe would it be to fire this pistol in this condition?

Thanks for your input.

Updated photos as of 4pm 3/19/17.