The Centennial is a great choice for CCW. Yours is very nice
I will stay far far away from the empty chamber argument/discussion....
I don't think that you would have an issue with the gap unless you are shooting a lot of dirty reloads. Give it a range session and report back with your findings. Your S&W was made during the period S&W offered a lifetime warranty, so you can always send it back to S&W for work.