I am 36 years old and have only owned guns for 10 years now. Personally I dont understand the whole lock thing. Just dont use it if you dont like it. I dont use mine on my governor. Just like I dont use the safety on some of my pistols, but i still like that its there in case I do decide to put it on a shelf when i sleep on the couch.

Anyway, as long as new revolvers keep performing with the awesome reliability that they mostly have been, I still love S&W and I think they are still going strong over Ruger, Taurus (duh), and Colt.

I havent run into the finish thing, but personally if I find a little ding on my governor in the future its because its being used.

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Smith all the things