I didn't read every post in this thread so forgive me if I repeat.

There was no internet forum before the 90's so everyone could post their bad experiences for all to see so we don't know what the return rate was then...we just don't. But rest assured there were revolvers that had issues and had to go back! Guess what...those "perfect" old P&R guns that had issues were all fixed up many years ago without any of us knowing which ones unless we bought them new back then. So any bad one's are now fixed and mixed in with the rest, being passed around for us to marvel at how great the good old guns are.

S&W sold what, 2 million guns last year? At a failure rate of 1% that's 20,000 guns going back...so you bet they have a system to deal with that! If you want a new gun then buy one. Sorry if you are one of the unlucky few...they'll fix it. If you want to experiment with bore sights to check stuff at the LGS then go for it. Sorry about the drift.

American guns made in U.S.A. by Americans. Sure beats the alternative in my book.