If I remember correctly, Ken Waters was an avid wildcatter and pushed the limits of many firearms, but he apparently does not know much about S&W Models. The Perfected was a double locking revolver that locked up like a solid I frame revolver. plus had a top-latch. The last top-break design introduced by S&W and saw a total production of almost 60,000 from 1909 to 1920.

The combination of a thumb release mechanism, (where the cylinder pin that travels through the cylinder and locks into a recess in the rear frame) as seen in all solid frame S&Ws plus a top-latch makes it just about impossible for the top latch to fail without the second locking mechanism breaking as well and more likely the gun blowing apart. Any standard loading would do nothing to this gun, so who knows what the situation was that Ken referenced. Maybe someone was wildcatting the 38 S&W?? I can reference failures in just about any firearm ever manufactured, including today's models, so vague references about failures, are not scientific evidence of the inadequacies of any particular design of any brand or model revolver. If you remain very concerned about top-latch revolvers, don't buy or shoot them.

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Gary
SWCA 2515