My 686-6 frame cracked just below the forcing cone at about the 5:30 position. I bought it NIB in 2008 & don't have that many rounds through it, probably <1000. Shooting Remington 38 Spl 158 grain LRN & 130 grain MC at the time. Barrel looks fine. So, it is on the way back to S&W. From your experience, will S&W likely just replace the gun? . . .or will they actually go to the trouble of putting the old barrel on a new frame? Either way, it has a new serial number.

I would hope they want the whole gun to catalog and analyze.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

A friend of mine very recently purchased a new 351C and the fit of the side plate to frame was horrible, big gap. He sent it back, and they replaced the frame, but claimed they used all the parts from his original one. They had to return it to a FFL as it had a different S/N.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Had a pre-lock 442 in satin nickel crack its frame, sent it back to smith got a letter from them in about ten days saying it could not be fix so would be replaced with a new 642 due to lack of anymore satin nickel 442's. And they did after a five month wait.

I shipped it on May 4th & got it back today, May 17, with a new frame & looking good. Service is a main reason why all my wheelguns are S&W. Happy camper tonight!

That's a great story. Good to hear