Has anyone taking off the side plate with the safety lock? I have taking of the side plate and played with the trigger & hammer on pre locks, but have never taken a plate off a S&W revolver with a safty lock. Does it stay intact if you don't mess with it, or does it create a new headache in removing the hammer? To my understanding the The S&W Revolver: A Shop Manual Only covers the pre locks.
It's not an issue at all, that hammer lock is set in place in such a way that it can only be removed by intention or dropping the gun a few feet with the sideplate removed. Since most of us won't drop a gun we are working on it's not really an issue. Pull the sideplate and all the normal prodecures are exactly that same as on the guns that predate this lock.