Hello all, as you can see, I am brand new here, but not new to shooting. Anyway, I picked up a new model 41 today, and so far, I am a bit disappointed. The rear sight is shifted quite a bit left, not the windage adjustment, the actual sight.

Also, there is a pin that is near the rear portion of the slide, directly in front of the vertical cuts that keeps falling out of place when I rack the slide. The pin runs left to right. I can push it back in with thumb pressure, but I can see, they did a poor job of peening the other end. What is the purpose of this pin?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can peen it without marring the finish on the other side. I don't want to send it back if I don't need to .
Sad that I need to ask this on day one, without having fired a shot yet.

Thank you for any help or insight you can provide.

Rich

Welcome.....I believe you are referring to the bolt pin. It should have been peened on the starboard side to prevent it from drifting out. The pin retains the bolt in the slide.
You may be able to swage the end of the pin slightly with a crowned punch. Be sure the crowned area of the end of the punch is slightly smaller than the hole in the slide. You don't want to strike the opening, just the end of the pin itself. Make sure to support the head on the other side of the pin with a non-marring fixed object.

A photo of the rear sight might help members diagnose the problem.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

That is a very unusual thing to happen with a M41 to have that pin shifting on you. I would suggest calling S&W to get a free mailer and return it to the factory to be repaired correctly. It should be a very quick turnaround time on that. Also Welcome to the Forum from Canada as well.

I agree with Barrie on this one. That's an expensive gun and it should be made right by Smith & Wesson.

Best of luck with your new Model 41 Rich, I love mine.

Also, welcome on your first post.

A photo of my Model 41.
[IMG][/IMG]

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Another case of the "legendary" S&W quality Control.

Are you reading this James Debney ???

Hello again, and thank you for your help. I looked up a schematic last night, and realized that what was loose was the "bolt retaining pin".
I have the tools to repair this, either using a properly shaped punch while I support the other side of the pin with a non marring hard surface, such as a brass plate, or I can use my hydraulic press?

I am disappointed, but I hope this is just a small set back. I had a different manufacturers gun rear sight fall off during my second time out. The sight must have been machined wrong. They sent me a new one, which I installed, and the gun has been extremely reliable since.

I am hoping this is the same story. I bought this off GB, and had the store send it to my FLL. After it arrived, I questioned if it were used, due to some small things that were odd to me, such as the magazines had a white "wear" mark on the follower, and the breech face seemed to have chambered many rounds. I explained to the GB dealer that in NJ it is illegal to sell a used gun as new. He said that "wear" was from factory test firing, and he had 3 other new 41's there, and they were all consistent with that.
I am actually surprised that SW would allow a gun to leave that way. I mean gosh, it cost 2x as much as another very nice gun.

Now, I need to decide if I fix this myself, or return it to SW. I have never returned a gun before, but again, I have always felt very comfortable fixing any easy flaw myself. This is an easy fix, except for the possibility of marring the slide or pin.

Also the LGS told me SW offered a lifetime warranty, but my owners manual stated 1 year to the original owner?

Which is it?

Thank you again for all the helpful insights and recommendations. I do appreciate it..
Also, I said I was new here, which really isn't true. I have been here for a while, just reading, but yesterday was my 1st post.

The people of this site gave me the idea to buy my model 41. I am sure when sorted out, all will be well.

Regards

Rich

Rich,

Send your Model 41 back to Smith & Wesson. Let them take the responsibility for the repairs.

Best of luck.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

1. Don't fix it yourself.

2. Personally, if the person who sold you the gun has a 3 day non-firing return policy (as any reputable seller should), I'd return it, even if it meant I had to eat the shipping.

Especially since he claims he has 3 more in stock.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I believe S&W states their warranty as "limited lifetime warranty".
They will fix whatever goes wrong at any time to original owner, and sometimes even to non-original owners.
Let them repair it for you. Call CS and ask for them to send you a mailing label, so it will cost you nothing to ship.

Some dealers use the new gun escape/exemption clause:"Three day return on anything but a brand new gun,problems to be handled by the manufacturer".

And I avoid those dealers. If they dropped the gun and put a big scrape on it, S&W is going to tell you it's not covered by the warranty, and rightfully so. It pays to discuss this with the seller, because some will modify their 'rules' if you ask.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Three threads on the first screen of the New Post page re: messed up, brand new S&Ws. All high dollar PCs. Disappointing.

Hello all, and thanks for your input. I called SW customer service today, and explained that there was an issue. The man on the other end said " what part is falling out" I told him #69 in the schematic. He said, I will send you a new one. I said I really wanted the gun repaired, I haven't even fired it yet. Just racking the slide causes this. He said, I will send you 2 pins. I said fine, being I didn't have time today to argue, as I was running late to a meeting.

I will call back on Monday and get someone who understands customer service. I should not be their repair department. I will say, I was alarmed at how quick this man shifted the repair from them to me. It really felt like he plays ''lets make a deal" all day long. I will keep calling until I get someone who understands me.

Anyway, I field stripped it to look it over, and I now have one more question. How hard should it be to re-install the barrel? I did it 3 times in disbelief. It took 2 hands, as if I were cranking a vice grip pliers to hold something tight. I am 50, with full hand strength, actually, being I work with my hands a lot, probably above average. I was doing it correctly, as I carefully looked it over to understand how it works. I feel it start in place, but man is it tight.

I went to youtube, to watch a few others field strip and re-assemble, and they don't seem to struggle to close the trigger guard. I sure did.

Unfortunately, I can't return it to the store. I purchased this on GB on 7-5-17, and it arrived at my LGS a few days later, but due to NJ permit delays, I was able to pick it up on 7-20-17, and I already took it into my name.
If I noticed it in the store before I took it into my name, I may have been able to do something.

Is the barrel something that will break in? I feel as if I am forcing it. I am certain the pins holding the trigger guard are flexing as I close it.

Anyway, again, I thank you all for the help and direction.

Kind regards

Rich

Unfortunately Model 41s are notorious for being very stiff when mounting the barrel back on the frame. After you've done it a few times it won't be as bad as it is now. My 41PC at the beginning was very stiff for several take downs. Don't forget that your dealing with a brand new gun fresh out of the box.

Hello all, against some of the advice here, and based on the advice of a senior member of another site I frequent, I decided to do the repair myself. Simply stated, I needed to center the site, and I needed to spread the right side of the pin thru the slide.

The site was easy peasy.

The slide was not so much. I used my brass jaws in my vice, and I used a small ball bearing ( like a bb but smaller) held in place with grease, in the "socket" of the pin, with the other end held captive by the vice jaws. When perfectly in place, I simply tightened the vice carefully, and checked often. I was able to spread it enough to keep it in place. Keep in mind, I used a brass jaw attachment to avoid any damage to the pin or slide if it contacted, but it didn't.

Then today I took it to the range. I ran 150 rounds of CCI SV 40GRN, and it ran perfectly. I was able to hit 3" steels at 60 yards without much trouble.
I was very pleased with the accuracy, but almost as important, the gun cycled perfectly. No fail to feed or eject as I have read about.
It ran better than very well. When I took it home, I did a good overall clean, and found the trigger guard closed easier than it had yesterday.

What started as a disappointment for me, ended as a good surprise of a pistol that ran perfectly.

Thank you all who offered advice and support.

Kind regards

Rich

Glad to hear the Happy ending for you and that the gun ran so well for you. You also fired the Perfect ammo for that gun as well. Good for you. A small amount of oil om the inside of the slides and a small drop down by the safety lever as well will make that a very Happy Gun for life.

Thanks for coming back with the up date as it may help someone else out some day. Glad it was an easy fix and that you are happy with the gun. I love my 41's.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!