My wish would be to do away with the lock, recontour the frame to the way it looked before the lock was put in. And, finally make the classic series, true classics with superior workmanship, color case hardened Triggers and Hammers and deep rich bluing. I know the price will be higher but it would be worth it

I would pay a 50% premium to have a new Smith as you have described......many times over.

I recently ordered a 442 no lock. Over the years I have bought Ruger revolvers because they understand what people want and that’s a good looking, reliable revolver without the ugly Hole in the side. I will never buy any Smith fire arm with a lock.

There has to be market research determining what effect the lock has on sales. I know every S&W rep gets an ear beating every time they go into a gun store. You would think if revolver sales didn’t matter they wouldn’t make so many.

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-Matt

Easy solution.....purchase a pre-lock NIB S&W revolver. The "by gone" days are just that.....gone.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

A 3 inch 13 with a bobbed hammer like the Brink's 64s would be awesome

I would too and I don't think we are alone. I have no problem buying a nice used revolver but what I want may not always be available and its nice to buy new sometime. Call them Signature Grade guns price them higher and see where it goes

Same here. I buy brand new Ruger revolvers exclusively and vintage used S&W revolvers exclusively.

My one exception to that was a brand new Model 442-1 I bought because it didn't have a certain feature; however, that didn't work out so well in my case and proved to me that my original plan (i.e., sticking to new Rugers and vintage S&W's) was best.

In the past 2 years I've picked up a 29-3 and a P&R M57 neither of which appeared to fired. You just have to be willing to pay a little more.

Wish list indeed.

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Sure you did

Well, I, for one, am having a very hard time lately finding really nice condition vintage S&W revolvers to add to the collection. I'm talking locally because I'm almost always out-bid on GB and a lot of sellers won't even ship to MA. Fact is that some GB sellers located in MA won't even sell to those of us living in MA. I just lost a sweet Model 18-3 because of that.

But Lord knows that I am on a retired old man's budget and I have to buy right or I can't buy at all. Over-paying is out of the question for moi.

The COVID thing isn't helping. Neither are the riots even though most folks looking for a protection handgun probably want modern cheap plastic and don't care a hoot about steel and wood.

So I continue the search. I'm pretty frustrated at the moment, but who knows? Something sweet could be just around the corner waiting for me.

I don’t care for the locks either, but I can’t say I have ever heard of one engaging by accident.
Several of mine have the lock. I don’t even think about it.

Agreed. Surely they realize how much money they're losing out on because of the lock. The $3000+ I've spent on used S&Ws over the past two years would've been spent on new models had I been able to purchase them without the lock. I don't mind MIM parts, and I don't mind non-pinned/sleeved barrels. But I can't stand that lock and the fact that they re-contoured some frames to fit it.