In the past 2 years I've purchased a new 620 and a 6 1/2 inch 610 and don't have one single complaint about either. I also am currently looking for a 4 inch 610 and don't care a bit about when it was made.

The lock doesn't bother me a bit, it's very easy to remove.

As for the MIM parts, having tuned both forged and MIM guns I find the MIM guns much easier to get good results with. I'm also confident that the MIM parts produced by S&W are in a completely different class than the early MIM parts that caused so many issues in the 1911 platform. Quite simply when done properly MIM parts can be both stronger than forged and have more wear resistance because the process allows a fully Engineered material down to microscopic levels. Since in all my time on this forum I've only seen one single post about an MIM part that failed, I am confident that S&W has taken the time to Engineer the materials and process for optimum lifespan. BTW, that one single failure was a hammer spur that sheared off and the individual who posted admitted the gun had many thousands of dry fire cycles without the use of snap caps to cushion the hammer fall.