I always try to explain this to folks when they raise concerns of a canted barrel.

Mass produced items will not be manufactured perfectly. If you get a near perfect one, consider yourself VERY lucky. It has been this way for decades. S&W isn't the only offender of canted barrels, I've had plenty of Colts with them too, including Pythons. These "modern" faults can be found clear back to the '60s, so it's not a new phenomenon as many like to claim. I would only put pre-war2 production as in a class of its own. Anything post is subject to modern manufacturing techniques (cheapening).

So when a canted barrel is suspected, you need to examine EVERY aspect of the barrel/frame area and look for errors in milling while paying attention to symmetry. Using the top strap serration alignment to judge barrel straightness is not wise. It's way too easy for variances to cause misalignment, whether the serrations align or not. I think it looks bad when they don't align, but does it affect anything?

It pretty much comes down to what the front sight is like, nothing else. Is the front sight perpendicular? Or you could go a step further and verify the sight slot is positioned perfectly horizontal, allowing the sight to be perfectly perpendicular. Cause sometimes you will get a crooked sight post, but the actual slot is correct and horizontal. This "effect" can be found on my 629-2E which has an overly tall ramped front sight, this gun also had the barrel corrected by Frank Glenn, and the topstrap serrations still don't align, but the sight is straight, well at least the slot is.

So everyone make sure they are accurately judging for a canted barrel. I'm glad to hear S&W eliminated the serrations. That will eliminate confusion, as the serrations are not the deciding factory for straightness.

FYI, a friend of mine who I help with Python advice reached out to me after purchasing a new to him 1964 nickel Python last week. He didn't use my buying guide, and ended up with a Python that is slightly out of time and has a canted barrel. Repair costs will be added to the $2900 original cost. Just an example of a canted barrel clear back in the mid '60s. Still not sure why folks like to pay that money for worn shooters.