I don't know how I ended up liking your post. That had to be horrible. I've had a .22 fire OOB once and that was plenty bad enough. I got a piece of brass that smacked my face but luckily did no damage. Burned my arm a little.

I would definitely take my complaint to S&W. They should know about it big time. I've never seen another story like yours so likely you did get that one in a million bad example. Manufacturing is not a perfect thing. Most people are very happy with their rifles. Mine has had no such problem but maybe I'll be a bit more watchful for problems now.

Thanks for posting. It's good for all of us to hear these things to remember to be a safe as possible and watch for problems. And that's what shooting glasses are for. Not saying you should have caught that problem BTW. I doubt I would have or most of us would have.