The end of my 340SC saga, AKA my last modern S&W

[joebuck]

You cant get an equivalent Ruger or any other make revolver to replace it because NOBODY else makes a 11.5 oz .357 mag!

 

[waffles]

You cant get an equivalent Ruger or any other make revolver to replace it because NOBODY else makes a 11.5 oz .357 mag!

I'm starting to think that there's a reason for that!

 

[6string]

Did anybody else find it interesting that the letter sent to the OP (Waffles) isn't even personally addressed to him?

It's just a generic form letter.

It gives a pretty good indication of how often customers are treated this way.

 

[AJ]

S&W has had my 340SC since October. I was never contacted by them at any point after they received it, and my calls to S&W CS got either "I don't knows" or being told that I'd be called (wasn't, of course). The frame lug that retains the cylinder wore down through normal use, a known problem on the scandium J frames. Generally though, a replacement frame is used, the gun is replaced, or there's some offer of a discounted revolver voucher or whatnot.

Nope, in this case after months of silence I get an email from fedex that I have a shipment inbound. This shipment missed its delivery date and spent a week in fedex pending hell, but eventually it got there (OK, that last part isnt the fault of S&W but I'm still gonna whine about it!). Opened it up, just form with a short note that it's beyond repair. Overall, extremely disappointed with this experience. These aren't cheap revolvers, Smith continues to build them with major known problems, and now when they break it's not getting made right (had a S&W 642 crack a frame that was replaced quickly a few years back, sad to see that's no longer the procedure).

I've seen tons of threads of issues with recent smiths, and they make me nervous, but I always had "oh S&W will make an issue right" to fall back on, now that I don't I think I'm done with anything Lock or newer and will stick to Ruger when I need a slightly more modern revolver.

Also, found one last downside to the Scandium frames. When they're broken, they don't even make that good of a paperweight!

Had a Model 342 that was basically NIB. Decided with some of the problems that I have read about here and the fact my hands have arthritis to get rid of it. Traded it for a very nice S&W Victory .38 Special, very happy with it.

 

[waffles]

Little bump for the true end of the 340SC saga. Church in Longmont had a gun buyback, the 340SC was turned into a few hundred dollars and a few chunks, as were a cracked Model 38 and cracked 3032. Finally turned that nonsense into something worthwhile.

 

[AJ]

Little bump for the true end of the 340SC saga. Church in Longmont had a gun buyback, the 340SC was turned into a few hundred dollars and a few chunks, as were a cracked Model 38 and cracked 3032. Finally turned that nonsense into something worthwhile.

Well you something out of nothing....did you get to save the parts?

 

[waffles]

Well you something out of nothing....did you get to save the parts?

Nah, apparently the parts are to be made into gardening implements, a swords into plowshares kinda business. Doubt these particular frames will be of much use, but part of the deal.

 

[JDinAZ]

If it were mine I'd have fix it rather than scrapping it. Mill off the remaining lug. Make new lug from titanium. Two countersunk torx to mount new lug. Back in business

 

[waffles]

If it were mine I'd have fix it rather than scrapping it. Mill off the remaining lug. Make new lug from titanium. Two countersunk torx to mount new lug. Back in business

Milling off the old lug, making a new titanium lug, and mounting the new lug is a fair bit of time and expense to bubba up a pretty crummy gun. I got more than it would be worth in a "repaired" condition, and thankfully have a far better carry piece already.

 

[smoothshooter]

Gee whiz, it seems like reports of unresolved issues with Smith & Wesson brand firearms is all I ever see anymore...

I'd like to think that it's due to the pandemic, but I fear that this is just the way that the company is going. I remember when practically every report of folks dealing with Smith & Wesson was overwhelmingly positive.

Gotta be honest, it's making me question whether or not I want to continue buying their firearms, because heaven forbid that I get a lemon or it breaks and I'm left empty-handed because Smith & Wesson's so-called "Lifetime Warranty" doesn't mean anything anymore.
It stinks because I really like Smith & Wesson and largely considered them to be the best American-Made handguns, so it pains me to see them repeatedly treating their customers this way.

Up until recently, I figured that such reports were nonsense, since they often were posted by fly-by-night new users with absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back them up, but now I keep seeing this stuff coming from long-time users, complete with photographic evidence.

As I have said here before, Taurus now makes better guns than S & W.

 

[smoothshooter]

Smith and Wesson make some great guns but unfortunately their customer service sucks. When people post on here that they are having a problem with a gun some people say (don't worry they'll make it right) which is easy to say when it's not your gun. I'm a big Smith and Wesson fan I own several of them. Yes all manufactures of firearms make a bad one and sometimes it slips through it's how they handle it that counts. I've had issues with Ruger's revolvers in the past I sent it to them pre-paid two weeks I had it back repaired. Ruger has the best customer service in the industry it's a well-known fact. One LCR I sent them I could not be repaired they sent me a brand new gun. Sorry to hear about your issue. Sounds to me like they lost a customer. Check out Ruger they make some great revolvers too. I've had issues with Smith and Wesson revolver's over the years and it was always a struggle trying to get in touch with them and months later I received it back and this was well before the Covid which everybody blames for slowing things down. Good luck.

Ruger makes good guns, but their double action guns are too heavy for their intended use for lots of people. I like a lot of things about their SP 101 5-shot revolvers, but I'll be danged if I am going to conceal/carry a gun like that that constantly pulls my pants down when I can get a Taurus or Smith that has the same number of chambers and weighs 20% less. Rugers have too much metal in places where it contributes nothing to the strength and durability of the piece, and they have WAY too many right-angled edges and corners.
I have read that those two design characteristics are due to the nature of the way the lost-wax casting process molds have to be designed to keep from getting excess amounts of voids.
Looks like there would be a market for someone to specialize in doing " melt jobs " on Ruger revolvers to lighten them up some and remove the sharp edges.
The LCR's obviously don't have the weight problem, but they still have all the standard Ruger sharp corners.

 

[GerSan69]

Little bump for the true end of the 340SC saga. Church in Longmont had a gun buyback, the 340SC was turned into a few hundred dollars and a few chunks, as were a cracked Model 38 and cracked 3032. Finally turned that nonsense into something worthwhile.

Uh... OMG, no.
To my admittedly very conservative way of thinking when it comes to the combined topics of gun buybacks and chopping up firearms, this is an abomination. I don't wish to intentionally diss your personal beliefs, OP, but I know I'm far from the only one that feels this way. Repairable or not, a tragic end to a fine firearm. I'd better leave it at that.

 

[steelslaver]

I stated earlier I would have bought it from you and repaired it. I hate to see a frame destroyed. I truly believe a old style steel lug could be fitted to these with very little effort. But, I have 6 modern airweight type S&W with that type lug, maybe someday I will have to fix one of mine.

 

[waffles]

Little bump for the true end of the 340SC saga. Church in Longmont had a gun buyback, the 340SC was turned into a few hundred dollars and a few chunks, as were a cracked Model 38 and cracked 3032. Finally turned that nonsense into something worthwhile.

Uh... OMG, no.
To my admittedly very conservative way of thinking when it comes to the combined topics of gun buybacks and chopping up firearms, this is an abomination. I don't wish to intentionally diss your personal beliefs, OP, but I know I'm far from the only one that feels this way. Repairable or not, a tragic end to a fine firearm. I'd better leave it at that.

Don't worry, no offense taken and I have no affiliation with the church that ran the buyback or any other (probs for the best, won't have to run into these guns in an afterlife eh). I'd object to the term fine firearm, it was a neat gun built with a known design flaw that rendered it a junker, built by a company with pretty crappy customer support. A trash gun was chopped and turned into a decent fly rod, a few weeks of groceries, or airfare somewhere fun and some drinks when I get there. I honestly expect more grumpiness about the posting, pleasantly surprised.