Day 1, 340PD has to go back...

[MStarmer]

Just picked this up Friday (new), gave it a quick once over, lube and swabbed the bore. Saturday put about 50 .38spc thru it and 10 .357 mag rounds. Ahhhh, there's that sting I was missing from when I had my M&P 340... Satisfied with the first trip and a night of dry-firing I wanted to give a scrub and put it into my dog walking, drop into the pocket rotation. Then when I grabbed a light just to see if there was any fouling I found two lands that appear to have been sheared off, maybe the broach pulled crooked? I'm not even sure how this could have happened.

Opinions? This pistol was $1000, odd that it came in a cardboard box but my 442 Pro came in a nice plastic case... Come on S&W...

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

Yikes! How was the accuracy at the range?

My neighbor just bought a 340PD last month. I'll have to take a look at his revolver a little more closely and see what his bore looks like.

 

[MStarmer]

My shop had (8) of them, I looked at two. Checked that the barrel wasn't clocked weird, lockup seemed good and trigger was decent. I don't know why I didn't light up the bore. It's going to torque me off to no end to send this back and wait for got knows how long for them to fix it.

 

[ralph7]

Not to mention the chatter in the groove, they owe you a nice new smooth barrel.

 

[MStarmer]

Not to mention the chatter in the groove, they owe you a nice new smooth barrel.

I had what looked like a little key holing but I attributed it to the target blowing around on the indoor range I was at. I was checking primers for good hits and function over accuracy. I shot 2 cylinders at 25yds and they were on the target, a little high but average.

 

[joebuck]

Nice. Can anyone do anything right anymore? Charter Arms and Rossi have better barrels. What a mess this country is. Looks like it was made in a Pilipino jungle. S&W? $1000? Holy hell.

 

[MStarmer]

I just reached out to the shop where I purchased it, they say they strive for 100% customer satisfaction. I'm hoping maybe they'll let me exchange it for another one and send this one back to S&W. Talk about buyers remorse...

 

[Goblin]

Interesting that the crown looks nice. I’m puzzled by both the chatter in the grooves and the land issue. Maybe the entire process is automated and the crown was done properly, and no human ever glanced into the muzzle.

 

[.455_Hunter]

It's a sad commentary of modern American manufacturing when I have two Webley's- a MK VI
455 made in the dark days of 1916, and a MK IV .38 "War Finish" from 1942 that both exhibit higher craftsmanship and functional attention to detail in the bore, chambers and cylinder gap than what frequently comes out of factories today.

 

[white cloud]

I am sorry your new revolver has issues. I had to send back a new 640 Pro back a few years ago. Don't even get me started on S&W and Colt issues back in the late 70s and early 80s. The same goes for Rugers. Some are great and some need some help.

What I have learned is that if I own a nice good shooting gun I don't sell it ever.

 

[Derosa]

Whoa. For my PA friends - it looks like a Penn Dot highway in Spring.

 

[Protocall_Design]

The ledge on the lands is from the gun drilling operation. That one is unusual. The lands are what's left of the gun drilled hole after cutting the rifling grooves. The waviness of the grooves could be smoothed out with lapping, but on that one, just send it back. You can't fix the mismatch on the lands. It would likely never shoot good groups like that.

 

[toad67]

It's a sad commentary of modern American manufacturing when I have two Webley's- a MK VI
455 made in the dark days of 1916, and a MK IV .38 "War Finish" from 1942 that both exhibit higher craftsmanship and functional attention to detail in the bore, chambers and cylinder gap than what frequently comes out of factories today.

That's back when people took pride in what they were doing and every house had an American Flag out front.

 

[jaymoore]

It's a sad commentary of modern American manufacturing when I have two Webley's- a MK VI
455 made in the dark days of 1916, and a MK IV .38 "War Finish" from 1942 that both exhibit higher craftsmanship and functional attention to detail in the bore, chambers and cylinder gap than what frequently comes out of factories today.

That's back when people took pride in what they were doing and every house had an American Flag out front.

In the UK?

 

[chief38]

My feeling is that the new S&W will ship most guns that go bang when the trigger is pulled. There is a new crop of gun buyers now days that will never look down the bore or even realize when something should not be there. I believe that is what they count on now.

While we all know (at least here) the barrel is defective, at the end of the day the revolver will still shoot and the distance most would use it for SD is so short, precise accuracy is second fiddle.

Inspection, high quality manufacturing and getting it right the first time is a waning concept now. Many younger generation buyers will sadly never know the difference.

 

[stansdds]

That's just some really, really poor machining. Is it safe to shoot? Yes, and that sometimes seems to be the only parameter a firearm must meet in order to get boxed and shipped. Will it be accurate? Probably not, but it went "bang" at the factory and they don't test for accuracy, only function. Sad.

 

[steelslaver]

I have to wonder if that piece of barrel was at the beginning or the end of a piece of barrel/ With the 2 piece barrel they could just load a long pieces of rifles barrel into a CNC and have it turn the outside to specs and drop out in correct lengths ready to install. I thought they had gone to EDM. That does not look like any EDM work and whatever cut those grooves was not happy for some reason

 

[gwpercle]

Have the Chinese bought S&W ?

That should never have left the factory ...
I used to think Made in America and S&W were great ...
Now I'm not so sure about S&W .
I had not bought a new S&W since 2005 ... my last new revolver was a Ruger Wrangler for $199 (2021) and extremely happy with it .

I hope the old S&W comes back ... someday
Gary

 

[chief38]

Have the Chinese bought S&W ?

That should never have left the factory ...
I used to think Made in America and S&W were great ...
Now I'm not so sure about S&W .
I had not bought a new S&W since 2005 ... my last new revolver was a Ruger Wrangler for $199 (2021) and extremely happy with it .

I hope the old S&W comes back ... someday
Gary

WE ALL HOPE THAT - but we also know that will NEVER happen! The old guard, the old way, the old ethics and the old materials are gone for good. Even if they made a concerted effort to do so, I doubt there would be enough skill, caring and craftsmanship to do it because it's gone too far for too long. As they say..... Once the Genie is out of the bottle you can't put him back in.

 

[Old cop]

Just checked my 340PD & aside from a little pocket lint the barrel is pristine after a few hundred rounds of mostly .38 and .38+P. I rarely shoot magnum loads, just too much recoil for this old man.