Geezz... I hate reading these type of posts!!
It's painfully disgusting to see a legendary firearm manufacturer, or any top rated manufacturer, sell a FIREARM in such poorly produced condition. The quality control and inspection process has to be top-notch for a firearm.
+1
I think there's several reasons for that. When Glock began to dominate the US handgun market, US gun mfgrs panicked. I'm thinking they wanted to sell MORE guns at a cheaper price, making the same profit over a larger inventory. They had to cut corners SOMEWHERE & QC is usually the first stop for that, sadly.
I think another sad thing to happen is the CEO's of Colt & Smith weren't "gun guys", just MBA-types from general industry. No difference between making a gun or a toaster, right?
Smith doesn't listen, but I contend that increasing the QC standards saves Smith more $$$. Keeps the gun(s) from coming back for warranty work, keeps the customer happy & buying more of that brand & spreads good feeling about THEIR quality. CZ & H&K get it, which why their guns have the lowest of warranty & QC issues.
For every Smith that gets test fired, I believe there should be at least two people inspecting each & every gun before it's approved. In fact, *I* would prefer three people. All should be "gun guys" rather than yanking someone off the floor & telling them to go be an inspector.
Were I owner of Smith, I would hit gun shows & hire all those old crusty curmudgeons that has a table full of old Smiths. I bet they could do better in 3-4 minutes per gun than the DEI hires could do in 10 minutes.
My .o2