I wouldn't be so quick to count them out, it has only been just over a decade since they came out with the Model 327, less if you count upgraded models like the TRR8.
Besides, has anyone really been innovating much lately when it comes to Revolvers? I mean, there's really only so much ground left to break in that department, and finding new ways to fit as many rounds into a cylinder as possible isn't exactly the most profitable of ventures, so who's to say they haven't already thought of it but simply chose not to.
You may be right, but my perception is that S&W view the semi-auto plastic guns as far more profitable and are keeping just enough revolvers around to maintain their legacy. The few attempts at innovation are geared toward the competition market like the TRR8 and the JM 929, the latter of which I guarantee they wouldn't have made without Miculek selling them on it.
Stuff they
should be making that would sell well:
- Every revolver they sell should have a non-ported 3" barrel option
- J/K/N frames in 327 Mag
- Taurus offers a line with an L frame cylinder in a K frame and a J frame grip, and they have offered them with steel, aluminum, and titanium frames. With one of the lighter metals, it's a pocketable 5 shot 44 SPL or 7 shot 357 Mag.
- Reintroduce the I frame chambered in 32 H&R Mag and 22 LR and maybe even a 5-shot 9mm or 380 ACP for the ultimate pocket pistol/BUG.
- Offer a J frame with a DAO factory trigger comparable in weight to the LCR for folks with weak hands
Those are just off the top of my head.
Instead of catering to the expanding CCW market (many of whom are older and like revolvers) and introducing some innovative designs or using new calibers, they reintroduce the M36, M10, and M19 - guns that are likely the most common guns S&W ever made.
