New 638 forcing cone machining

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travisjones80189

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So I just picked up my first snubby yesterday and was really stoked to finally get a J frame for carry. I got it home and really started looking at it and attached is how the forcing cone looks. Keep in mind this is brand new in the box, never fired. I'm a little bummed, but I can look past cosmetics as it is a gun that's going to get used and carried around.
I'm mostly concerned with functionality. Is this going to cause any issues when I go to fire it? A little googling turns up a few posts on here saying that this is now typical in newer Smith J frames and some ever said that firing it will smooth it out over time. It's not so sharp it'll cut flesh, but man, its pretty rough when you get a finger in there, or feel it with a finger nail. It almost looks like metal may be forced down the barrel as there are some small pieces overhanging as you can see in on of the photos. Can anyone chime in about this? Is it safe to fire? Is it something to worry about long term? I'm new to the revolver game.
Thanks!

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forcing cone

That would NOT have left the store with me.
 
I think I may have finally figured out the real problem. The folks who're fussing and fuming about the poor this and lousy that with S&W's current products/service just don't want to accept the fact that today's S&W is not as it was----back "in the good old days". The "good old days" started in 1857, and continued on into the mid 1950's. The good old days were those where S&W believed they would be successful if they built the best possible product for the price, and damned if it didn't work!

Then somebody somewhere got the idea they'd be even more successful if they built the product and conducted their operations at the lowest possible cost. I'm not even close to knowing who was the somebody somewhere with the clout to be listened to, but it figures to be somebody whose name wasn't Wesson. Step one was the redesign of the sideplate such that they could do away with one screw and one screw hole-----enter the four screw guns. Now I am also not even close to knowing how much the cost was lowered by this move, but I most certainly know that amount of money multiplied by the resultant number of guns made without that screw and screw hole amounts to enough to get your attention-------and I dare say not much if any fuss was made by us customers. Some of us, those with the training and work experience to at least think this four screws business just might be a bad omen just thought it, but it seems like nobody had any disparaging words to say about it----and the folks who made it happen probably said something along the lines of "See---I told you so!"

Then they said, "Okay, what's next"-------and they kept right on saying the same thing---right up to and including today---and will continue tomorrow-----and the day after that---right up until the emerging crop of customers who don't know any better stops----or a new ownership that does know better starts.

That's going to take awhile---don't hold your breath!

Ralph Tremaine
 
The barrel is MIM . Read RevolverGuy and subscribe. The forcing cone and rear of barrel need to be sanded, squared and polished. Call S&W Customer Service and then send them the pic.
See what they do, first?
 
Based on what looks to be goodly amounts of copper in the bore I’d be inclined towards lead buildup on a used revolver rather than NIB.
 
travisjones80189 said:
So I just picked up my first snubby yesterday and was really stoked to finally get a J frame for carry. I got it home and really started looking at it and attached is how the forcing cone looks. Keep in mind this is brand new in the box, never fired. I'm a little bummed, but I can look past cosmetics as it is a gun that's going to get used and carried around.
I'm mostly concerned with functionality. Is this going to cause any issues when I go to fire it? A little googling turns up a few posts on here saying that this is now typical in newer Smith J frames and some ever said that firing it will smooth it out over time. It's not so sharp it'll cut flesh, but man, its pretty rough when you get a finger in there, or feel it with a finger nail. It almost looks like metal may be forced down the barrel as there are some small pieces overhanging as you can see in on of the photos. Can anyone chime in about this? Is it safe to fire? Is it something to worry about long term? I'm new to the revolver game.
Thanks!

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Click to expand...
I had a similar problem some years ago with a NIB Centennial 642-2, along with about a #20ish DA trigger pull, went back to S&W twice. I also missed this the first time around, finally got it right, but S&W was less than apologetic. My advice is send it back asap.
 
Who told you that was NIB and never shot? Looks like lead build up where the back of the barrel extension was cut, (a dull hack saw would make a cleaner cut than that) and as mentioned above, there appears to be a lot of copper build up in that barrel.
 
Shoot it first before sending it back. Try it from a good benchrest and don't shoot up real close; that will tell you nothing. Try at least two or three ammos, one of them using cast bullets. That copper fouling is not bad and could be caused by firing as few as two or three rounds, maybe what they do at the factory. It won't hurt anything. There is no lead buildup shown in the photo. If it really shoots poorly, call S&W.
 
Looks like the tool used to trim the barrel was dull and gauled SS. Operator caught it later ,maybe.
Had a 617 looked just like that.

As mentioned another fine example of Smith and Wesson Quality Control.

I would be sending it back. I bet it will spit bad.(Hot debris at high velocity exiting that barrel gap, not appealing.)
 
Last edited:
Is it safe to fire? Yes

Is it something to worry about long term? Probably not. Shoot the gun and see how it goes.

I'm constantly reminding myself these (Airweights) are $500 retail guns. Considering S&W gets about 60% (?) of that... $300 worth of labor and materials... It's a miracle these guns are a nice as they are!
 
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