I am seeing references to S&W two piece barrels. What are they and when did S&W start using/making them?

Are you referring to the stainless steel liners in alloy barrels? If so, I don't know of anyone that has blown one up and it is becoming very common-place. The wear surfaces of the barrel are the lands-and groves. The rest it dead weight consisting of modern alloys, or polymers that seem to be doing an adequate job of holding the liners together.

These started in the late 1990s. There is a relatively thin barrel that threads into the frame, a shroud that covers it that from the outside looks like an older-style barrel, and a muzzle cap over the end. Some members report very good accuracy from these.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Think Dan Wesson from the old days and you'll get the idea. Sadly, they are not user change-able.

More like Charter Arms fro the "old days". These are actually "3 Piece Barrels". Unlike the DWessons, you cannot adjust the tension on the barrel nut.

It's not really the same but I am currently waiting for delivery on a replacement for a TI 32 mag. Seems the barrel can no longer be tightened.

Some (if not all) of S&W's two piece barrels are actually manufacture by Walther. I know this to be true of the ones coming out of the Performance Center, ie; M&P R8, and the 327 TRR8.

I have a 2 1/2" 66-7 with a two-piece barrel (Aussie cop trade-in). It is my most accurate revolver almong several (most with longer barrels). It also does not have the flat spot on the bottom of the forcing cone, so it does not suffer that famous K-frame weakness.

Is it just alloy and polymer guns with two piece barrels, or do carbon steel and stainless steel revolvers have "two piece barrels?
One gentleman stated his Model 66 stainless had a two piece barrel.

The last of the model 66's and model 67's have the two piece barrel. I have a 66-7 with the two piece setup and it is as accurate, if not more so than all my other K-frame .38 Specials.

Several L and the standard X frame guns (460 XVR, 500) have the "multi-piece" barrel.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I also have a 66-7 with two-piece barrel. The shroud is stainless as well as the barrel. It does lack the flat spot on the bottom of the forcing-cone end.
It looks like this is a result of the barrel coming through the frame being smaller diameter than the one piece unit.

This was some sort of security force trade-in and has a patina of holster wear. Otherwise in perfect working order. I haven't shot it enough yet to gauge the accuracy, but that's the next order of business.

The model 620 also came with the 2 piece barrel. The 620 was a sort of sister model to the 686 Plus but IMO it's the better looking sister, to my eye the semi lugged barrel profile just looks better than the full lug barrel on most of the 686 variants.

As for it's accuracy, I've tried mine with a handgun scope and believe that it's capable of 1/2 inch or less at 50 yards. Unfortunately, I don't quite have the skill to measure up to this so my best effort was a 3 shot cloverleaf that spanned 1/2 inch. One of these days I may get a scope with a bit more magnification and put in more time with it just to see if I can actually manage 7 shots into a 1/2 inch but that's more a matter of curiosity than expectation so I'm not in any big hurry. What I can report is that the 620 is a cloverleaf special, because I've seen a bunch of them.

The 386NG has the stainless bbl inside a alloy shroud. The NightGuard is unusually accurate for a 2.5"bbl.
It's a little gun that shoots like a 4" gun.

I too have an Aussie trade in 66-7 . Was shooting cast 158 SWC's in it & at 25yds had 5 in the X ring once I got sights set . And they claim these barrels won't shoot lead !

There were some problems with the two piece barrels which Smith corrected and I'm not aware of user complaints any longer. That said, the more parts there are to the machine the more there are to go wrong.

Boatbum: It's not that the 2-piece barrels can't shoot lead, it's more that they shoot jacketed bullets more accurately. Leading can also be a bit more of a problem, but that's not much of a concern -- just clean it. My 66-7 does fine with lead nosed 158s.

From what I've read the key to shooting lead bullets in the newer ECM barrels is a bullet that is properly lubricated. Since most commercial range ammo today is jacketed it's not a problem as long as you avoid the unlubricated Blazer ammo. If you shoot reloads, make sure to lube the bullets and check for leading issues every 50 rounds with any new loading.

BTW, I tried 50 rounds of that Blazer in my 620 just once and won't ever make that mistake again. Just 2 strokes with a solvent soaked patch in the barrel left the patch in shreads. Then it took me about 10 hours of work spread out over 3 days using a brush and a peroxide/vinegar mix to get the barrel clean. I'll also note that had I failed to do that, the next range outing with jacketed ammo either would have resulted in a bulged barrel tube or a squibbed bullet, because the amount of leading I saw was that extreme. Still have a box of that Blaser left in my stash and I wouldn't even consider giving it away due to the bad Karma it would cause. Frankly, I don't understand why Speer still make that stuff, it's just flat out FOUL both during shooting and afterwards. However, the Blazer Brass is pretty good range ammo and Speer should really consider re-naming the Blazer to JUNK AMMO or something similar to avoid giving the Blazer Brass a bad rep due to it being associated with the aluminum hulled, plain lead, foul shooting, Blazer.