Made the mistake of ordering a brand new Performance Center 627

Thats how I feel right now. My dream revolver purchase was a mistake.

I scanned it at the gun shop when it arrived, checked for a canted barrel, looked everything over, and took possession. Got home, and then i noticed the following on my brand new, un touched 627 Performance Center, which is about a $1000 revolver.

1. Front sight canted. Barrel doesnt seem canted, just the sight, note that barrel and sight are misaligned, not barrel and frame. its CLEARLY adjusted to the left (from the factory) to make up for the rightward lean.


2. Grips fit like poo. This is the gap along the front of the nice fancy hand fit hand assembled handgun.


if i loosen the screw and squeeze the front together, heres the back.


they are nowhere even CLOSE to fitting the frame in the back.


3. the hammer is rough as hell, the edges are SHARP and if i cocked it in a hurry i guarantee the burr on the back would draw blood. looks like it was chromed and then never touched up, lots of "extra" material along the sides and rear, flashing is what i want to call it but not sure if thats the right term. its along both sides of the hammer.


4. minor imperfections in frame. these are finished over, so i assume they are from forging or casting or however the gun is made. not sure if its an issue, but i'd need to be reassured it doesnt represent any structural issues. note the L shaped imperfection and forward of that it looks like the frame was improperly milled.


5. here's the mother of them all. THE CROWN. look at that. Looks to me like the rifling was cut after the "counter bored" crown was forged or milled or cut or what. The lands in the rifling extend out past the crown, it was never touched up, theres a ridge around the whole crown, its rough and sharp.


Admittedly this was all my fault because i accepted the gun from my dealer, but seriously?!! what the hell! Am i being too picky here, am I being crazy? Are these all acceptable from a performance center $1000 hand gun? Neither my 66 no dash nor my 3" 65 have anything even close to this amount of rough finishing.

I guess they really dont make them like they used to. I'm super upset, i'm soured on what should be my dream revolver. I have an email int to smith but have a mind to call them in the AM. I'm going to have to send my brand new unfired $1000 performance center gun back to the factory to have it finished how it should have been from day one....

You will probably.....

You will probably need to call. Email is probably the least effective method of communication with S&W.

#1 front sight needs to be drifted more.
#2 yes! Those grips fit badly. Either they're badly warped or made badly all the way around.
#3 the hammer does have metallic burrs and I would agree, it would wear on the thumb more! But if you Bob it, it'll go away! jk! You can have them replace it with a better one.
#4 are you talking about that little dimple in the frame???
#5 didn't get the crown pic

Yes. I would say this is a good candidate to send in for "refinement "! Yes, it sucks they missed different issues with the same gun. (Maybe it's this guy named "bubba" I keep hearing mentioned! But on some worthy note, you could request "bubba" not work on your gun again! Hope this helps!)

I've had to send in my guns back and it blows chunks. But, you may get an excellent, more satisfying piece back; something you will like! A 627 when in perfect shape is a Swiss watch AMERICAN style! Just shot my 627 the day before yesterday, 5k plus miles on her, I could not think a moment not having her.


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It is difficult to see everything when you're buying the gun. At least everything seems repairable except the marks on the top strap. The grips I believe are altamonts which I have found don't fit as well as the Ahrends I have. I would send it back because I have had stellar results from S&W customer service. I'm going through my own ordeal with Dan Wesson CS. It's back for the 2nd time for not feeding the last round reliably & my gun was nearly twice what you paid so I really know how you feel.

What I love about new Smith revolvers is they make you feel like you are part of the manufacturing teem! Don't you love working in quality control. They dont have anyone there doing it!

I hear your pain. Some you get are just fine & others have problems. Your's seems to have it's share. I'd suggest calling too. It's more annoying but you'd get a quicker response.

Not sure I can tell exactly what's wrong with the front sight, it does look odd in the first picture though.

The PC muzzles almost always look like yours & I agree they're poorly done. I chamfer mine myself.

All my PC hammers are sharp like yours too. I take a bit if fine wet & dry to them to knock off the CNC'd sharpness of it. I agree it's too aggressive though.

No excuse for the grips.

Make a list of everything you see wrong with it & would like fixed & include it with the revolver when you return it so there'll be no doubt what needs fixing.

Take a look at the barrel-cylinder gap, as well as the forcing cone's finish, as they are sometimes a problem too. Might as well address everything at once.

Best of luck! Let us know how it come out.

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Unacceptable

That is unacceptable. I would demand that S&W make it right or replace it with a new one. It's sometimes difficult to see these things until you get it home and inspect it closely. It's easy to miss things while looking for two minutes at the gunshop surrounded by other customers and salesmen. I have read too many recent stories like this about new S&W purchases with defects. What is going on over there? They seem to be slipping. Just like everything else today trying to make things cheaper and faster while quality falls by the wayside. Those grips are the worst fit I have seen in awhile.

You should take your post, and add it to an email to Smith. You did a god job on posting the problems. Sorry about the gun. If it makes you feel better, 3 of the last five Rugers I bought went back. Two were unrepairable, so they sent me a new gun. I have two Rugers left. I used to be a Ruger person. At one time I had 29 Rugers, not no more.

If this was a 300 revolver it would be typical ... but for a $1k gun you have the utmost right to be royally pissed off. Looks QA was a tad lacking on this build. Friday afternoon production. Sorry for your problems... hopefully mfg will sort it out for you

That does appear to be sloppy work on a $1k. revolver. There really is no excuse for those blemishes. I guess quality control is job none.

Another example that would drive me towards Ruger were I in the market for a brand new revolver. I guess I got lucky with my 442 purchased last year.

But I've got a safe full of Garands and Carbines that I'd trade for the S&W's of old.

One or 2 minor imperfections are one thing. Your gun is something else. The things that really stick out to me are the hammer spur, (which could have been eliminated by a quick pass on a slack belt grinder with say 240 grit) the stocks that are just kindling, and the muzzle, which could have been quickly remedied in the shop.

What is especially disturbing is all this on a "Performance Center" gun!

How can S&W in good conscience call it a Performance Center and turn out a finished product like that.

I love my S&W guns, but somebody or somebodies needs a wake up call.

How much is the premium on a PC gun over a standard one anyway??

S&W QA/QC

All I can say is that's disgusting I hope you can work it out, but this has become all-too-familiar with S&W, Ruger, and most other current manufacturers.

Performance center is now just a marketing term used to separate a few more bucks from your wallet. As for quality control they figure it just cheaper to fix the ones that come back than fix them all before they ship.

EricR said:

Another example that would drive me towards Ruger were I in the market for a brand new revolver. I guess I got lucky with my 442 purchased last year.

But I've got a safe full of Garands and Carbines that I'd trade for the S&W's of old.

Click to expand...

Most of my Rugers have been sent back for rework. It seems too much is left to CNC machines. You can't get or afford good help these days. You can't even be particular in who you want to hire.

Be sure to shoot it before you send it back.

PERFORMANCE CENTER!!!! Yes, that is the part that unfortunately demonstrates how much time the performance center is spending on these. Wholeheartedly agree with Tubby and others that this is now just a marketing term because it is clear that anyone who has any aptitude with guns would have fixed these issues. I mean on a standard production model, there should have been a high probability of catching some of this. Performance Center, completely unacceptable. Really quite a shame that they are ruining the performance center label by doing this..

In a brighter note, I have no doubt that they will address the issues if you return it to them.

I'll keep my older PC guns and won't bother with the newer ones.

IC

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WOW. I went through similar heart break with a brand new 629. With yours, I'd demand they replace it with another model, or refund your money. The barrel isn't even crowned. It was obviously missed completely.

S&W needs to just go out of business. This way, hopefully someone who actually cares about quality can buy the patents and reproduce them again, properly.

That's an embarrassment - I'd be really PO'd also.