986 poor Quality

Leo@tecd · Feb 4, 2022

From the pics you can see why it went back to the Distributor, besides an over clocked barrel jamming the crane, 4 out 7 cylinders are scared from reaming, which means it will have trouble with ejecting.

So I ordered another one from a different source, hoping to get one good enough that I can send to T K Custom for double action only match trigger job.

Hoping to get one good enough to be repaired.

Nick B · Feb 5, 2022

Bummer . I won’t buy any make revolver (except FA) nowadays unless I can examine it first . But with that said last month I bought a 629-6 that was made in December of 2021. It’s absolutely perfect in fit and finish . Whoever did the assembly took their time and did it right.

18DAI · Feb 5, 2022

Good luck getting a good one! We had three of those sold when the shop was a s&w dealer. All three came back and we refunded the buyers. They were very good customers.

The dealings we had with s&w over those guns, led to us no longer being a s&w dealer. All three had over clocked barrels. Two of the three had lousy gritty triggers. And the 3rd was out of time, from the factory.

The Performance Center went out of business in 2014.

Regards 18DAI

Leo@tecd · Feb 5, 2022

The poor quality has been going on for a long time, maybe as they move to the new factory they can fix the problem. Sadly my expectations are to simply get one good enough that T K Custom says it is worth fixing.

Got my ship notice for second one, coming out of Ohio, waiting on the Fedex pickup call for the first one

waffles · Feb 5, 2022

It's sad. S&W has some cool modern stuff I'd be into but QC is just abysmal.

chief38 · Feb 6, 2022

Sad & pathetic! Just another explanation as to WHY used gun prices on similar vintage models has remained so high.

Mark8 · Feb 6, 2022

Leo@tecd said:
The poor quality has been going on for a long time, maybe as they move to the new factory they can fix the problem.

Revolver manufacturing will stay in Springfield, and as I understand, there won't be any changes when it comes to revolver production. Apparently some of the machinery is very old and the current plan is to not change a running system.

Baxter6551 · Feb 6, 2022

I just received a 442 as a warranty replacement for my cracked frame early 642 and I am very pleased. No issues with quality control I can see. Shoots to point of aim. And no lock !

Coverdog · Feb 6, 2022

That is beyond a terrible job. Who ever sent that out the door should be fired.

stansdds · Feb 6, 2022

Unfortunately, the days of craftsmen building revolvers and pistols is long gone. Revolvers and pistols are now put together by assembly line workers. This works well with the pistols made with MIM and plastic parts, but revolvers, even with MIM lockwork parts, still need attention to detail during the construction process.

psquarejr · Feb 6, 2022

It is pathetic and a shame that revolver ever left the factory, my 986 suffered from light strikes and was returned to the factory and repaired/adjusted under warrenty. It is the only new S&W revolver that I bought that has ever had an issue. From the negative feedback I hear and read from others, I consider myself fortunate that I have purchased several new revolvers and pistols from S&W without issues.

chief38 · Feb 6, 2022

As each generation of the Company goes bye, their knowledge, skill level and commitment diminish. This seems to be happening to all industry in America, not just as S&W.

People SAY they are willing to pay more for quality goods but apparently that doesn't pan out as good as it sounds. In today's anti gun world that we live in, I truly believe that even the gun companies are much much more interested in quick profit than making heirloom quality guns. Combine the two and this is what we are dealing with. Quite honestly, with the exception of a very few small mom & pop sized companies, I don't see this changing.

BubbaBlades · Feb 6, 2022

My history with the 986 has been mixed.

My first 986 was a 5" (CWD9xxx) and I have had zero problems with it.

My second 986 was a 2 1/2" (KDD6xxx) and it had problems from day one. It would not fire more than 4 or 5 rounds from the 7 round cylinder. I changed out the factory "tuned" mainspring for a "standard" spring and this reduced the failure to fire rate to about 1 out of 12 rounds (different ammo didn't matter).

The gunsmith at the store where I bought the gun replaced the factory firing pin with a extended length firing pin and with these two fixes the gun is now working properly.

I understand that a certain number of mass-produced firearms will have problems but this is the third Performance Center gun that I have had issues with. I sent back my 586 and 1911 and they were fixed at no cost to me.

I am disappointed that the Performance Center doesn't have a much better quality control program.

H Richard · Feb 6, 2022

I had a 986 that had only one problem. Difficulty extracting fired cases. I polished the chambers several times, but still had problems. Factory or handloads. I gave up and moved it along.

Moon · Feb 6, 2022

The 986 I had was a dud.
The couple of hundred rounds went okay but then it started to fail to fire.
It got so bad as 5 or 6 per cylinder.
I replaced the firing pin with the extended pin from C&S. It helped a little. Finally i became tired of dealing with it and sold it off.

Nightowl · Feb 6, 2022

I have never seen chamfered chamber mouths before. Of course, I have not bought a new Smith since I got a first year .500. I could be I just never noticed before, but I'm pretty sure none of my guns have chamfered chamber mouths.

bigwheelzip · Feb 6, 2022

Nightowl said:
I have never seen chamfered chamber mouths before. Of course, I have not bought a new Smith since I got a first year .500. I could be I just never noticed before, but I'm pretty sure none of my guns have chamfered chamber mouths.

My PC 686 has chamfers as part of the extra machining done for accepting moon clips.

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

happyfast79 · Feb 6, 2022

I just bought 2 new smith revolvers a few months ago and they both had to go back for warranty work, 629 with machine marks up the front of the frame and a 329 with crooked forcing cone, punch marks from where they put in the pins on the barrel shroud and some anodizing issues. Just got them both back and they did a good job with them... should have been good out of the box but at least they fixed it.

Nightowl · Feb 6, 2022

bigwheelzip said:
My PC 686 has chamfers as part of the extra machining done for accepting moon clips.

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

Sure, where the cartridges are inserted in the cylinder, not where the bullets emerge. Ie the ball end, in S&W terms. Perhaps I did not correctly describe in my initial post.

Bullet Bob · Feb 6, 2022

"...4 out 7 cylinders are scared from reaming,...)
__________________________________________

I'd be scared of reaming also.

986 poor Quality

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