Hey all!

Made an account to post about my experiences so far with a brand new 43c. I've owned a pile of Smith J-Frames, with a 351c and 43c being the most recent ones to acquire. I write for a website, and wanted to test these two revolvers out as part of an ongoing pocket gun series that I've been working on over the last two years. Both guns were purchased brand new, and had no external signs of wear.

The 351c works great, despite some glaring QC issues, however, the 43c does not work. On 2/8 of the chambers, the gun will not fire. I've been able to replicate this with live ammo, snapcaps, and no ammo. Yes, I know that you cannot dryfire the 43c, and I have not been doing so. However, I have notated the two chambers that do not work, and can replicate the issue regardless of ammo being in the gun.

I'm baffled by this issue, as my online research has not turned anything up on this specific issue. I've got a video of this, which I will link below.

https://youtu.be/DWn4MYrLpDo?si=HEjRwudjdvg3B01P

This is a shame, as this will both delay my testing of the gun, but also reinforce the mentality of Smith's bad revolver QC as of late. At least my 351c works, even if Smith forgot to put half of their logo on the gun.