I've been excited for the UC guns since they were announced. It took me until today to find one in stock anywhere nearby - I suppose in all of my excitement, and given the bright lighting in the gun shop, I didn't realize the front sight is somewhat dim and discolored in one corner. Gonna get in touch with S&W during business hours tomorrow and hope that this isn't going to be a multi-month endeavor.

This defect aside, I am pretty pleased with the gun.

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AKA SixToEight

Looks okay to me, I must be too easily satisfied.

I added an additional, closer photo to the original post. Does that discoloration look problematic to you? I might be overreacting.

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AKA SixToEight

The front sight Tritium insert is way off center (non-concentric).

I'd be disappointed too...

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"I also cook."

You're right - I hadn't even realized. I double-checked with a magnifying glass and it's definitely sitting too far to the left.

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AKA SixToEight

Hopefully they'll just send you a proper replacement sight.

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Have Fun/Stay Safe

I'm still debating if I want to see if they'll send a new sight out or if I should just send the entire gun in. I suppose it depends on what a local gunsmith is willing to charge - I assume S&W won't offer reimbursement for third-party installation.

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AKA SixToEight

I would contact Lipseys before S&W. Others have had better/faster results doing that.
Does the sight glow in darkness? Have you fired it yet to see where POI is?

FWIW, my 642UC with a dead night sight made it to S&W on April 29th, they sent me a confirmation that they received it on May 2nd, and I've had no update since then.

Other than that, I was quite satisfied the the revolver and the sights. Having that rear made it easier to shoot at distances greater than 10 yards than my LCR 38 which I installed an XS standard dot front sight on.

I would be upset myself, They may get it to you within a week, you won't miss to may matches in that time. Drive the pin out and drill new hole and install the pin! won't scratch it up to bad, I'm just kidding, after you put some wear on it you can have it fixed. Hope you got it to carry, in that case I would have it and live with it myself. It's your baby, I would have them send me a new sight for it.

That is upsetting. Something like that should have been obvious first to the installer and also by the inspector.

That aside…it did hit distribution and retail channels…now the rubber hits the road with how S&W customer service handles this. This will be a true test of S&W’s commitment to their customers.

It seems that the checking and final inspection at S&W has been problematic. I had to return a model 69 for issues that should have been caught before shipping. It’s fine now but it should have never shipped previously.

Unfortunately…that seems to be a feature and not a bug of today’s manufacturing.

I am sorry to hear of these issues. i ordered my 432UC and it came in within a week. Mine has no issues. I took it to the range today and shot the retired officer qualifier with it. It's a neat little gun.

Today’s credo:
“Quality control? That’s what customers are for!”

Ask them to send you a new one. It should be a one roll pin removal installation - a 2 minute job.

I would have to shoot it first , and if it had a decent trigger pull and POA jived with POI ... I would keep it !
Never return a gun that shoots well for you ... Never !

I,m not enamored with those Tritium Insert sights myself ...
I'll take a fiber optic , brass bead or white dot any day .

Might want to keep the gun , if it's a good shooter , and change the front sight to something you like .
But first ... CHOOT IT !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Not every owner will have the time, skills, tools, to install a new front sight. I've also read of one owner who was sent a new sight, but not a new roll pin. I suppose the original pin might be able to be reused in this situation or that owner had his own spare pin.

OP, let us know how it goes.

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66/642/640/627/586/60/638/686

Hopefully S&W gets yours back to you quickly enough. I agree though; everything else about the gun is nicely finished, and the sights themselves are a big improvement over standard J-frame fixed sights. Even the action feels pretty nice as far as J-frames usually go.

Glad to hear that yours was trouble free. I want nothing more than these UC guns to succeed and to have their feature sets (and lack of internal locks) instituted into the rest of the lineup. I'd love a 327, 7-shot K-frame!

If it were just a roll pin I could probably manage that, but as I understand it the new XS sights require drilling a new roll pin hole into the sight, using the hole in the gun as a guide. I don't have access to a good vice or drill at the moment, nor do I possess any experience with this sort of thing. I'd rather have S&W handle their own QC issue - I can wait.

I haven't fired it as of yet - I'm still waiting for the 32H&R and 32 Long ammo I ordered to arrive. The sight does glow alright in the dark, but that discolored portion is noticeably darker than the rest of the circle. It's especially vibrant all the way around when "charged" with a direct flashlight beam for a little bit though. But how off-center the circle is becomes especially noticeable then.

I almost want to wait to fire it to make sure it also isn't suffering from light primer strikes or something, but another trip back on S&W's dime may inspire management to institute more strict inspection procedures prior to guns leaving the factory. Probably not, but I can dream, right?

That's just about my case here. Once it heads out I'll be sure to keep this thread updated. I've decided I'd rather send the entire gun back to S&W; no need for me to spend any more on having a third party gunsmith install a sight when it should be covered under warranty. The shop I bought it from has been great to deal with and advised they'll facilitate the return and contact S&W when I stop by tomorrow.

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AKA SixToEight

To honor the warranty...it would only cost S&W the bit of labor time and shipping back and forth. The sight itself can be charged back to the vendor.

The payoff to S&W in customer goodwill is priceless. A big return on investment in that respect. Plus cataloguing these issues should teach their assembly techs and inspectors to pay attention so such thing don't occur again.

S&W received my 442UC on April 10th and I called the last 2 weeks and they said it was in the system and in line. Mine too was only sent in for a sight swap and boy did I make a mistake sending it in. Should have just had them send me the sight and went from there. I am NOT happy with this at all but I can't do anything about it though. I had the gun 3 days and never shot it and sent it in right away. Now the wait....


BTW, if you do decide to send it in, take multiple close up pics of the barrel and around the sight and where the pin will be "punched" in that holds the sight on. If I get mine back and it looks bad, It will go back with some of my pics indicating that it did not look that way when I sent it in. Sad that this has become the norm for many things we buy now days...

I sent my 442UC back on April 1 due to a timing issue. I received it back today. They replaced the hammer and ejector rod, and repaired the yoke. It went to the range today. Other than shooting a couple of inches high it was great.

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N.R.A. BENEFACTOR Member

My 632 came with "the lights out" also, which did not bother me other than not being as advertised! 3 days ago, I held a high intensity LED flashlight about one inch away from the front sight for about 3 mins. I just checked the sight and it is still glowing in the dark!
jcelect

For the sake of an update, I sent the gun back to S&W via my LGS a few days ago. I look forward to seeing what the repair timeline is going to be like compared to the quick turnaround when I sent a GP100 to Ruger last year.

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AKA SixToEight