Sent my Performance Center model 41 back to S & W….

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PAgunman

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Hello all,

This afternoon, I went back to the gun store where I bought my Performance Center model 41 less than 2 months ago and they are sending it back to S & W for repair or replacement. I have been having issues with frequent stove pipes, occasional failure to extract with the empty shell lodged in the barrel after the first shot is fired, and failure to load properly since the first time I shot the gun. I have now shot about 800-900 rounds through it. Also, the trigger guard is next to impossible to lower in order to clean the gun…..very, very snug. I bought it brand new for about $1600. What a disappointment! I have used CCI SV 22LR ammo. I took it last week to the gun store where I bought it and their S & W-certified gunsmiths worked on it and cleaned it. They removed two small burrs in the barrel and did something with the extractor. Felt all was fixed. I went this morning to the range to shoot and it fired the first bullet but did not fire the second bullet because the empty shell from the first bullet was stuck/lodged in the barrel. I had to use a screwdriver to remove it. This happened 3 times in a row with CCI SV 22 LR ammo so I just stopped and went to the gun store where I bought it. They recommended sending it back and will do it for me.
Any thoughts? I am very disappointed……spending $1,600 for a Performance Center model 41 because I wish to do competition shooting and all I have is an expensive paperweight! I called S & W when I bought the gun in August, 2021 and they told me that my gun was made in January, 2021. Made in the USA. Very disappointing!
 
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Yes. I tired several other brands. CCI is supposed to be the preferred brand from what I read. The gun is either defective or the design is terrible. Either way, $1,600 is A LOT to spend on a gun, especially a Performance Center model. This is supposed to be among the best that S & W makes, on par with a customized gun.
 
Everyone has one slip through from time to time.

I bought a new Colt King Cobra three weeks ago. First range trip everything was great. Second range trip it shaved lead so bad it would lockup the cylinder. At one point while the hammer was cocked I could turn the cylinder backward. Primer strikes were way off center which was another indication timing was Waaaay off.

All loads were mild 38’s, no 357’s.

I called Colt and it’s headed back for repair. This isn’t unique to Colt. I had two Smiths, a used 317 and 625-2 get out of time, a new Ruger Blackhawk and a Cimarron 45 LC Custer as well. Both the Cimarron and Ruger were out of time straight out of the box.

It shouldn’t happen but it’s life.

Things just happen, nothing is perfect and realizing that helps prevent disappointment.
 
I have multiple S&W 41’s including the PC. I have had a few issues like yours and S&W will not repair anything for me. Waste of time in my opinion. Should a new gun break down? Should the manufacturer be able to fix them when they do? If you read a lot of prior posts you will find suggestions to break in a new gun with HiVelocity loads. Somewhere between 1 to 2 Bricks should wear it in unless a too tight chamber is the issue. Standard velocity works in all mine now, but they did not all work from the beginning. This is not what you wanted to hear. I have tried to be brief. There are many others on this site that are willing to help. It will also help if you are patient. Good luck!! That is also helpful.
 
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The M41 has always been somewhat of a "picky eater" however some of the new ones are a bit more finicky.

On the older vintage M41's, the standard moves are to:

1) go to CCI std. vel. ammo - I saw you did that already
2) change the extractor to a Volquartsen ($15 bucks).

As far as the new ones are concerned, if it's under the warranty which your is, let them fix it! If they have a few attempts at it and it still doesn't work properly then I'd demand my money back. You can then by a vintage model 41 or a vintage Model High Standard (still plenty available) for less than you paid for yours.

It's a shame you need to deal with this on a Factory new gun that is $1,600 bucks! Hope they resolve the issue for you - let us know.

PS: Has anyone else noticed the trend in PC guns being problematic? I have seen quite a few posts about them lately.
 
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If you haven't already sent it back to S & W, I would buy a few boxes of CCI mini-mags. First, remove the barrel and hold it upright and drop a cartridge in the chamber to see if gravity will take it completely in the chamber, if so turn the barrel chamber down and see if the cartridge will drop out on it's own. If it fails, use a bronze bore brush and scrub the chamber well and see if it will pass the test. If it does, shoot a couple hundred of the mini-mags through it and see if it improves. It's best to avoid sending it in to S & W, but if the above doesn't take care of it, that's probably your best option. No, Smith & Wesson will not refund your money. About the only way that can happen is if the store you bought it from will give you a refund, but I doubt that will happen either. Wishing you the best and please keep us informed how it goes.
 
I can appreciate the OP's disappointment in buying a new PC M41 and not having it work properly. It happened to me late last year when I bought mine. Before buying the PC M41 I had a "vintage" M41 that looked outstanding but couldn't fire one round without jamming. I had listened to the buy vintage crowd. Spent a bunch of money on it and never did get it fixed. Sold it at a loss and swore I would never buy another M41 until I saw the PC M41. Bought mine and in less than 20 rounds thru the pistol it developed issues. Now here is the crux of my comments: New guns come with a warranty for a reason, used guns do not. Buy a used M41 that goes south on you and tell me what warranty you have. Use your factory provided warranty and see what happens. I my case I sent mine back and because of Covid and Christmas I had to wait about 6 weeks to get it back. No damage was done to the pistol by S&W as some have reported and it works flawlessly now.

You can rant and rave and urinate and moan, but until you give S&W a chance to repair it you are barking at the moon. I called S&W and told them about my problem and they took care of everything regarding the repair work. The only cost to me was gas getting the pistol to Fed Ex. Be nice if you talk to these people and they will be nice to you. Lord knows they deal with enough goofs to sink a battleship.

Did I enjoy the fact my PC M41 was faulty? No not at all and in fact I was P.O.'d, but ALL new items have issues at times. Stoves, refrigerators, motor vehicles, computers, you name it. Give them a chance to repair it and if it doesn't work out then go ballistic. At least you know Smith and Wesson will be around for the long haul compared to some other firearm manufacturers.
Good luck on the repair work!
Rick H.
 
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I have a first year production 41. I bought it from a retired Army Maj who used it on the pistol team for 20 years or so. I've had it for 40 years myself. It has never had any problems except for a pilot error one when I let some numbskull shoot it. I have ordered a few parts from S&W (sight parts) and they never charge me for anything.

I would not be afraid to use HV during a break in period. S&W has "Assemblers" not gunsmiths. The guys who used to make the 41s were craftsmen who put the parts together with a goal in mind to make an accurate reliable pistol. These guys are all gone. I would give S&W ONE chance to make it right and if they didn't I'd demand a refund. S&W has a reputation for tight .22 chambers. My .22 Combat Masterpiece has a cylinder that is so tight that you have to pound the empties out and that pistol is 60+ years old. I would do as was suggested and polish the chamber until the empties drop out. Beware about fitting a new extractor as they have a certain way of doing it and testing it. Voquartsen ? This isn't a Ruger 10/22. I have the original extractor in mine and it is fine. If you have to get a refund, look for some widow with her husband's used 41 and then pay her a "widow" bit of money for it. I personally would never buy any gun that was new. They make them out of plastic and cast parts and brag about how they CNC the slides. They are put together like a toaster and shot a couple of times and put in a box uncleaned. They all are pretty much like that. Glocks, S&W whatever.


I forgot to mention this: Looking at the 41 manual it shows a tiny bit of oil at the back of the slide and that's about it. I would disassemble it and carefully oil the slide rails and parts of the mechanism that you can get to. I use US Army teflon oil made for the M16. Don't expect it to work well dry.
 
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I was just in our only gun shop this afternoon. A new S&W Bodyguard was about $700 and my God it was so tight that you couldn't get the cylinder open. No chance this thing would work in the field. The parts have got to be just tossed in there and that's that. The mechanisms feel like they are made of rubber, no crispness or nice sounds, just a gritty mush. My Officer's model will bring tears to your eyes when you close that crane. It sounds like a bank vault being closed or snapping a pane of glass. I'll bet that you could stumble through 500 rds of .38 special before the new gun even came close to working. The chambers are all coated with the same awful coating as the outside. Sad, very sad.
 
It makes me sad to say it, but the design of the 41 has some issues.
Oh, sure, you get some guys who claim their 41 has never missed a beat in tens of thousands of rounds, but you also get a number of horror stories. A Walther GSP, Sig Trailside, or Hammerli will just plain work. The trailside does have issues with the plastic mags wearing out and trigger guards cracking, but otherwise they do just work. The others are really solid.
I love the 41 enough that I'm willing to fuss with it's foibles, but they are there right enough.
 
Thanks to all. I am waiting for my PC 41:to return from S & W. I sent a polite complaint letter by email and then mailed a hard copy to S & W. The email was sent to QA @smith-wesson.com, as instructed by their phone people. Two days later they wrote back about how they are not in the market of pricing guns and some other silly things which had nothing to do with my letter. Hope they can fix or replace my PC 41. Doesn’t seem like they are very bright.
 
PAgunman said:
Yes. I tired several other brands. CCI is supposed to be the preferred brand from what I read.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the Forum

Neither of my Model 41s has ever had a round of CCI through them, I have never preferred CCI rimfire ammunition.

Both of my 41s shoot exceptionally well with Remington and shoot fairly well with Federal, Winchester and Aguilla. Those are the only 4 ammunitions they have been fed over the last four decades

In addition to trying other ammunition, have other shooter had the same problem firing your Model 41?

Price is meaningless. A bad gun is a bad gun. Would you be less disappointed if you only paid $500 for it? Of course not

Give Smith & Wesson some time to make things good for you
 
One trick bullseye shooters do is put a drop of oil on the top round of each magazine. Don’t know why it works but it does seem to help with some Model 41s.
 
As others have said, reliability in 41s is all over the map. Mine is about 40 years old and runs great with just about anything as long as I keep it reasonably clean. Others . . . well, I feel sorry for their owners, some of whom shoot on my Bullseye team (can you say "alibi"?, sure you can). I switched to a Walther GSP maybe 15 years ago and now I know what a really reliable gun is like.

The Volquartsen extractor mentioned earlier supposedly can work miracles and is worth a try. I bought two of them as "insurance" when they first came out a couple years ago, but have thankfully not needed to install one (yet).
 
Dave Haynes said:
I was just in our only gun shop this afternoon. A new S&W Bodyguard was about $700 and my God it was so tight that you couldn't get the cylinder open. No chance this thing would work in the field. The parts have got to be just tossed in there and that's that. The mechanisms feel like they are made of rubber, no crispness or nice sounds, just a gritty mush. My Officer's model will bring tears to your eyes when you close that crane. It sounds like a bank vault being closed or snapping a pane of glass. I'll bet that you could stumble through 500 rds of .38 special before the new gun even came close to working. The chambers are all coated with the same awful coating as the outside. Sad, very sad.
Click to expand...

I've had the feeling for years that recent S&Ws just aren't built to the same standard that the older ones are. I hate like the devil to say that, but it seems to be true...
 
Beemerguy53 said:
I've had the feeling for years that recent S&Ws just aren't built to the same standard that the older ones are. I hate like the devil to say that, but it seems to be true...
Click to expand...

Realistically one didn't hear much bad or good about anything not too long ago. The internet took care of that, especially when it comes to hearing about the bad stuff. Few post anything about something they are happy with. Just human nature to complain loud and long.

Rick H.
 
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