I bought an S&W 1911 Series E SC and had an issue. Sent it back to Smith and am now awaiting the reply. Here is the letter I sent in with the pistol.
“This pistol, along with 11 others, was stolen last year from the store I bought it from. In his haste to get away, the robber dropped this pistol and 3 others out of his backpack and onto the pavement and rocks in the parking lot. The police recovered them the next morning and put them in the evidence room.
After the robberies were solved, the insurance company paid the store for their losses. The store then bought the recovered weapons from the insurance co. I, in turn bought this pistol from the store. I was shown the damage which consisted of some minor, cosmetic dings and a small dent on the underside of the dust cover. We took the pistol apart in the store to make sure there was no further damage. Everything looked good. I decided to buy it as I was going to have it cerracoted (sp) anyway for a carry gun.
Seeing no damage other than cosmetics, I took it to the range to fire it. It shot great. POA and POI were the same. No jams or FTF at all. I did notice that ejection was erratic. Sometimes the spent shell would eject at 3 o’clock as it should and other times it hit under the brim of my hat or hit the roof of the firing line. At one point one casing flew over the bench in front and to the right of the pistol. I fired 4 magazines full, two full loads in each mag, of Winchester white box 230 gr ball to make sure they functioned properly. They did. I shot a few wad cutters and a few hollow points to make sure they fed all right. The pistol functioned flawlessly. I decided to take the pistol down to clean it before leaving the range. As I did, one of my friends picked up the frame and grip portion and looked up and said, hey, your frame is cracked! I looked at it and sure enough, at the flat spot on the underside of the dust cover I saw a crack. It goes all the way through. We had all examined the pistol thoroughly in the store before I paid for it. The crack was not there at that time. I’m sure it happened during firing. I didn’t even clean it, I just stopped shooting and went home.
Is it safe to continue to shoot? Can this crack be repaired? If so, what will the cost be? Would it be possible to purchase a new frame and use all of my existing parts to re-assemble it? Can the ejector be adjusted to eject correctly? Also, when the slide is locked back and a magazine is inserted, are you supposed to be able to pull back on the slide slightly, release it and have it go into battery? Kimbers and some Colts do. This one does not.
I’m just sick over this as, like I said, it was a new, unfired pistol with just a few dings and all of a sudden its now sporting a cracked frame. This is the first alloy frame pistol I’ve ever owned. Are they all this fragile? I don’t believe a steel framed gun would have cracked open like that. Have you had instances where the Scandium frames have cracked before?
Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated."
When I was getting a return approval, the CS rep told me it definitely would not be under warranty. He said most likely they would want to destroy this one and sell me a new one at a drastically reduced price. I asked how drastic and he said probably distributor cost. He went on to say that the “Smith” would be the one making the decisions. The crack is almost invisible. I don’t know if it will get larger over time or not. Hope they can just sell me a new frame. What do you guys think?
“This pistol, along with 11 others, was stolen last year from the store I bought it from. In his haste to get away, the robber dropped this pistol and 3 others out of his backpack and onto the pavement and rocks in the parking lot. The police recovered them the next morning and put them in the evidence room.
After the robberies were solved, the insurance company paid the store for their losses. The store then bought the recovered weapons from the insurance co. I, in turn bought this pistol from the store. I was shown the damage which consisted of some minor, cosmetic dings and a small dent on the underside of the dust cover. We took the pistol apart in the store to make sure there was no further damage. Everything looked good. I decided to buy it as I was going to have it cerracoted (sp) anyway for a carry gun.
Seeing no damage other than cosmetics, I took it to the range to fire it. It shot great. POA and POI were the same. No jams or FTF at all. I did notice that ejection was erratic. Sometimes the spent shell would eject at 3 o’clock as it should and other times it hit under the brim of my hat or hit the roof of the firing line. At one point one casing flew over the bench in front and to the right of the pistol. I fired 4 magazines full, two full loads in each mag, of Winchester white box 230 gr ball to make sure they functioned properly. They did. I shot a few wad cutters and a few hollow points to make sure they fed all right. The pistol functioned flawlessly. I decided to take the pistol down to clean it before leaving the range. As I did, one of my friends picked up the frame and grip portion and looked up and said, hey, your frame is cracked! I looked at it and sure enough, at the flat spot on the underside of the dust cover I saw a crack. It goes all the way through. We had all examined the pistol thoroughly in the store before I paid for it. The crack was not there at that time. I’m sure it happened during firing. I didn’t even clean it, I just stopped shooting and went home.
Is it safe to continue to shoot? Can this crack be repaired? If so, what will the cost be? Would it be possible to purchase a new frame and use all of my existing parts to re-assemble it? Can the ejector be adjusted to eject correctly? Also, when the slide is locked back and a magazine is inserted, are you supposed to be able to pull back on the slide slightly, release it and have it go into battery? Kimbers and some Colts do. This one does not.
I’m just sick over this as, like I said, it was a new, unfired pistol with just a few dings and all of a sudden its now sporting a cracked frame. This is the first alloy frame pistol I’ve ever owned. Are they all this fragile? I don’t believe a steel framed gun would have cracked open like that. Have you had instances where the Scandium frames have cracked before?
Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated."
When I was getting a return approval, the CS rep told me it definitely would not be under warranty. He said most likely they would want to destroy this one and sell me a new one at a drastically reduced price. I asked how drastic and he said probably distributor cost. He went on to say that the “Smith” would be the one making the decisions. The crack is almost invisible. I don’t know if it will get larger over time or not. Hope they can just sell me a new frame. What do you guys think?
