Gentlemen,
I was at the range today for my quarterly pistol qualification. Following the duty gun qualification, we pulled out the little guns for our off-duty course of fire. Shooting mext to me was my buddy.
My buddy had finally brought out his S&W 340PD, a fine revolver he had purchased seven years ago, but had never fired. On a lark, he had decided to finally retire his well used 649 and go with the lighter gun. Prior to sending it in to be checked out by the armorers, he had decided to fire a qual., so when the weapon returned he would be able to carry it immediately. The armorer check is a requirement before we carry any new firearm.
Upon sucessfully completing the off-duty qualification (40 rds), we decided to linger a bit and put a few more down range just to get the feel of the new piece. About half way through the second box (approx. 75 rds), he had trouble getting the cylinder to close and handed the 340 over to me for a closer look. Upon inspection, I noted a crack extending from the bottom of the forcing cone, through the frame, to the ejector rod shroud. The crack was prominent enough that it was causing the crane to bind.
The ammo we had been using was agency issue 125gr +P GDHP .38 Special. I was suprised by the failure. I told him that it was most likely due to the barrel being over-torqued upon assembly. We called Smith this afternoon and they are sending out a shipping label to return the revolver to the factory.
I'm not posting to knock the gun or Smith, this is just the first time I have witnessed a new Smith with a frame crack. I am confident this is not a common failure, just a very distressing one, particularly in a back-up/off-duty gun.
I was at the range today for my quarterly pistol qualification. Following the duty gun qualification, we pulled out the little guns for our off-duty course of fire. Shooting mext to me was my buddy.
My buddy had finally brought out his S&W 340PD, a fine revolver he had purchased seven years ago, but had never fired. On a lark, he had decided to finally retire his well used 649 and go with the lighter gun. Prior to sending it in to be checked out by the armorers, he had decided to fire a qual., so when the weapon returned he would be able to carry it immediately. The armorer check is a requirement before we carry any new firearm.
Upon sucessfully completing the off-duty qualification (40 rds), we decided to linger a bit and put a few more down range just to get the feel of the new piece. About half way through the second box (approx. 75 rds), he had trouble getting the cylinder to close and handed the 340 over to me for a closer look. Upon inspection, I noted a crack extending from the bottom of the forcing cone, through the frame, to the ejector rod shroud. The crack was prominent enough that it was causing the crane to bind.
The ammo we had been using was agency issue 125gr +P GDHP .38 Special. I was suprised by the failure. I told him that it was most likely due to the barrel being over-torqued upon assembly. We called Smith this afternoon and they are sending out a shipping label to return the revolver to the factory.
I'm not posting to knock the gun or Smith, this is just the first time I have witnessed a new Smith with a frame crack. I am confident this is not a common failure, just a very distressing one, particularly in a back-up/off-duty gun.
