.40 Shield sent to S&W customer service

[Slicer77]

I am a firm believer in S&W. The reason is the fact that they promise a lifetime warrantly on all guns so long as you are the original owner. How they prove that ...I don't know. I do know that I sent in my 15/22 because of a feed issue, and they sent pre-paid label and fixed all free of charge in a timely manner.

 

[CAMTX]

Good post and follow-up, thanks!

 

[Terry]

Smity & Wesson Service

Over the years I have sent 2 handguns to their service department. The most recent was about 2 years ago, my 340 PD had a cracked frame just in front of the cylinder. It was out of warranty and I was even the second owner.

They replaced the frame and returned it within 10 days and no charge. Just like new and a great speedy job.

 

[Hondo44]

emory,

Pretty clear to me that you had both an ammo and a gun problem. I've never heard of a squib load 'ringing' or cracking a barrel, if no other rounds were fired behind it!

I believe S&W confirmed and accepted responsibility for that fact as well by not charging you for repairs but should have paid your initial shipping charges as well.

 

[Hondo44]

Sounds like a happy ending.

So.. it's obvious they have barrels... would looooove to know why they won't sell them any more

Simple, they want to keep the barrels for repair work such as in emory's case.

 

[Terry]

Is all the ammo from the same lot, or were they purchased a few boxes at a time.
Check the Lot numbers and if they ARE all from the same lot, it may be worth a follow-up email to Federal and ask about a swap-out (buy-back). If they're NOT from the same lot, just don't shoot any more from the lot that had the squib and ask about a swap/buy for just those remaining rounds. For safety sake, they MAY be very responsive to your request.

A squib load usually is not a lot problem and most ammo manufactures will have an occasional squib load. More often than not a squib load can be removed from the barrel as described without problem. When you hear that little pop just hope your not shooting too quickly to stop the next round.

Where I have seen a lot problem was with a component defect. I bring to point, a few years ago I had a S & W Model 39 9mm that the round blew out the the magazine and cracked and blew off the wood grips. The culprit was the Remington brass was defective and had what they called a cold shunt in the brass. When the round went off it exploded out the base of the case causing the problem.

The Model 39 was a police weapon and was returned to S & W with the ammo and defective brass. The ammo was not Remington but they used Remington brass. As result they did recall by lot numbers all of the ammo manufactured with this brass. The ammo company even provided us with a case of the same ammo which was all fine.

 

[N4KVE]

emory,

Pretty clear to me that you had both an ammo and a gun problem. I've never heard of a squib load 'ringing' or cracking a barrel, if no other rounds were fired behind it!

I believe S&W confirmed and accepted responsibility for that fact as well by not charging you for repairs but should have paid your initial shipping charges as well.

Most companies insist you pay the initial shipping to them, & in turn, they will repair the item & pay shipping back to you. The fact that S&W pays initial shipping to them is icing on the cake, & I don't expect it to last forever. GARY

 

[Hondo44]

Gary,
But S&W did not pay initial shipping in Emory's case.

Ruger also pays initial shipping for all 'warranty type' repairs.

 

[Moto111]

Emory,
Glad to hear SW did you right. Interested in the response from Federal.

 

[wrhk33]

Why would an under powered load cause the barrel to crack/ring especially since you did not fire a round into the back of the first round?

 

[Rudi2]

We all like a happy ending - glad CS treated you right!

 

[olm911]

It's good to hear an upbeat customer service report.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

MY ? exactly!

Why would an under powered load cause the barrel to crack/ring especially since you did not fire a round into the back of the first round?

Got to admit: it is a pretty good question, huh?

Why (& just exactly HOW) would an underpower squib load crack a barrel?

 

[happy]

Good CS experience

I had a "day-one" problem with a S&W M&P Shield 9mm. The slide would NOT come off. Took it back to Cabela's where I bought it and they could not get the slide off either. We could see that part of the slide was not seated properly and they suggested I send it back to S&W. I called them, they sent me a return shipping label, handled the whole thing well, had my gun back in a week or so, and it has not failed since. S&W customer service is THE.BEST.

 

[shawn mccarver]

I disagree. If this is a ammo issue why didnt s&w make the owner pay for the parts and treat it like the customers that have the kabooms?

Because they are, in my experience, willing to do all sorts of things they do not have to do, if you ask nicely. I have always offered to pay, and in about 40 years, I have never had to pay, save for re-finish jobs. They have looked over used guns I have bought, replaced parts, returned the guns to "as new" condition, all springs, screws, any out-of-spec parts, and they always return the parts removed. On two occasions, I had to beg them to let me pay for changing a barrel on two different revolvers. (I paid for the barrels, but they would not charge for the installation.) Now, I doubt they would do all of that now, but on the other hand, I never expect them to do free work. Most of the time the gun is back with all the work completed even before the mailed "estimate" is received. In my experience, S&W has always been thorough, considerate, and they have been great to deal with.

 

[Barrie]

Its darn nice to hear a positive report for once about the service work at the factory. I truly wonder if it really totally the fault of the bullet or possibly a defective barrel. Either way its a happy ending for the owner.

 

[EdP1946]

That ring may not have been a crack. I had heard about machined aluminum snap caps causing such problems. The anodic coating is hard and brittle, and the aluminum below it is relatively soft. A ring of anodize fractures right where a bullet would meet its case. I immediately checked my AZoom snap caps and each of them was missing a hairline thickness of the anodize. I replaced them with Tipton's hard plastic and brass version. I suspect that the squib simply lacked the power necessary to push past the incompressible ring of anodize. You're very lucky that the squib revealed the problem before enough brass built up to stop a full powered round.

 

[Swengen]

Thanks for sharing that story! Great ending.

 

[rwsmith]

But this wasn't........

Gary,
But S&W did not pay initial shipping in Emory's case.

Ruger also pays initial shipping for all 'warranty type' repairs.

But emory's case wasn't a warranty job.

While I'm here I'll say that for a non warranty job they moved pretty fast! Also, yeah, a squib alone should not ring the barrel, but if it did, what the hey?

And also I agree that it was an ammo issue and S&W were gracious to do the work free.

 

[sharps_74]

Good to hear about how they took care of you. I have a friend that has been waiting for S&W to get back to him for about eight months now on a pistol he sent in.