ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH! Cracked Frame

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BUFF

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I went shooting Friday and put a box through my old Model 642. This is an early one; I bought it in April, 1991, BKA s/n prefix. I probably carry this gun more than any gun I own, it's my back-up gun at work and my warm weather off-duty gun. I have shot it a lot. It has been flawless.

So I was cleaning it tonight and what do I see? The frame is cracked! It's the classic Airweight frame crack, through the frame below the rear of the barrel.

This is very sad. I have really gotten attached to this gun. I think the 642 is the perfect 5 shot .38, corrosion resistant, light enough to carry effortlessly but heavy enough to deal with Plus-P recoil.

I am going to miss this little revolver. I am glad I have another one in the safe.
 
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I was just called Friday in the evening time for my return info on my 637. They will make it better.
 
It should be within the lifetime warranty policy time frame. Condolences on your loss and please let us know what customer service says.
 
Sorry to hear about your gun. I hope Smith makes it right. Does someone have a pic of a classic cracked frame? I confess to not knowing exactly what or where it is.


You know, I almost asked for a pic of the classic crack, but I was afraid of the answers I would get. :D
 
If your gun was made in 91 was it rated for +P ammo? The subject of
hot loads in older airweight j-frames seems to be a hotly debated
topic.
 
BUFF said:
I went shooting Friday and put a box through my old Model 642. This is an early one; I bought it in April, 1991, BKA s/n prefix. I probably carry this gun more than any gun I own, it's my back-up gun at work and my warm weather off-duty gun. I have shot it a lot. It has been flawless.

So I was cleaning it tonight and what do I see? The frame is cracked! It's the classic Airweight frame crack, through the frame below the rear of the barrel.

This is very sad. I have really gotten attached to this gun. I think the 642 is the perfect 5 shot .38, corrosion resistant, light enough to carry effortlessly but heavy enough to deal with Plus-P recoil.

I am going to miss this little revolver. I am glad I have another one in the safe.
Click to expand...


That's a bummer. How many rounds through the gun?
 
"That's a bummer. How many rounds through the gun?"

More than 5,000. Probably twice that. 20 years worth' and I try to stay current on it.

As far as the use of Plus-P goes, the instruction manual that came with it is dated 2/90 and doesn't have the Model 642 listed in the recommended ammo charts.
 
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+P rated 642's are marked as such on the gun. Let's see now, 20 years, 5000 rds, unknown number of +P's. Street price today of new 642 $350.00, divided by 240 months = monthly cost of use & abuse @ $1.46 per month. I wouldn't expect any manufacturer to give me a new gun. That's just me, though. I am also of the opinion you should not shoot these little guns to death in practice, especially +P loads. shoot enough to verify function, then shoot something else that will stand up to it. If you feel you must shoot the same gun, buy two, one to carry the other for practice. In my experience trigger time is trigger time.
 
"If you feel you must shoot the same gun, buy two, one to carry the other for practice. In my experience trigger time is trigger time."

THIS quoted for truth, I wish my wife understood it, but two of every carry gun I have is how I roll....
Something goes wrong, I am not down....one has to go to the lab after a shooting??? I have another....
Break something?? No worries until I can get it fixed....need a part?? I know where one is.....
 
Yes, that is a sound practice. I have done it since the police academy in 1981.

Another good thing about it is that you can go shoot it when you get a chance, and since you have a clean one sitting there at home, you don't have to rush to clean the one you shot beore going on duty.

I hope to be able to get another one without the internal lock. They seem to be out there.
 
Sorry to hear about that. Every time I read one of these posts about a J frame cracking there, I wonder how long my M37 no dash is gonna last. I never shoot anything but standard pressure loads, and not all that many of those. It is a 1968 model and is still pretty tight, rough, but tight.
Hope everything works out for you. I would have had a heart attack probably.
have a good evening,
Gordon
 
Sorry to hear about your frame. When I read your post, I grabbed mine and a magnifying glass. No problems here, but, after two of
these in the last two weeks, I may do 99% of my practice with a steel
framed model.
Please update this situation. Hope S&W can fix you up. Now that
I've got a pair of these, it gets personal. TACC1
 
Buff I have one I just picked up this weekend and put it in the classifieds. It is +P rated. I just don't need the gun. No lock on this gun. Take Care Bruce
 
I just spoke with a very pleasant fellow at the service center. Sending me out a shipping return label. We'll see how it shakes out. I am not too worried about it, the company has always treated me very fairly and I doubt this has changed at all since the last time I needed a factory repair.

The spot on the frame where these (J frame alloy .38's) crack is pretty thin and can't be made any thicker as the dimension is fixed by the top of the yoke, which is also pretty thin. I suppose most of the progress or change in these since their introduction has to do with metallurgy and/or heat treatment. Making the little 5 shooters strong enough to withstand the .357 Magnum (in the guns so chambered) is quite an achievement.

Incidentally, I didn't find the crack until cleaning it after shooting it. There is no way of knowing at what point in the 50 rounds I shot that it failed. The crack didn't impair function. It still also dry-fires like it always has. No, I am NOT saying these would be safe to shoot after they crack, but merely that there is quite a level of safety to the shooter built into them. S&W builds great products.
 
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BUFF said:
Incidentally, I didn't find the crack until cleaning it after shooting it. There is no way of knowing at what point in the 50 rounds I shot that it failed. The crack didn't impair function. It still also dry-fires like it always has. No, I am NOT saying these would be safe to shoot after they crack, but merely that there is quite a level of safety to the shooter built into them. S&W builds great products.
Click to expand...

An excellent point. It gets me to wondering how many rounds it would take before (if?) there would be a catastrophic failure.
 
"It gets me to wondering how many rounds it would take before (if?) there would be a catastrophic failure."

I hope never to find out!
 
Photoman44 said:
An excellent point. It gets me to wondering how many rounds it would take before (if?) there would be a catastrophic failure.
Click to expand...

BUFF said:
"It gets me to wondering how many rounds it would take before (if?) there would be a catastrophic failure."

I hope never to find out!
Click to expand...

For a hot minute there I thought about giving that a try. Then I remembered that I like my fingers and my hands since I'm so attached to them... :rolleyes:

I joke, but really I have no idea how catastrophic of a failure it could turn into. And I just wasn't willing to find out…
 
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