Is this a factory defect?

[Ofc.JL]

I agree it's not a problem as far as the pistols correct operation. But who wants to buy a new gun that's boogered up. The dent in the bumper of a new car is a great Analogy. The biggest problem w/ S&W these days seems to be Final QC. Or of lately, NO final QC. Go check out my post about "Not Happy" with a pistol that should have never left the Factory. Best of luck, pg222

 

[Rastoff]

I disagree with the naysayers here. That piece could interfere with the operation of the slide. It may not be now, but it is definitely rubbing on the slide. Maybe just a little, but it shouldn't be touching it at all.

My first question is, why is it in that condition? The sear block should not push it over like that. So, is the sear block not machined properly?

 

[shawn mccarver]

What amazes me the most about this thread is how people would not tolerate this from a SIG Sauer or a Kimber, as if S&W is some second rate pistol.

How did we get to this point, where the best gun maker in the world now has grudging customers who shrug their shoulders and say that they would not expect such imperfections in these Johnny-Come-Latelys such as SIG Sauer and Kimber?

By the way, if you think that other companies do not have such issues getting past QC and the end customer ranting about it on a forum, all you have to do is hang out on ANY other brand-specific gun forum. For that matter, ANY gun forum will have countless complaints such as this.

S&W is not the only company that has issues such as this, for whatever it is worth.

 

[jstanfield103]

Shawn
That is an excellent point.
I agree that if it were mine I would be calling S&W and see what they had to say about it.
Good Luck and let us know what happens.
Thnx for posting.

 

[miniSQ]

while that little piece would not bother me, i would just clean it up with an exacto as suggested in other posts.

But what would bother me is the nagging in the back of my mind of what else is wrong with the gun that i can't see.

 

[Arik]

I wouldn't say Sig is Johnny come lately. They've been making firearms since the mid 1800s. Not exactly new to the game.

Yes all companies will have QC problems. The only way to avoid them is to have one person do everything from start to finish by hand. Companies putting our millions of products a year will have QC issues here and there. And don't think for a second that Sig didn't. They had a good decade of horrible horrible QC at every point in the manufacturing. It was bad enough that they were loosing gov contracts. That's some massive QC problems. But theirs was a problem with function

Now, to me quality control is function not cosmetic. Doesn't mean I want it looking like it was dragged down a highway ......and even if it is I want the price to reflect that. But little microscopic imperfections I don't care whether it's Sig, Glock, Kimber, WC, Nighthawk or Holland and Holland

 

[Ofc.JL]

Arik, you are correct. S&W is producing so much product right know, they are setting sales and pistol records they have never dreamed of. In Dec of 2015, S&W announced that they had produced their 1 millionth Shield pistol. That is a bunch of guns! All the manufacturers are just running 24/7 to keep up with the demand, due to the current political situation in this country. With large quantities, quality control slips. Not always, but more often then not, it does.
The small lip of folded over plastic on pg222's pistol is from fast assembly during Cam block insertion into the frame. Machine done? Or by hand? Unknown. But S&W looks at it like this; Does it shoot? If it does, then the pistol has no problem other then a small cosmetic blip. They will not replace the frame unless the Cam block has folded over or mangled up large parts of the polymer frame. I will bet pg222"s pistol comes back to him the same, less the small folded over piece of plastic, having been removed w/ an Exacto blade by the S&W tech's. Again, it falls under the "Does it shoot?" heading. They consider small cosmetic blips to be normal and not anything to worry about. I have been through this w/ S&W before, long ago, and it seems they still abide by the "Does it shoot" mantra.

 

[pg222]

I was notified today that S&W will be replacing the pistol. They are going to reimburse me the cost of dros and the dealer transfer fee. This will be a new pistol with a different serial number. I wanted a replacement, but was expecting some sort of repair. Good news for me!!!

 

[moxie]

Thanks for the update and for your patience. All good manufacturers want feedback when their product is deficient so they can make it right. Smith clearly did the right thing here.

 

[armallard]

Glad they took care of it for you.

 

[Ofc.JL]

Wow! That's quite different than my experiences, but good for you, with out a doubt. S&W may indeed be looking at why the pistol was done that way and who and what assembly station did so. That could be the reason they are replacing your pistol. But again, good job. I do like S&W in cases like this.