Issues with my 66-8 2.75"

southpaw187 said:
Sounds like a great day of smiles at the range! Run some boomers through that puppy and let us know if she gobbles 'em up! Sounds like you got yourself a nice one there. Glad to hear it.
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I know you've had a heck of a time with yours Southpaw, and you are part of the reason I was hesitant to throw any 357 downrange today. I'll definitely report back once I have a chance to do so, and hope you get yours back soon in perfect working order!
 
Hopper said:
I know you've had a heck of a time with yours Southpaw, and you are part of the reason I was hesitant to throw any 357 downrange today. I'll definitely report back once I have a chance to do so, and hope you get yours back soon in perfect working order!
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Thanks Hopper! If you can, test a few bullet weights and configurations: 120, 125, 158. FMJ, SJSP, SJHP, etc. if it eats it all i bet you're worry free from here on out.


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This is definitely a problem

Picked up a new 66-8 2.75 last week and I'm having the same issues as the OP.

First trip to the range made it through 60 rounds of .38 special 125gr and 158gr FMJ. No problems.

First six rounds of .357 125gr and I felt like I was getting peppered with metal in the face and hands, nothing too extreme but very noticeable. Switched to 135gr .357 for the next six rounds and experienced the same thing. Next I loaded six rounds of 158gr .357, made it through four rounds before the cylinder locked up and would not advance. After 3-4 min of pushing (beating) the cylinder it finally opened and chunks of jacketing and lead fell out. There was also chunks of lead and jacketing wedged between the top of the forcing cone and frame which is what was binding the cylinder.

Called Smith and its on its way back. I own several pre 2000's S&W revolvers and have never had any issues with them. Extremely dissapointed that this "Combat Magnum" couldn't make it past 16 rounds of .357 magnum before being rendered useless.

This seems to definitely be a production or design issue which hopefully can be corrected because this revolver looks and feels great in the hand.
 
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CDelta said:
Picked up a new 66-8 2.75 last week and I'm having the same issues as the OP.

First trip to the range made it through 60 rounds of .38 special 125gr and 158gr FMJ. No problems.

First six rounds of .357 125gr and I felt like I was getting peppered with metal in the face and hands, nothing too extreme but very noticeable. Switched to 135gr .357 for the next six rounds and experienced the same thing. Next I loaded six rounds of 158gr .357, made it through four rounds before the cylinder locked up and would not advance. After 3-4 min of pushing (beating) the cylinder it finally opened and chunks of jacketing and lead fell out. There was also chunks of lead and jacketing wedged between the top of the forcing cone and frame which is what was binding the cylinder.

Called Smith and its on its way back. I own several pre 2000's S&W revolvers and have never had any issues with them. Extremely dissapointed that this "Combat Magnum" couldn't make it past 14 rounds of .357 magnum before being rendered useless.

This seems to definitely be a production or design issue which hopefully can be corrected because this revolver looks and feels great in the hand.
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Sorry for your troubles my friend. Maybe the silver lining here is that there is now more than one (that we know of) documented cases of the exact same problems with the "combat magnum". So if the right hand talks to the left in Springfield, maybe we will get more than a half assed attempt from them to fix the issues. I will have several brands of ammo, both 38 and 357 on hand, when the gun gets back so I can run it through it's paces. In the meanwhile, I went and bought a vintage 66-1 4" from a great forum member here, and wouldn't you know, it gobbled up everything I fed it and it begged for more. Fingers crossed for us both!
 
Hopefully these are isolated incidents, I just ordered one of these. I pray that I get a good one.
 
Reading about these problems has made me rethink my plans to buy a NEW S&W... Really kind of sad as I was hoping this revolver would launch a renewed interest in this type of handgun.
 
southpaw187 said:
Sorry for your troubles my friend. Maybe the silver lining here is that there is now more than one (that we know of) documented cases of the exact same problems with the "combat magnum". So if the right hand talks to the left in Springfield, maybe we will get more than a half assed attempt from them to fix the issues. I will have several brands of ammo, both 38 and 357 on hand, when the gun gets back so I can run it through it's paces. In the meanwhile, I went and bought a vintage 66-1 4" from a great forum member here, and wouldn't you know, it gobbled up everything I fed it and it begged for more. Fingers crossed for us both!
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I agree. Hopefully these problems can be resolved with one trip back to Springfield. When mine gets back I will run various types of ammo through it as well and will keep this forum updated.

Congrats on the 66-1!
 
CDelta said:
I agree. Hopefully these problems can be resolved with one trip back to Springfield. When mine gets back I will run various types of ammo through it as well and will keep this forum updated.



Congrats on the 66-1!
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Thanks! What a cool gun.


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Telecaster said:
Hopefully these are isolated incidents, I just ordered one of these. I pray that I get a good one.
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I hope this is the case as well. Besides my personal preference against the black cylinder release and internal lock I really like this new Smith. I put some wood on mine and didn't like it, felt the Hogue Bantams worked better with the black parts and feels great in the hand. Looks more like a Combat Magnum now.

Please let us know when you can throw some .357 magnum down range. Good luck!
 

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I have one of these on lay away. I hope there are no problems with it when I actually get to shoot it. If there are it won't be my first S&W revolver to go back. I have a 4" 627 8 shot that had a canted barrel. It is now my favorite gun to shoot.

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Southpaw187, This might be minor to your problem that you are having but I got a Brand New Model 60. Inspected at the shop it was sent to and noticed the barrel off centered to the left, but I have read some barrels are canted because of screwing in and being torqued to spec. But my sights were off to the left too. But with all the revolvers which most of them are SW revolvers, this was the first in many I saw that was canted and the sight off. So I called SW twice the rep wanted me to shoot it to see if it's shooting center, and I just remember reading your post about getting pelted by shrapnel, so I called SW back and the same guy I talked to Friday emailed me a shipping label, so I sent my revolver back yesterday, with a note of what I have found wrong. Now, knowing my luck they'll send it back saying all things are good, then I'll accept that them sale it. Maybe you will have better luck!
 
bigpappa160 said:
Southpaw187, This might be minor to your problem that you are having but I got a Brand New Model 60. Inspected at the shop it was sent to and noticed the barrel off centered to the left, but I have read some barrels are canted because of screwing in and being torqued to spec. But my sights were off to the left too. But with all the revolvers which most of them are SW revolvers, this was the first in many I saw that was canted and the sight off. So I called SW twice the rep wanted me to shoot it to see if it's shooting center, and I just remember reading your post about getting pelted by shrapnel, so I called SW back and the same guy I talked to Friday emailed me a shipping label, so I sent my revolver back yesterday, with a note of what I have found wrong. Now, knowing my luck they'll send it back saying all things are good, then I'll accept that them sale it. Maybe you will have better luck!
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I hope this all works out well for you; please let us know how it goes!!
 
I have the tracking # for sending revolver back via FEDEX. It was delivered to SW today at 1018am, so maybe I'll hear from them by Friday or Monday!
 
I had similar cylinder binding issues with my 66-8 2.75" at first. No problems with jacketed 158 grain bullets, but significant binding issues with 158 gr. cast bullets after 24 rounds. Not a big deal to resolve by cleaning, but annoying. After 600 or so rounds my binding issues seem to have resolved themselves. Last time out 50 rds. of the load that had given me problems before did fine.
 
Same experience as Bob C

First time out with mine a few weeks back I had binding issues with 158 gr semi-jacketed .357 after firing 100 .38Spl FMJ. Cylinder locked up before I was able to finish the third cylinder. Thoroughly cleaned it and haven't had any issues since then regardless of type and weight of ammunition or caliber. Seems like it needed to be loosened up a bit, and a few hundred .38 and .357 did the trick.
 
Thanks for the feedback fellas. Interested to get mine back in hand sometime hopefully soon.


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