IMO S&W takes a lot of unwarranted "flak" for cost cutting. I have two pre lock and pre MIM S&W's and 2 recent S&W's and can't complain about any issues with either the action or the accuracy.
In fact, after a bit of action tuning my 2009 production 610-3 has a trigger that is the best of all my revolvers. Start to finish it feels like it's running on precision ball bearings without any glitches whatsoever. BTW, I've now believe I have identified why the 610 is so smooth, it's the trigger stop rod inside the rebound spring. With my L and K frames this part wasn't standard from the factory and not having that stop rod allows the spring to "buckle" during compression and rub on the bore of the rebound slide, which BTW have been polished to a high shine on all of my revolvers. Even on a polished surface, the rubbing can be felt. So, next time I place an order at Brownell's I'll get stop rods for all of my guns that don't have them.
I and also say that my model 620 is the most accurate handgun of any type that I've ever shot, it's a freaking laser and I attribute that to the 2 piece barrel.
As for the high price of the model 18, in my area they can be had for about 800 dollars. While that may seem high, name me one other Consumer product in this price range that will still be useable in 100 years. Fact is it's only expensive the day you pick it up, after 20 or 30 years of use it will probably be the MOST economical purchase you've ever made in your life.
As for it's accuracy, most of us are incapable of actually shooting to the potential of any of Smith's 22 caliber revolvers using the iron sights, for that you need the assistance of Optics. With Optics and ammunition that's well matched to the barrel, I would expect groups ranging from 1 to 2.5 inches at 25 yards and it will probably vary with the individual specifics of the gun.
Finally there is the matter of the trigger. In this area you are limited somewhat by the fact that it's a rimfire. This means that you can't lighten the trigger pull and tune it to the point where it will only reliably ignite with sensitive Federal primers like you can a centerfire. IMO the minimum trigger pull that can be achieved with the 22 calibers while maintaining reliable ignition is in the range of 8 lbs. in double action. Not super light but certainly useable. It's also been my experience that the newer MIM guns require a lot less work for an action job because those infernal MIM parts are so fantastically consistent. It takes a lot less fitting to slick up an MIM gun because there is very little fitting required. All it takes is a light touch of a stone on the DA sear on the trigger, drop in a less powerful rebound spring, add a few small drop of oil in the right spots and your done. If you want the DA pull to feel like it's a ball bearing lockwork, drop in a trigger stop rod at the same time you put in the new rebound spring. However, make sure you put it in correctly, get it backwards and the lockwork will tie up completely. Found that out when I tuned up my 610, installing that rod backwards made the trigger lock up completely when the gun was held in certain orientations.
