Model 69 Barrel Rotated in the Frame

[Tony Rumore]

I ended up sending my 4" model 69 back to the factory due to the barrel rotating in the frame. It also shot 3" high at 50 feet with full power 240gr loads and occasionally the trigger would not reset. Since it's my daily carry gun on my ranch place, I went ahead and bought another one while this one was away.

Anyway, it came back from S&W today (30 day turn) with the following noted on the repair order.

Adjust Barrel Alignment
Replace Sights
Repair Frame
Repair Barrel
Replace Rebound Spring
Repair Yoke
Replace Hammer Block
Replace Cylinder

It works fine now and it's dead on. It looks like the same front sight, but the rear blade is WAY shorter.

I'm a bit taken back by the amount of work they did to the gun. It's not like I ran over it with my truck or anything, but I'm not the original owner of this one. Maybe the first owner ran over it.

Tony

 

[joebuck]

Wow. They should have just gave you a new gun with all that work done to it. S&W CS is very good.

 

[ImDrRich]

I just don't understand why they didn't melt yours down and give you another one. Sounds like you got a new gun anyway.

 

[mod34]

Wow. They should have just gave you a new gun with all that work done to it. S&W CS is very good.

Practice makes perfect I guess!

 

[Gunhacker]

Wow... that's quite the laundry list of repairs.

 

[Tony Rumore]

I gotta say, the customer service was top notch. I just figured they would blame me for screwing it up and charge me for it. But nope....all under warranty. I will certainly buy another one....oh, wait, I already did.

 

[Mrnurse]

Its not cost effective to work a new weapon that much...the 700.00 becomes 1300.00 in work and sale. Hope thats just 1 in 10,000. My new Mdl 66 shoots perfect with not 1 issue.

 

[Captain Skip]

Just sent my new to me 686 back to them two weeks ago, same issue with the barrel.

 

[Nick B]

Before you sent it in could you move it by hand pressure ?

 

[Tony Rumore]

Before you sent it in could you move it by hand pressure ?

No. And I'm not sure when the rotation occurred. It came in used condition, off Gunbroker, but I didn't notice anything out of whack at the time. I only fired the thing, maybe 50 rounds before I pulled it up to my eye and noticed the front sight tilted way off to the left. Of course all 50 of those rounds were full power. That's all I shoot....otherwise I would not have bought a 44 Mag.

It reminds me of the two 629's I bought in the early 80's. I was able to wear them out in a couple of months with both cylinders backing up during cocking. I could be wrong, but I don't think many revolver manufacturers really run a bunch of full power rounds through their guns. My Freedom Arms 454 I bought in the 80's, broke three times and had to go back as well.

I've got a new FA 475 Linebaugh, and I seriously doubt it's going to last very long before it takes a dump as well.

Tony

 

[oldman10mm]

Wow. They should have just gave you a new gun with all that work done to it. S&W CS is very good.

S&W CS is very good to Tony Rumore, who has a weaponry company, Tromix Corp.
How you doing, Tony. Convert any more 9mms' to 357Sig lately like you did in 2016.

 

[6string]

No. And I'm not sure when the rotation occurred. It came in used condition, off Gunbroker, but I didn't notice anything out of whack at the time. I only fired the thing, maybe 50 rounds before I pulled it up to my eye and noticed the front sight tilted way off to the left. Of course all 50 of those rounds were full power. That's all I shoot....otherwise I would not have bought a 44 Mag.

It reminds me of the two 629's I bought in the early 80's. I was able to wear them out in a couple of months with both cylinders backing up during cocking. I could be wrong, but I don't think many revolver manufacturers really run a bunch of full power rounds through their guns. My Freedom Arms 454 I bought in the 80's, broke three times and had to go back as well.

I've got a new FA 475 Linebaugh, and I seriously doubt it's going to last very long before it takes a dump as well.

Tony

Tony,

Glad S&W took care of you.
Thanks for sharing your insights into your two Freedom Arms revolvers. Every time one comes up on my radar, something says "Don't!".
How was their CS compared to S&W?

For the price range they fall into, you're getting pretty close to custom revolver-smith territory. Guys like Linebaugh, Bowen, etc, plus probably a few others.
Here's a neat write-up by John Linebaugh for one of his custom works that came back for a tune-up.

gun #39, happy birthday! This gun was built 26 years ago today.

Personally, I suspect near perfect fitting has as much to do with the longevity of these powerhouse revolvers as does massive chunks of steel.

But, if S&W stands behind their product, then you certainly get good value for your money.

Jim

 

[tdan]

This barrel alignment issue has been discussed in the past. Every 4.25" model 69 that I have examined has this misalignment that is easily noticed because the barrel/frame serrations don't match up. Mine was not as far off as the OP's, but I sent it back to have them de-burr the crown. It was sharp enough to cut your skin. This gun has a shroud that is torqued into the frame by the barrel liner. If you look underneath the barrel shroud, you will see a tab/notch arrangement that indexes the shroud to the frame. Smith uses a tool that engages the rifling when they screw things together. I tried to see if a consumer could get this tool, and was told NO, and that each gunsmith makes their own tool. I wasn't buying that line. Every barrel shroud that I have seen is off-center to the left to some degree. I suspect this is caused by the torque effect of tightening the barrel liner in a clockwise direction. I also suspect that Smith's original tooling for that tab/notch index arrangement was and still is, somewhat off. You may also notice that the ball detent does not perfectly center the notch. I'm sure S&W had a lot of complaints about this. The later 2 and 3/4" guns do not have the serrations on the top frame, probably so that any misalignment is not readily apparent. All of this said, I got my gun back from Smith with a proper crown, but I really did not notice any change in alignment of the frame/shroud serrations. No matter, mine shoots just fine and I actually think it is a better design than my 696......the execution could have just been a wee bit better...................tdan

 

[pantannojack]

Seen Before

Looks like the quality I saw on NIB 696's about 1990. LGS had them at $389, I wanted the concept but not the product.

 

[VikingDude]

I wish that they could have specified what they actually did to this revolver instead of just saying repaired this, changed that. I am very curious if this was caused when screwing in the barrel liner or if there was something wrong with the manufacturing of the shroud.

S&W does get many complaints about overclocked barrels that they are looking into getting new clocking gauges to correct the issue.