My novice take on current production S&W revolvers

[Ron M.]

Being the cheap guy that I am, I have never bought a new S&W revolver. But I have purchased a Victory .38 (1942, lettered), a 1946 M&P pre model 10 .38, a K22 and K38 from the early 1950's, a 28-2 and 28-3 (28-3 being my newest S&W) since I got back into shooting/collecting. I go for the history of the piece, and am not so much into shooting these days. How the new guns stack up against their old counterparts, I haven't a clue, but I think there's room in everyone's safe for all of S&W's children. None of mine were (hate to say the cliches, already saw that thread posted) minty, new in the box, flawless, un-fired...etc..Anything as old as I am that still works is good enough for me! I even like my old Ruger single sixes and Security Six (will duck now).

 

[silversnake]

Me too, but skip the cracked frames of the ones made in " the good ol'days".

Yes, that's the kind of improvement you could have today (and we briefly did, with the NightGuard 315).

 

[white cloud]

Being the cheap guy that I am, I have never bought a new S&W revolver. But I have purchased a Victory .38 (1942, lettered), a 1946 M&P pre model 10 .38, a K22 and K38 from the early 1950's, a 28-2 and 28-3 (28-3 being my newest S&W) since I got back into shooting/collecting. I go for the history of the piece, and am not so much into shooting these days. How the new guns stack up against their old counterparts, I haven't a clue, but I think there's room in everyone's safe for all of S&W's children. None of mine were (hate to say the cliches, already saw that thread posted) minty, new in the box, flawless, un-fired...etc..Anything as old as I am that still works is good enough for me! I even like my old Ruger single sixes and Security Six (will duck now).

Those old Single Six and Security Six guns are excellent revolvers.

 

[silversnake]

Those old Single Six and Security Six guns are excellent revolvers.

The old Security Six was a great gun, although I like the K frame a bit more. At least Ruger still makes the Redhawk, which is kind of like a big Security Six in my opinion.

 

[oysterer]

Bangor Punta

"Bangor Punta"!

I own a dozen Bangor Puntas and counting. Compared to current production revolvers these are fine hand fitted revolvers. Tolerances are good and the fitting is apparent e.g. side plate fit, smoothness of the action, cylinder lockup etc. Some of the blue jobs are stunning. Strange enough the blue jobs are better on the 6.5'' presentation case guns than they are on the 6'' guns that come in the blue cartons. The quality of the blue also goes up again significantly after 1994 or so. The older pinned guns (357, 44, 45) all have large throats and will need a matched cast bullet but once that has been figured out they are really amazingly accurate. I like Bangor Punta guns, extremely affordable compared to pre 1964, very fine shooters, great candidates for handloaders and never a problem with any of mine...

 

[DonD]

I've shot some of the newer S&W revolvers and have no beef w/their quality. I just cannot get past that ugly lock as it takes away from the pride of ownership I normally get w/a new gun.

Disable the lock and fill it with a plug from one of the forum members, "problem" solved. Don

 

[comiskeybum]

Here we go again, the old "they don't make them like they used to" line.

I'm really glad they don't. The new guns are for the most part held to far tighter clearances and made with stronger metal. MIM, geeze, when will this butthurt go away? MIM is often aerospace material, it isn't some fragile, cheesy junk.

Canted barrels?? Wildly over hyped I think. Regular internet, one turkey gets out of the factory and you'd think 90% are flawed.

Do new guns have the highly polished blueing? No, labor costs are too high for that.

Don't like new, don't buy it but to say old is great and new is junk is total BS.

Ignore new and you also give up such awesome calibers as the 500 and 460 Mags. I've had several 500 Mags, all tight, well fitted guns with superb triggers and accuracy that 99.9% of shooters cannot exploit along with being the most powerful factory handgun in history. I have two now, both keepers.

This line is also applied to cars. Oh, my 1960 Chevy has tough sheet metal. Wow and you'll die in a crash with a new car. LOVE those bias ply tires, horrid drum brakes, lousy suspensions, obscene mileage and pollution. Yep, better than new. Sigh. Don

Big time thumbs up with me. I was between doctor's appointments today so I went into my local shop and was looking at the SW revolvers and talking them over with the guy. We talked about the canted barrel reports, locks, etc and came to the same conclusions. The reason you hear about more defects today is because we have the internet to report them on. The examples I saw in shop today were pristine and the only thing i found odd is how smith is intentionally making the triggers and hammers look worn with shadows or "burned" looks to them. He said that was intentional since all of his examples were this way.

 

[jban357]

I remember when in the 70' and 80's Smith didn't have such a good reputation. Everyone picks up an old Smith and says how great the triggers are or workmanship. What they forget to think of, is those triggers are worn in. Also look at the people who were buying the guns back then. Think about them. They were tight with their money. They just didn't run out and buy the first gun they saw. They would wait for the right one to come along. They bought fewer guns over a longer period of time. They would really check each gun over, and weren't afraid to put it back and wait for the next one if they saw something they didn't like. You don't see that now days.

 

[Chipperxd]

Big time thumbs up with me. I was between doctor's appointments today so I went into my local shop and was looking at the SW revolvers and talking them over with the guy. We talked about the canted barrel reports, locks, etc and came to the same conclusions. The reason you hear about more defects today is because we have the internet to report them on. The examples I saw in shop today were pristine and the only thing i found odd is how smith is intentionally making the triggers and hammers look worn with shadows or "burned" looks to them. He said that was intentional since all of his examples were this way.

This is what gets me too. A few examples of bad QC and it's "OH EM GEE! SWs are garbage now! Back in my day....!"

 

[ladder13]

This is what gets me too. A few examples of bad QC and it's "OH EM GEE! SWs are garbage now! Back in my day....!"

What I see is people admit to there being some issues with newer production guns, but others never admitting that there was ever any QC issues with older guns in spite of the examples.
Where I come from we call that dishonest.

 

[justintyme]

Nothing really wrong with current production, I'm fine with MIM, don't like the lock much, have at least 3 with it, and I would never part with the 610-3 for sure. But.....I Usually like prelock better, as another said they give me more of that warm fuzzy feeling, and prelock guns mosty only appreciate in Value, current production stuff really doesn't.

 

[Buzzsaw]

I will send my 66-8 in for action job and hard chrome finish, $300 add on, I'll never get back, then some custom grips, I can't leave any gun alone

 

[Kframerbluvr]

I have S&W revolvers from 1949 to 2013 and they are all special to me. My 2013 442-2 is exactly what I need for CC when a belt gun cannot be accommodated. It gets shot about once a month and carried frequently as a pocket primary or backup. I would prefer no lock but mine has had no issues with six hundred plus rounds downrange and a bit of orange fishing lure paint on the front sight to help my old eyes out.

 

[CH4]

Me too, but skip the cracked frames of the ones made in " the good ol'days".

I agree, but I am sure the gnomes in the basement at Smith still have more than enough new guns to keep them very busy. I had to send my 4" 500 back to the mothership when the hammer broke into 3 pieces after dry firing it a few times. For me it's not about current quality, but the aesthetics of the current guns with two-piece barrels turn me off. However, if Smith produces a gun I like and there's no "old" alternative, out comes my wallet.

 

[Arik]

Seen and owned a few old revolvers that needed work. Model 12 was sent to a gunsmith as it had issues rotating the cylinder.

Last month I looked at a model 27-2 that had a pinned and canted barrel

My model 13-2 broke the firing pin. I thought these were supposed to be far superior?

You'll never find a complaint from the 80s or later.....there was nowhere to complain on. No worldwide soapbox!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[BE Mike]

Yes, I have seen a lot of problems with older Punta Gorda S&W revolvers. QC was pretty much non-existant. Lately though, it seems like a lot of companies have an "acceptable" level of flaws sent out the door, including S&W. I really am a big S&W fan, but I'm not blindly loyal, as are some. There are more and more cost cutting measures, like semi-auto barrel finishes, that are cosmetic only. As a purely business decision, it probably is more profitable to not deal with small flaws, as many consumers won't go through the hassle of sending a firearm back for corrections. Some of those flawed guns end up being passed on to unsuspecting used gun buyers. There are also a large percentage of handguns that are purchased, but never fired, and I'm sure that S&W is very aware of that. I've handled quite a few new S&W handguns at places like the NRA Annual Meetings and I have not been favorably impressed with the new offerings.

 

[ChiefTJS]

I have old and new, lock and no lock , MIM and no MIM and they're all just fine. Why is it everyone wants to find something to complain about? You can bet that in 1952 folks were whining that they weren't getting "pre war" quality anymore and in 1962 they were crying because they weren't 1952 quality and 1972 wasn't 1962 and it goes on forever.

 

[dwever]

I'm going to break a little decorum and just say that I'm so sick of these broken record threads I could puke.

Since 2007 I have purchased: 617, PC 627 2.625", 2nd PC 627 2.625", PC 627 5", PC 629 6.5", 586 L-Comp, PC 686+ 2.5", PC TRR8, PC M&P R8.

Not a single issue with any one of them. I guess I should go buy a lottery ticket according to this forum.

Pics - M&P, 627, 586, 686+, TRR8

 

[Sol-Invictus]

I can only report what I have personally experienced. Not sure how many smiths I have. Have only bought 2 new. My 66-8 which had to go back for the crown and the forcing cone, also had some scratches. A 640-1 that just locked up after 3 rounds. As a peruse LGSs and box stores searching for a couple of new guns in the last few years I have personally observed, many, many, many more canted barrels than straight, at times extremely canted. Many other fit and finish issues, primarily on the performance center guns, almost every single one. I have yet to find a PC gun that doesn't have 1, usually 2 cylinders that don't carry up. That is with dummy shells to set the star. I am sure if one searches enough they can find acceptable samples. Maybe I just exist in a random statistical anomaly. But that is my honest experience.

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[rduke]

... it still makes me chuckle...

MIM, geeze, when will this butthurt go away?

Go back and see post #4