New 19 K-Comp w/ Loose Strain Screw?

[afo3313]

Just got my new K-Comp straight from the factory, untouched and never even seen the gun store floor. I haven’t fired it yet and have been working it with snapcaps the last couple days.

Today the trigger felt a little lighter and i noticed the hammer wasn’t fully dropping. Checked the firing pin and no protrusion. And thanks to this forum, I checked the strain screw and it was almost 4 turns back from fully tight! I tightened it up and all is well (except the triggers a little heavier now).

Has anyone else experienced this from the performance center? And is it common for the strain screw to loosen from a snapcap break in for a couple days? Any insight is appreciated!

 

[twodog max]

I have had several revolvers, mostly L frames, with strain screws that seem to back out and need tightened. A touch of blue Loctite solves it.

 

[stansdds]

Welcome to the S&W Forums. First thing to check is the strain screw. Please let us know what you find.

 

[Alk8944]

For some reason, for quite a while now, S&W has seemed to have an aversion to tightening screws when they are assembled. All screws on a new S&W should be checked.

It may be that OP's revolver had some issue when test fired and went back on the floor for some range repair, possibly replace the mainspring, and the fitter simply did not properly tighten the strain screw. It obviously could not have passed test firing in that condition. The final inspector should have noticed this!

 

[afo3313]

Thanks everybody. It was great out of the box but may have just backed out a little while dryfiring. I’ll definitely give it a dot of loctite

 

[chief38]

My experience in seeing and handling Performance Center Revolvers has been they are actually more problematic than their standard production line these days. I can only think that is because they are handled, disassembled and worked on by employees who are poorly trained and less than qualified to customize revolvers and are probably under a time restraint as to how long they are to spend on any one gun.

This should just NOT be! You would think just the opposite and that any small defects or manufacturing issues would be corrected while at the PC. Not so from what I have seen and sometimes they make them even worse! Yes, there have been a few PC guns that have gotten through the plant in good condition and as they should be but unfortunately that is the minority these days. Very sad to have to say, but it is what it is!

 

[kaaskop49]

My experience in seeing and handling Performance Center Revolvers has been they are actually more problematic than their standard production line these days. I can only think that is because they are handled, disassembled and worked on by employees who are poorly trained and less than qualified to customize revolvers and are probably under a time restraint as to how long they are to spend on any one gun.

This should just NOT be! You would think that any small defects or manufacturing issues would be corrected while at the PC. Not so from what I have seen and sometimes they make them even worse! Yes, there have been a few PC guns that have gotten through the plant in good condition but unfortunately that is the minority these days.

This is a GREAT post. No rhyme or reason why my 637PC DAO Wyatt Deep Covers are lovely, finely tuned carry pieces while my 442PC Chattanoogas are relative dogs. By all means, check the screws for looseness, one failure of my 442PCs.

Little attention seems to be paid to live firing. "Dry firing the snot at the TV" may be fun, but firing 100 factory rounds at the range is more fun and will tell you more about the gun. It may also reveal problems that a shop inspection may not. This especially goes for carry pieces which MUST work on the street.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[dr751]

Same issue with the PC gun I just bought, 19 Carry Comp. The quality is horrible. Out of the box there is a nick in the rosewood grip, there is a burr in the end of the barrel shroud that was under the finish, the tines for the nut that holds the barrel in the sleeve are marred up, and the stamped serial # is raised and rough. Not what you would expect from a Performance gun costing $1300. *** S&W have you just thrown in the towel on product quality. I heard reports of poor quality on S&W guns.
But owning several S&W guns and revolvers I never had a problem.
This is disappointing and somebody should be fired.

 

[bobsguns]

Thankfully my 19C has been/is perfect.

I don't understand the huge drop in Smith's QC over the last decade or so. An upgrade in the QC system would surely be cheaper than all the return repairs & postage?