New 442 Cylinder/Crane falls out

[Uroboros]

Greetings! I just became a member after lurking around here a bit. I'm new to revolvers so please correct me if I don't use the correct terminology. I picked up a brand new 442 last week and put about 145 rounds of 130gr WWB through it without issue. After the last round I went to release the cylinder for a reload and the cylinder and yoke came out in my hand! Back at the gun shop, I was told that everything appeared to be in perfect working order and that maybe the front side plate screw had not been installed properly. After the gun was reassembled at the shop, I was doing a few reload drills with some snap caps and a speedloader and it happened again. No live rounds had been fired since the initial 145 mentioned above.

The gun is on it's way back to S&W and I hear great things about their CS so I'm not worried that I wont be taken care of. What's puzzling to me is that I've been looking for other people who may have had the same experience but it doesn't seem to be a common occurrence. How rare is it to have this happen to a new J-frame and what would you do or need to have happen to feel that you have a perfectly functioning weapon here? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Uroboros]

Greetings! I just became a member after lurking around here a bit. I'm new to revolvers so please correct me if I don't use the correct terminology. I picked up a brand new 442 last week and put about 145 rounds of 130gr WWB through it without issue. After the last round I went to release the cylinder for a reload and the cylinder and yoke came out in my hand! Back at the gun shop, I was told that everything appeared to be in perfect working order and that maybe the front side plate screw had not been installed properly. After the gun was reassembled at the shop, I was doing a few reload drills with some snap caps and a speedloader and it happened again. No live rounds had been fired since the initial 145 mentioned above.

The gun is on it's way back to S&W and I hear great things about their CS so I'm not worried that I wont be taken care of. What's puzzling to me is that I've been looking for other people who may have had the same experience but it doesn't seem to be a common occurrence. How rare is it to have this happen to a new J-frame and what would you do or need to have happen to feel that you have a perfectly functioning weapon here? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[s&wchad]

Welcome to the forum. Good catch! Shoot it a bunch when you get it back, that's how you prove it's reliable and build confidence in it. I've heard of sideplate screws getting mixed up before, but not from the factory.

 

[Gunhacker]

I hope it's rare, as a brought home a new 432PD last week and have yet to be able to get to the range and really check it out.

In the 35 yrs I've been buying and shooting S&W revolvers, I've only had one problem with the fit of a yoke screw on a gun out of the box. It was on my 686 and a case of the screw being a hair too long which caused the yoke to bind up before opening fully.

It's sounds like the assembler put the wrong side plate screw in (if I remember correctly the one at the bottom rear of the side plate is a short one) or one found it's way into the tray/bin with the correct ones.

It's a whole new ball game how guns are assembled these days than when there were fitters, not assemblers, doing the work.

It should be all good when it comes back, take it to the range and you'll know pretty quick if you need to be concerned.