sixshooter_45
Member
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2013
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 20
Hey all, I just purchased my first S&W, a 629 Classic with a 5" barrel.
I had to send it back to S&W to fix a loose front sight; it wobbled side-to-side pretty bad IMHO.
So I center punched it on the sides and it did tighten up, I bought another one from Brownells and while it was .002 wider, .125, it was still loose so I center punched it too. I had it for about a month and still hadn't shot it yet and decided to finally send it back to S&W to give them a shot at fixing it.
Here's the letter I sent:
TO: Smith and Wesson
From: xxxxxxx
Reference: Ticket Number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm a first time S&W firearm purchaser and my experience was not what I had expected from S&W.
I purchased this pistol, the 629 Classic 5" barrel in 44 magnum caliber and the front sight was found to be very loose after I went to remove it after the purchase.
I measured the front width of the milled slot that the front sight fits into, it measured .128, and the stock sight base width measured .123, that's a .005 total difference or .0025 on the side, which is why it wobbled so badly.
I purchased another one from Brownells, which I paid an additional $36.00 and it measured .125, which left .0015 on the side, and the sight of course still wobbled when moved with your fingers.
I had to center punch both front sights at the base to flare the width out to get a tight fit and it does fit tight now but I do not want to keep a pistol that cannot have the removable front sight interchanged with other front sights that are made for it because they would just wobble also and this is unacceptable to me for an expensive pistol from a leading manufacturer that usually makes firearms of such high quality.
I do NOT believe that this is the normal fit due to the fact that I've visited several other shops after the initial loose sight was identified and tested 4 other S&W pistols of the exact same model and all of them had a tight front sight and they were actually hard to remove and hard to reinstall but doable.
This pistol hasn't been shot by me yet and I wish for S&W to take the proper steps to return to me a pistol with a properly milled slot so that I may use other sights such as your gold dot without having it wobble when handled with your fingers due to the fact that all of the others I found had very tight sights in them and it is my belief that this is a defect and for the money I spent I would appreciate that it is either fixed correctly and please shoot it if the barrel is replaced to make sure it is accurate….. POA=POI.
I need your help in resolving this matter and am requesting and would appreciate some feedback as to what you plan on doing to correct this problem prior to shipping it back to me.
I can be contacted at xxx-xxx-xxxx, please leave a message if I can't be reached, thank you.
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Well long story short I received it back and they didn't have to replace the barrel, I believe the put in a stronger spring for the sight plunger and gave me a new sight so I'm a happy camper now.
I was a little worried about sending it back due to some of the horror stories of folks getting the firearms back only to be in worse condition but after several conversations they convinced me to give them a chance to make it right and they did.
And no I didn't want to center punch my sight but I was hesitant in sending a new revolver back to the manufacturer but they did a good job.
It now has a .250 high 14K gold bead and am awaiting grips.
I'm trying to decide between either the S&W Fancy walnut N Frame Rd. to Sq. conversion, Houge or maybe Herrets wood grips .
Any input on the grips mentioned would be appreciated and sorry for the long post.
It'll be awhile before I get a chance to shoot it, pictures will be posted after my grips are purchased and received.
I had to send it back to S&W to fix a loose front sight; it wobbled side-to-side pretty bad IMHO.
So I center punched it on the sides and it did tighten up, I bought another one from Brownells and while it was .002 wider, .125, it was still loose so I center punched it too. I had it for about a month and still hadn't shot it yet and decided to finally send it back to S&W to give them a shot at fixing it.
Here's the letter I sent:
TO: Smith and Wesson
From: xxxxxxx
Reference: Ticket Number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm a first time S&W firearm purchaser and my experience was not what I had expected from S&W.
I purchased this pistol, the 629 Classic 5" barrel in 44 magnum caliber and the front sight was found to be very loose after I went to remove it after the purchase.
I measured the front width of the milled slot that the front sight fits into, it measured .128, and the stock sight base width measured .123, that's a .005 total difference or .0025 on the side, which is why it wobbled so badly.
I purchased another one from Brownells, which I paid an additional $36.00 and it measured .125, which left .0015 on the side, and the sight of course still wobbled when moved with your fingers.
I had to center punch both front sights at the base to flare the width out to get a tight fit and it does fit tight now but I do not want to keep a pistol that cannot have the removable front sight interchanged with other front sights that are made for it because they would just wobble also and this is unacceptable to me for an expensive pistol from a leading manufacturer that usually makes firearms of such high quality.
I do NOT believe that this is the normal fit due to the fact that I've visited several other shops after the initial loose sight was identified and tested 4 other S&W pistols of the exact same model and all of them had a tight front sight and they were actually hard to remove and hard to reinstall but doable.
This pistol hasn't been shot by me yet and I wish for S&W to take the proper steps to return to me a pistol with a properly milled slot so that I may use other sights such as your gold dot without having it wobble when handled with your fingers due to the fact that all of the others I found had very tight sights in them and it is my belief that this is a defect and for the money I spent I would appreciate that it is either fixed correctly and please shoot it if the barrel is replaced to make sure it is accurate….. POA=POI.
I need your help in resolving this matter and am requesting and would appreciate some feedback as to what you plan on doing to correct this problem prior to shipping it back to me.
I can be contacted at xxx-xxx-xxxx, please leave a message if I can't be reached, thank you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well long story short I received it back and they didn't have to replace the barrel, I believe the put in a stronger spring for the sight plunger and gave me a new sight so I'm a happy camper now.
I was a little worried about sending it back due to some of the horror stories of folks getting the firearms back only to be in worse condition but after several conversations they convinced me to give them a chance to make it right and they did.
And no I didn't want to center punch my sight but I was hesitant in sending a new revolver back to the manufacturer but they did a good job.
It now has a .250 high 14K gold bead and am awaiting grips.
I'm trying to decide between either the S&W Fancy walnut N Frame Rd. to Sq. conversion, Houge or maybe Herrets wood grips .
Any input on the grips mentioned would be appreciated and sorry for the long post.
It'll be awhile before I get a chance to shoot it, pictures will be posted after my grips are purchased and received.
