Picked Up The New 66

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Dpris

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I have never seen a Smith lock up this tight. Ever.
Hammer cocked, zero cylinder movement anywhere, neither fore & aft nor rotational.
Like the old V-Spring Colts used to do when the trigger was pulled fully to the rear.

Just FYI.
Denis
 
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I am no gunsmith, but I always was under the impression that the cylinder should have some play when locked up since the gun is not line bored, and frames, barrels and cylinders are mass produced with some degree of imperfection. The play of the cylinder would allow for this.

A gun like a Freedom Arms locks up like a bank vault, no play, and this is possible because the line boring ensures barrel and cylinder are in perfect alignment at lockup.

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Agreed with the OP... the new design with the ball detent not only cosmetically looks better than on my 4.25" 66 (you wouldn't know it's there until you swing the cylinder out), but yeah, it locks up TIGHT, that cylinder isn't going anywhere once it's in place.

Just picked mine up last evening, and I'm absolutely LOVING it. Fit, finish, and attention to detail makes this the nicest Smith I've picked up in the last few years. Barrel alignment is in perfect harmony with the top strap. Not a single mark on it to be found. I'm really impressed, can't wait to get this to the range for a workout!

20170502_075548_zpssarwqwgo.jpg
 
I think that with lesser guns, the forcing cone is responsible for compensating for less than perfection in the barrel to chamber alignment.
Unfortunately, my new 66 snub has only the merest hint of a forcing cone. The new revolver shoots my hand loads well, but I was experiencing some kind of blowback when I fired my factory loaded Speer 135 gr GDSB MGN rounds that I was planning on using for EDC. I don't know if it was brass, lead or powder, but something was hitting my left cheek consistently with these cartridges. The gun is nice and tight, and the BC gap is what I consider an ideal .004 inch. BB non plus pee FBI load worked well. I have to shoot these clandestinely, since the range doesn't allow exposed lead bullets. The gas check does a good job of reducing smoke. When I shot the BB 150 gr hard cast WC's another time, the smoke gave me away and I got a warning. The lead police caught me on their TV system!
I plan to return to the range with some more loads on Thursday. With my Ahrends finger grove boot grips, the revolver feels just right for a "large" carry gun. My "small" EDC is a M640Pro, with the J frame version of the Ahrends boot grips.

Best,
Rick
 
Last edited:
Inspector-Callahan said:
I am no gunsmith, but I always was under the impression that the cylinder should have some play when locked up since the gun is not line bored, and frames, barrels and cylinders are mass produced with some degree of imperfection. The play of the cylinder would allow for this.

A gun like a Freedom Arms locks up like a bank vault, no play, and this is possible because the line boring ensures barrel and cylinder are in perfect alignment at lockup.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

With CNC manufacturing tolerances are much closer than even when guns were hand finished. Both my newer N frames lock up very tight. Though they are not Colt Python tight.
 
There's tight & there's tight.

I've never seen any Smith lock up with absolutely NO movement whatever.

This one's just a loaner, it'll be used in a shootout comp between an older 66 & the new one.
Denis
 
riverrat38 said:
I think that with lesser guns, the forcing cone is responsible for compensating for less than perfection in the barrel to chamber alignment.
Unfortunately, my new 66 snub has only the merest hint of a forcing cone. The new revolver shoots my hand loads well, but I was experiencing some kind of blowback when I fired my factory loaded Speer 135 gr GDSB MGN rounds that I was planning on using for EDC. I don't know if it was brass, lead or powder, but something was hitting my left cheek consistently with these cartridges. The gun is nice and tight, and the BC gap is what I consider an ideal .004 inch. BB non plus pee FBI load worked well. I have to shoot these clandestinely, since the range doesn't allow exposed lead bullets. The gas check does a good job of reducing smoke. When I shot the BB 150 gr hard cast WC's another time, the smoke gave me away and I got a warning. The lead police caught me on their TV system!
I plan to return to the range with some more loads on Thursday. With my Ahrends finger grove boot grips, the revolver feels just right for a "large" carry gun. My "small" EDC is a M640Pro, with the J frame version of the Ahrends boot grips.

Best,
Rick
Click to expand...

This is the 2nd recent post re the new snub 66 indicating blowback directly to the rear, striking the face of the shooter. This should not happen with any load. I would send it back to S&W for correction. Also interesting is the lack of a forcing cone reported by one poster. Also back to S&W.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
Have not fired it yet, but in looking things over carefully I think I see what's going on.

It APPEARS that what S&W's done is change things around to address the older guns' tendency to crack barrels at the forcing cone.

Moved the front end lockup back to allow a much tighter lockup, eliminated the relief cut at the bottom of the older cones, and largely eliminated the cone itself.

Goal appears to be a thicker/stronger cone wall all the way around.
The rifling in this sample extends all the way to the rear end of the barrel, and that necessitates the very tight cylinder lockup to make sure a bullet enters the barrel as close to fully centered already as possible.

In theory, maybe a workable idea, but I can easily understand some shaving & blowback resulting.
Forcing cones are there for a reason, and even the tightly-locked Pythons had one.

It'll be interesting to see what this sample does when I can get it to the range.
Not trying to talk anybody out of one, just noting what I found after seeing the issue mentioned here.
Denis
 
I can't, but it's sorta an improved version of the old Triple-Lock idea, moving the front rear-facing plunger from the ejector shroud & its engagement with the end of the ejector rod, back to a position in the frame where it faces forward & engages with a corresponding cutout in the crane.

Quite different from the simple ball-detent you've seen at the top of the crane in the past, and much stronger.
Denis
 
jban357 said:
Can you guys post pictures of the locking system?

thanks
Click to expand...

See post #7 in this thread:

Issue with New 66-8 2.75"...Spitting Lead

They eliminated the need to mill a flat on the bottom of the barrel by cutting away some of the gas ring on the cylinder.
The barrel is much thicker then my M640 barrel, which is also rated for full magnum. Tight lockup only works to reduce the dependency on the forcing cone if the barrel to chamber alignment is near perfect, which I don't believe mine is. I don't have a range rod, so I used a length of 5/16 inch steel rod to try and "feel" the alignment at different orientations in the barrel, and found a slight mis-alignment from "top" to "bottom" of the chamber. I have no way of knowing if this small amount is within tolerance. I don't think they needed to resort to slighting the forcing cone, given the impressive thickness of the barrel. Another poster said that he had a revolver smith "redo" the barrel throat to eliminate shaving lead with some ammo. Sounds like he was referring to recutting the forcing cone.

Best,
Rick
 
A truly useful forcing cone has no signs of any rifling whatever in it.
If any rifling in it at all, it's a VERY shallow & short cone.
Denis
 
I was the user who's throat was out of spec on my 66 2.75"". This was checked by gunsmith Frank Glenn with a go/no go gauge. S&w did not ream the throat on my gun correctly at the factory. Mr. Glenn used a throat reamer to put the throat into spec, took all of 2 minutes. Now there is no more lead blowback or copper shaving deposits on my top strap. There should not be rifling all the way to the rear, there is supposed to be a proper throat.


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