I purchased a new 351c on the 20th of last month only to discover that it had some serious manufacturing flaws as well as cosmetic issues. Never even attempted to fire the revolver, just sent it back. I'm my own worst enemy, as I had some real problems 3 years ago with a new 442 I purchased. Those issues were never resolved, i just gave up. I inspected the 351c as well I thought I needed, but as you know, you shouldn't dry fire rimfire without snaps or old casings. When I got it home and started opening and closing it more, it was binding a bit. I looked at the front of the cylinder and noticed it was being torn up by the forcing cone. The crane was also out of alignment. The forcing cone had a very sharp to the touch ring around it that had not been deburred. Then I looked at the front of the ejector rod and noticed that the center had not been drilled on center. It was completely off, almost to the point of drilling through the wall. I've purchased my last Smith. This QC is out of control. They must have filled their plant with cheap labor.
Sad manufacturing
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Hope you feel better now. 
SGT ROCK 11B
Member
I am unhappy with the J frame revolvers too. (mostly the ones made in the last 20 years) But I do have a 686 Plus that I am very pleased with.
Otherwise I would suggest for anyone wanting a snubnose revolver a Kimber K6XS for pocket carry or a Kimber K6S for OWB carry. Or a used Colt Detective Special.
Countrycuz
Member
Two J frames and a Shield in the last 5 years. No problems.
I'd be pretty disappointed with the face of that brand new cylinder scratching itself to Hades. And who knows what to think about that ejector rod knob so off center. It probably functions fine but Smith ought to be embarrassed, nonetheless.
I don't think you'll get much argument about the erratic quality control from the mothership and glad you shared your experience. If enough customers complain to them they will (hopefully) get the message and start investing more attention to their firearms before they go out the door.
Bob is a 20+ year member here and SWCA member to boot. I'd say he's probably seen it all in his time, both good products and bad. You may want to ease up a little as we're all used to seeing members who join just to vent about a problem, and then are never seen again. I hope you stick around and give us an update on your 351c, assuming you're going to contact them about sending it back for repair. You deserve better than what you were sold.
Welcome to the Forum!
Todd
Hopefully, this is just a phase S&W is going through. I recently bought a M&P 22 magnum that I sent back to S&W three times for feed/eject failures. Yesterday they sent me a PM saying they were replacing the firearm with a new one. With other returns, they have been very responsive and fixed the issue the first time with a rapid turn around time but sometimes, as with any manufacturer, you need to hold their feet to the fire.
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My 43c went back 3 times. It's still not "right", but I decided it's good enough for what I need it to do. I won't be staking my life on it, unless the field mice mount an organized counter-attack.
I've mostly bought used revolvers, and had great luck. I finally splurged on a new on that I wanted, and got a lemon.
Lesson learned.
I've mostly bought used revolvers, and had great luck. I finally splurged on a new on that I wanted, and got a lemon.
Lesson learned.
Sorry to hear about your QC issues with S&W! We're seeing quite a bit of that here on the Forum lately, and it's very disappointing. The new S&W revolvers haven't been ranked in the Top 5 sellers (G&A monthly sales records) for a couple of years now...with Colt and Ruger selling the most. With all of the new Colt, Ruger, Kimber, and Taurus offerings, and I'm sure more to follow, S&W may be putting themselves out of the revolver market. They had better start thinking outside of the box, as well as fix their manufacturing, QC, and Customer Service problems.
Jacksawyer
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Purchased 2 new revolvers this year, a 617 and 648. Both had qc issues. Both had rear sight issues. Someone at the factory is cranking the elevation screws down as they came frozen. Still waiting on parts. The 617 had the bolt lock pin loose and almost fell out. I fixed that myself. Cylinder ejector rod was loose, the forcing cone was very sharp also.
Almost $1g revolvers shouldn’t have these problems out of the box.
Jack
Almost $1g revolvers shouldn’t have these problems out of the box.
Jack
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Autonomous
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The only tool we have to influence the business majors running S&W is to make them pay the shipping to fix every defect they sell.
Huge PITA for us but our choice is to either roll over (which their bean counters make bank on) or make them ship and repair every legitimate defect. Even if it takes five round trips, suck it up and make them honor the warranty.
Charter Arms
This sort of thing is consistent with the Charter Arms business model.
The customer is the QC division. Isn't this what it takes to be profitable these days? Hasn't Wal-Mart proved it? Sell products that look OK upon cursory inspection at the cheapest price. A computer algorithm handles the customer service.
The people on our wonderful forum here, whom I so enjoy and appreciate, have not adjusted their price expectations for inflation. Also, here on our forum we are infusing the company name with a reverence that belongs to the historical company, which was earned by past business practices that are simply no longer viable today.
I invite correction and contradiction with my thanks!
BrianD
This sort of thing is consistent with the Charter Arms business model.
The customer is the QC division. Isn't this what it takes to be profitable these days? Hasn't Wal-Mart proved it? Sell products that look OK upon cursory inspection at the cheapest price. A computer algorithm handles the customer service.
The people on our wonderful forum here, whom I so enjoy and appreciate, have not adjusted their price expectations for inflation. Also, here on our forum we are infusing the company name with a reverence that belongs to the historical company, which was earned by past business practices that are simply no longer viable today.
I invite correction and contradiction with my thanks!
BrianD
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Your good luck sir
I’ve had 2 j frames and a shield in the last 5 years as well, and all 3 had issues. I was lucky in that only the j frames had to go back.
I had been wanting to pick up the new 32 revolver but am simply tired of dealing with problems.
MetalMan
Member
Man, I hate reading about these QC issues…
My “youngest” S&W is a mid-2021 640-1 Pro which has been mechanically flawless…so, I guess I should consider myself fortunate.
My other S&W’s - all J’s and K’s - date from 1968 to 1994 and, evidently, are from another “era” as pertains to their quality…
Still looking for a birth year (1955) gun…
My “youngest” S&W is a mid-2021 640-1 Pro which has been mechanically flawless…so, I guess I should consider myself fortunate.
My other S&W’s - all J’s and K’s - date from 1968 to 1994 and, evidently, are from another “era” as pertains to their quality…
Still looking for a birth year (1955) gun…
SGT ROCK 11B
Member
How many rounds downrange?
SGT ROCK 11B
Member
Tom that is so crazy when they have to send a new firearm instead of fixing 'the lemon'.
I missed the days when S&W had local Authorized Warranty Service Stations. I had two just minutes from my house and Colt had a similar program and theirs's were even closer.
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