Unfavorable opinion of Smith and Wessons

[Grayfox]

There are Glock fans and Glock snobs. The snobs are the ones who believe that the fantastic plastic is the greatest gun on earth and go to great efforts to put down any other brand.
While every brand has its fans and detractors, for some reason Glock snobs seem to be the most rabid of the bunch.
The instructor sounds like a snob to me.

 

[cshoff]

Originally posted by RufusG:

Originally posted by cshoff:
Claiming this instructor was an "idiot" as was done earlier in the thread, or a "dumbass" as was done more recently, is essentially doing the same thing that this instructor did in regards to S&W handguns. One biased, wrong comment does not necessarily make the guy wrong on everything else,

Does not necessarily make him wrong on everything else but sure makes him suspect. If he's charging money to be considered an expert, he has an obligation to know what he's talking about. Obviously he does not. He's not being paid to provide somewhat correct information, or 78% good dope. If you are going to insult someone's gun to their face it would be nice if you had some actual facts to back it up. His pontificating calls into question his preparation for the rest of the presentation.

With that, I would pretty much agree. The heck of it is, this instructor may have done a great job and provided great information up until the point where he let his own opinion enter the picture. It was certainly a mistake on his part, at the very least.

 

[RufusG]

this instructor may have done a great job and provided great information up until the point where he let his own opinion enter the picture.

You are correct and as you said only the OP has an idea about that.

 

[martialcomp]

My 2 cents is that Glock's won't handle casing failures.

More times than not, the frame cracks when there is a casing failure with a round of ammo.

Lucky for Glock, casing failures are few and far between.

Glocks are ugly but they do the job. Thousands of police officers use them so they can't be too bad.

I tend to be averse to polymer framed firearms but if I saw a compact Glock or S&W for a good price, I might pick one up anyway.

As far as the instructor's opinion, I would think his opinion would be different of he had the opportunity to shoot a PC 5906, a Shorty 9, Recon 9, Shorty 40, etc.

 

[hfl73]

When I posted this, I knew there would be many responses in favor of Smith and Wesson Semi's. I have learned that many of us are loyal to our handguns whatever they are. As with all manufactured products there are bound to be some that leave the factory and don't operate properly.
Being new to handguns I was concerned that I bought something that had a reputation for poor quality. Many of you have assured me that is not true as I suspected before this instructor gave his opinion. I took the class to learn how to become a better shooter and to better understand the limitations of using a handgun within the confines of the law. For the most part the class met those objectives. Although I feel the delivery of the instruction would have been better if I didn't have to listen to a critical review of my handgun compared to Glocks as well as a 10 minute political commentary, at the beginning of class(I believe we have forums and talk radio for that). I was also disappointed that we didn't get some type of class evaluation form to fill out so the instructor could use the feed back to improve future classes. It would have given me a chance to let him know he should be aware that his gun bias and politics aren't shared by all. I don't plan on taking anymore classes from him in the future.

 

[Jim H]

Originally posted by hfl73:
...I don't plan on taking anymore classes from him in the future.

Sometimes when you ignore the advertising you find that the program itself is pretty good.

Best of luck as you gain experience.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Glock is a very successful gun company, but overall they have nothing on S&W. Your instructor is entitled to his opinion, and you are entitled to yours. He doesn't sell Glocks on the side does he? Unfortunately, many firearm instructors seemingly cannot help peppering a captive audience with plugs for stuff that they sell.

 

[andyo5]

In view of your overall experience with the instructor, perhaps your next class should be with someone else (preferably NRA certified).
I think that cops tend to treat their guns as appliances, which is what they really are if you are a cop as opposed to an enthusiast or collector. Glock polymer frames will not rust or wear in the same way as blued finishes or satin stainless. Their slide finish is matt and very durable. The pistol is not beautiful to start with, so there is no need to be concerned about appearance wear. This is probably a benefit to police officers.
Smiths are very well designed and made, but there are exceptions that leave the factory sometimes. S&W's lifetime repair policy covers you in that event and they stand by their warranty. I have had personal experience with them.

 

[Swabby]

I can't help but wonder if your instructor ever shot a new M&P. How could anyone that knows anything about handguns love a Glock, but not even like the M&P a little? I sold a lot of handguns in the past, Glocks and Smiths. I never had a single one that came back in pieces. I think you're good with your choices. Always take general statements like that with a grain of salt.

 

[M29since14]

I was also disappointed that we didn't get some type of class evaluation form to fill out so the instructor could use the feed back to improve future classes. It would have given me a chance to let him know he should be aware that his gun bias and politics aren't shared by all. I don't plan on taking anymore classes from him in the future.

HF - Don't take this the wrong way. It is entirely possible your instructor wasn't interested in your opinions.

Like a lot who have commented here, I have toyed with many, many handguns in the last 40+ years. I think your 3913 is a terrific gun. My own 3913 shoots like a target pistol. If it was all I had, I wouldn't spend much time worrying.

 

[hfl73]

No offense taken, you are probably right. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Buford57]

Longer ago than I care to admit my departments range officer made the flat statement that the Model 15 was the ideal handgun for all police officers everywhere. I replied that it was a fine sidearm. He retorted that no, it wasn't just fine, it was perfect. That was 2 or 3 range sessions before another officer's Model 15 locked up after the first 6 rounds because it had not been cleaned or inspected since the last qualification. A combination of verdigris, lint, rain and a partially unthreaded ejector rod combined to prevent the cylinder form opening.

This did nothing to change my opinion of either the Model 15, (which is a fine sidearm and fired six shots successfully even after being subjected to gross abuse and was able to fire the rest of the course after the initial 6 empties were hammered out with a wooden mallet and a brush run through the chambers) or the range officer, who was a liar, a braggart, a pervert and my superior.

Sounds like he procreated more than we realized.

 

[walkin' trails]

It usually took a lot of dirt and lint to bind up a Smith revolver. I've seen ejector rods coming unscrewed on others revolvers, but never experienced it on one of my own. On the other hand, I've seen clean Ruger GP100s lock up after 25-30 rounds of magnums on a qualification course and have to cool down before continuing. The only S&W revolver I had lock up was a 940, an I think that was an exception rather than the rule, as I never had such problems with any J-frame 38s.

 

[rcinma]

To me S&W ruined it's latest generation of guns when it caved-in to the politicians and added the silly internal locks (not unlike Kimber ruined an otherwise well-built 1911 with their extra internal pieces).

There is a reason why the price of the pre-lock revolvers shot so high.

 

[BunnySlayer]

We all have an opinion. Mostly it's better kept to one's self. I have both Smiths and Glocks and have shot both extensively. Nothing wrong with either brand. Both fine handguns. I am also a firearms instructor and it's a rare thing that I put down a students handgun. If it goes bang when it's supposed to and doesn't go bang if it's not supposed to, hits the target reasonably at reasonable ranges and the person is comfortable with it then it's fine. Smith's and Glocks both qualify.

 

[Superflywimpy]

Well SInce I own 1 glock out my whole collection and the rest being Smith ,It's hard to say anything bad about Smith. I have a 1st generation model 59 with over9k rounds down the barrel and it never let me down not once. I used it and abused it and untill recently it looked like a ugly dog. But that has changed since I like it so much I had it gunkoted in black with the bushing and barrel gunkoted in gun metal and the black plastic grips were so scratched I was going to change them. But the guy that did the work saved them bt gunkoting them gun metal and spatering them with black. Frame is still tight and shoots as good as it ever did.......wait was I suppose to have a bad opinon about smith...oops...oh well sorry. I love smith.