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Does anyone know if they have one anymore? I don't think they test fire their guns at the factory. They used to because with a new revolver you would get a spent cartridge you could register with your county sheriff if you live in California, but apparently that's gone by the wayside.

I've had some issues with the newer S&W revolvers in the past few years, but this last one takes the cake. I bought a new 5" model 629 around the first of May. The cylinder jammed on about the third round, and every few rounds after that. Before taking it to a gunsmith I tried a factory round because I knew he would ask about that. The very first one jammed.

He said that the firing pin bushing was just slightly recessed and I could see that the rounds I fired had the primers protruding just enough to lock up the cylinder. Sometimes it was hard to even force the cylinder open. If they had test fired just a round or two at the factory they would have discovered this flaw.

I was lucky that the store I bought it from agreed to ship it back to S&W since I took it back to them the day after buying it. And it came back to me repaired this past week. I guess I should feel lucky, but really disappointed with Smith and Wesson. Their revolvers have been my favorite class of gun, but I doubt I'll ever buy another new one.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

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I have given up on the new smith and wessons, like you I have had several with quality problems, and for the money they should not have these problems. If taurus introduced a 5 shot 3 inch barreled 44 magnum I would probably buy it and try it. It can be no worse than the last 5 SW revolvers I have had.


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Like most, S&W probably ramped up production so much during the Obama years they probably lost sight of some important things.

Ruger got so bad for a time that even their most die hard fans could no longer take up for them.

Colt? LOL.

A tough time anyway for revolver guys IMO. Most makers wanting to sell AR's or their 5th attempt to compete with Glock & Sig.

Personally, I think S&W has come up with some wonderful engineering feats with their revolvers that seem to indicate they are still committed to building fine guns. But they are getting expensive & a person should expect quality. If you look though, Ruger prices are a lot closer to S&W's than they ever were. The days of choosing a Ruger over a Smith cause the R is 20% cheaper are long gone.

I haven't looked at recent Taurus' so I can't say. But do know they weren't the answer at one time. Hand picking at in stock items in a store seems like the safest way for most brands.

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I’ve bought 2 new S&W’s in the past 5 or so years, both had to go back for barrel alignments.
A 629 Classic 5” and a 442. If I remember correctly the 629 was shooting about 5 or 6 inches to the left with the rear sight moved as far right as it would go. At 25 yards.
But while it was being repaired I bought another 629-4 Classic 5” from a buddy. So when I got the repaired one back I sold it to another buddy and I think he’s only shot it 12 times in his back yard. So I really can’t comment on how the repair went.
The 442 was the same way, 5 or 6 inches to the left. And this was at 25’ and with 6 or 8 different loads. After the repair it shoots everything good and at the point of aim.

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Same experience - I have a 69 with a barrel alignment problem.

On the 69 - there is a detent and ball lockup on the front of the crane, and the barrel shroud is cut for the ball to rest in, and lock up the front of the crane.

On mine - the barrel is turned enough past alignment that the ball can’t drop into the pocket, it rides up on the edge of the surface next to the recess.

I’ve sent it back twice. Once with a written description, and the second time with pictures and the description.

On the first return - the gun was “cleaned and test fired, no fault found”.

On the second trip - “no fault found, gun meets factory specifications”. Per the SW website, the detent is there to add security to the crane and cylinder when firing.

Maybe it does, but the detent is clearly not engaged. I’ve looked several other 69s - the ball is in the detent where it’s supposed to be.

Not happy with their response to the issue.

Last edited by AH64guy; 06/21/20.
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At least with my defect it might have been hard to detect without test firing but things like a misaligned barrel could have been caught by just bore sighting. I’m getting the idea they just throw them together, get them out the door and hope for the best. I don’t see how this is a good long term plan.

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Starting in the 1990s, they pretty much left quality control up to the end user, i.e., if it doesn't work, you can send it back and the problem will be resolved.

Used to be that they didn't leave the factory unless they worked.

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I bought a 442 a year or two ago that had a forcing cone that looked like it had been hacked off by Bubba in his tool shed. S&W took one look at it, and sent me an entirely new gun.

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There are thousands of proper used Smith's out there. I just can't see the need to buy a new one, at all.


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I had to have my local gunsmith recut the forcing cone on my M-69. It was spitting lead particles when shooting cast bullets. Works great now. The repair was not a major procedure for someone with the right tool and expertise. It never should have left the factory that way. Otherwise, I am very pleased.


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Originally Posted by Henryseale
I had to have my local gunsmith recut the forcing cone on my M-69. It was spitting lead particles when shooting cast bullets. Works great now. The repair was not a major procedure for someone with the right tool and expertise. It never should have left the factory that way. Otherwise, I am very pleased.


The problem was alignment, the larger forcing cone masks the real problem



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Originally Posted by Henryseale
I had to have my local gunsmith recut the forcing cone on my M-69. It was spitting lead particles when shooting cast bullets. Works great now. The repair was not a major procedure for someone with the right tool and expertise. It never should have left the factory that way. Otherwise, I am very pleased.



And I had the same issue with a model 29 that I bought about 10 years ago. It didn’t really spit particles outside the cylinder but caused so much lead to build up on the face of the cylinder it was locking up.

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I have about 30 Smiths, no problems, but the newest is a 29-2 made in 1968.


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Not to be the contrary douche, but I just got a new 60-15, 3" .357 that is excellent. Very accurate to 25 yards (shooting basically .38 +P loads in .357 cases), bought mainly for shooting snakes/shotshells around the house and not wanting to get holster wear on a mint Mod 37. DA trigger is very nice. OTOH, last two Ruger revolvers my son and I bought (GP100 and SP101) had to go back to Ruger, but their service was great and turnaround under a week, as I recall.

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Originally Posted by The_Real_Hawkeye
Starting in the 1990s, they pretty much left quality control up to the end user, i.e., if it doesn't work, you can send it back and the problem will be resolved.

Used to be that they didn't leave the factory unless they worked.

That seems to be Ruger's MO of late as well.

Originally Posted by Stray
OTOH, last two Ruger revolvers my son and I bought (GP100 and SP101) had to go back to Ruger, but their service was great and turnaround under a week, as I recall.

And that's the bad and good of Ruger. Last Saturday morning I bought an SP101 4" .357, it was sold as new but the serial number indicates it was shipped in 2017. Anyway, took it to the range Saturday afternoon and it is a very good shooter so far with 148 HBWC in target loads and a standard velocity .38 Spl. handload using a 158 grain WFN. Trouble was the POI was almost off the right edge of the paper at 10 yards. I had to move the rear sight blade so far to the left it was sticking out of the housing to get the POI centered.

Got it home and in looking over the top of the frame in good light you can see the barrel is noticeably pointing to the right. Took it apart to clean it - after using three hands, a wooden dowel and mallet to get the trigger group out of the frame (what good is their ingenious modularity if the freakin' thing is so tight you can't get it apart?!) - and the cylinder slides right off of the crane. Never seen that before in over a dozen Ruger DA revolvers. The BC gap is good at .004" except one chamber rubs against the barrel face. Strike one, two and three.

But a call to Ruger Monday morning got a prepaid shipping label and they've sent emails to keep me informed when it arrived and when a tech started work on it. Supposed to be back to me within a week and if past experience holds I will get back a firearm that is, if not totally hand fitted, at least thoroughly inspected from muzzle to butt and made right in every way.

Kind of like how one expects it to be out of the box...


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Originally Posted by AH64guy
Same experience - I have a 69 with a barrel alignment problem.

On the 69 - there is a detent and ball lockup on the front of the crane, and the barrel shroud is cut for the ball to rest in, and lock up the front of the crane.

On mine - the barrel is turned enough past alignment that the ball can’t drop into the pocket, it rides up on the edge of the surface next to the recess.

I’ve sent it back twice. Once with a written description, and the second time with pictures and the description.

On the first return - the gun was “cleaned and test fired, no fault found”.

On the second trip - “no fault found, gun meets factory specifications”. Per the SW website, the detent is there to add security to the crane and cylinder when firing.

Maybe it does, but the detent is clearly not engaged. I’ve looked several other 69s - the ball is in the detent where it’s supposed to be.

Not happy with their response to the issue.




I don't believe S&W cares, if it's not something that leads to liability exposure. My 686+ was getting light primer strikes and then would just go off. NOT good. I sent it back and they went through it and did a really nice trigger job on it.

That gun and a 642 are the only 2 "new" S&W revolvers I own. There won't be any more. The older stuff is where the craftmanship and attention to detail lies.


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Originally Posted by EdM
There are thousands of proper used Smith's out there. I just can't see the need to buy a new one, at all.





I'm in this camp, anymore.


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Originally Posted by HeavyLoad
I’ve bought 2 new S&W’s in the past 5 or so years, both had to go back for barrel alignments.
A 629 Classic 5” and a 442. If I remember correctly the 629 was shooting about 5 or 6 inches to the left with the rear sight moved as far right as it would go. At 25 yards.


Some years ago, I bought a gently used 629-5 that did the same thing, and when I looked down the top of the barrel, I could see the front sight canted way over to the right. It was so obvious, I couldn't understand how I didn't notice it when I bought it.

It left the factory, and two licensed dealers and was purchased by two people (one of them, me) without anyone noticing, though it could explain why the original buyer traded it off after only shooting a small number of rounds through it.

I took it back to my dealer and when he looked down the top of the barrel, he nearly swallowed his chaw. Bless his heart, he had the barrel fixed by a gunsmith at his own expense and it's a fine shooter now.

I've had other issues with even older S&W revolvers. I'm still a fan, though.

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Originally Posted by local_dirt
My 686+ was getting light primer strikes and then would just go off. NOT good. I sent it back and they went through it and did a really nice trigger job on it.


That revolver have a frame-mounted firing pin?

The 629 I mentioned above had, as part of an action job, a new firing pin installed that is just a tiny bit longer than the factory pin. I don't recall who manufacturers them, but I've been very satisfied.

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Originally Posted by tjm10025
Originally Posted by local_dirt
My 686+ was getting light primer strikes and then would just go off. NOT good. I sent it back and they went through it and did a really nice trigger job on it.


That revolver have a frame-mounted firing pin?

The 629 I mentioned above had, as part of an action job, a new firing pin installed that is just a tiny bit longer than the factory pin. I don't recall who manufacturers them, but I've been very satisfied.





Yes.

You may enjoy this discussion from 2009.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/93995-why-firing-pin-moved-frame.html


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