S&W new lows

[Area51]

Pathetic how poor of products and services S&W now thinks is acceptable. A new low.
A custom shop full tilt revolver, sent back twice for obvious trigger creep. Twice returned as if it has never been touched. "Oh yes we know, we do have some problems with the gun smiths these days. just send it back in again. Six months of service time and two round trips. I will not purchase another new S&W product.
Patheticaly sad but true.

 

[Tommie]

Not the first story like this involving the S&W custom shop. It’s where good guns to get ruined.

 

[No.343]

In ICORE competition circles a lot of folks consider a new revolver a gunsmith's building kit.

 

[shoot4fun]

There is no "Custom Shop" at S&W. There is a Performance Center.
I will preface what I write below by saying there are guidelines established for what a PC gun does before it leaves the Performance Center. Those guidelines are not required to meet your greatest expectations without regard to safety (lawyers).
Over the years of it's existence the Performance Center has morphed from turning out guns that had a higher degree of performance into, well, a place where S&W "puts lipstick on a pig" and adds a bigger profit margin.
In 2007 there were true craftsmen (fitters) that made sure the final product was truly up to the task of performing at a higher level. The PC revolvers stood out from normal production. One example was they were still fitted, stoned and delivered with forged and through-hardened steel hammers and triggers. CNC machining and MIM technologies made those craftsmen obsolete (too expensive). That has all gone away so if you want the racy look of a PC gun one should buy the look and plan to drop some extra coin with a true gunsmith to give you the performance desired. Especially in the area of trigger pull. MIM hammers and triggers just aren't ever going to provide the smoothness, light pull weight and endurance of the old forged parts.

 

[22BRGUY]

Sad to hear

 

[Alex Wheeler]

My last one was so bound up it took 2 hands to pull the double action trigger. That was after I forced the hammer back enough times with my palm to even get it to rotate. It went back and came back so loose and out of time it would fire out of battery. I still had not fired this yet. Second time back and its tight like the first time. I just fixed it myself. No more new ones for me.

 

[Shooter13]

I guess they are geared to new shooters that don't know any better and take whatever is offered.

 

[rijndael]

I will not purchase another new S&W product.

I thought most of the gun guys already said that after their Clinton-Gore agreement?

Front Page Featured | MRCTV

www.cnsnews.com

 

[ebb]

Why should they make a good product? With the public hearing that the government wants to defund police and ban guns at the same time, they can sell anything they can get to the dealers in one piece.

 

[K22]

That's sad to hear. I've owned a lot of S&W revolvers over the past 50 years but haven't purchased any in the last 20 years or more.

Their high quality out of the box was always what distinguished them. Colt was the same. Not to say that an occasional defective one wouldn't slip out of the factory, but it was rare and when it did happen you could be sure they would fix it promptly and perfectly.

Several of mine are approaching 50 years old and still shoot terrific and I've shot them a lot - one of my Model 17's, 22 rimfire revolver has over 100,000 rounds through it and it still shoots terrific.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Man ive got some damn fine PC revolvers. I havent even seen one with an MIM trigger or hammer.

 

[JackT]

Area 51 what model was the problematic S&W revolver?

 

[Ray123]

I bought a new S&W revolver in 1989, it works fine..don't use it much, it's nothing special.I will never buy another,.. one is enough....just not a fan, of anything SW... Hard to believe for some...A shooting friend sent a new SW revolver back 2 times...It was Never fixed, or nothing wrong with it & send it back...but it has real problems. A Bad reputation for too many years and no products I'm interested in owing, as manufactured by SW today...made in Brazil quality...and SW is not the only manufacturer with quality issues.

 

[FNSafari]

So much for CAD/CAM vs. mills and lathes and skilled workers? Or is it just the lack of skilled workers? McDonalds assembly line yesterday doesn’t cut it on a revolver assembly line today. In the end its the management's fault for letting quality and quality control sink.

 

[Area51]

Area 51 what model was the problematic S&W revolver?

Model 327 - TRR8 | Smith & Wesson

www.smith-wesson.com

 

[SSL]

Kind of like back in the day of the occasional .38 slipping out with a .22 barrel.

 

[Doug Casner]

Ive got new ones and old 5 screws cant tell much difference in any of em. I guess Im lucky. Doug

 

[Adam in WI]

Kind of like back in the day of the occasional .38 slipping out with a .22 barrel.

Seriously? That would make for a real bad time if it wasn't caught soon enough

 

[SSL]

Seriously? That would make for a real bad time if it wasn't caught soon enough

Unfortunately, yes. If I remember correctly, it occurred when S&W was owned by F. H. Tomkins P.L.C. of London....a British manufacturer of plumbing supplies and lawn mowers! Prior to that S&W was owned by a Brazilian holding company, Bangor Punta Corporation, followed by Lear Siegler Holding Company.

 

[tmwinds]

Kind of like back in the day of the occasional .38 slipping out with a .22 barrel.

I wonder how they were test fired at the factory?