HKUSPELITE
Inactive
My saga begins back in mid December when I purchased a brand new Smith & Wesson Scandium 360 (.357 magnum) from a local gun shop. A few days after I bought it I had some time to pull out my new toy & play with it, so I loaded up some A-Zoom snap caps and began to break it in with a few hundred dry fires. After about 50 or so “shots” I started to realize that something did not feel right, it was as if the DA pull between some cylinders were different than others. Upon closer visual examination of the pistol I noticed that there was a gouge on the front of the rear portion of the trigger guard, where the trigger was actually contacting the guard. I also noticed that the trigger was offset (bent) to one side in relation to the frame and that one side of the trigger at the very bottom was actually outside of the guard.
The next day I contacted S&W and advised them of the problem, at which time they told me they would send me a Fed Ex return label and to ship it back to them and they would fix the gun. I told them that if all they were going to send me was the label I would give them my work address which turned out to be a big mistake. Before I even received the label I began to get all sort of catalogues from sporting goods companies and probably every handout and catalogue that S&W makes (most were out of date though-go figure). I was not a very happy camper not only from the standpoint of not even getting the return address label before they sold my info to mailing lists, but also because this was my place of employment and not a private address.
So I eventually receive the label and send the pistol back along with a note politely telling them that if they don’t contact everyone they sold my name & address to that I would never by another S&W product. I also ask them to contact me before they do any work or send the pistol back, as I would like to find out about getting the pistol blacked out & have a high-viz sight installed as on there model 337PD & kit gun.
(I contacted S&W prior to my original purchase to find out if they had any intentions of making a PD version in .357 magnum with the hi-viz and was told they were not going to. Imagine my surprise when I saw that exact model on page 6 of their 2002 catalogue.)
About 2 weeks later my neighbor has a package for me! Inside I find my pistol blacked out with a red ramp installed. The engraving (I believe it’s done by laser) of the serial number, etc is offset from the original so all the numbers are sort of double image (like this wouldn’t give me trouble if I got stopped by a cop or had to go to court!). And the area behind the trigger guard where the gouge was looks as though someone went at with a Dremel tool, but the trigger was not contacting the guard anymore.
Now I should have sent the pistol back immediately but it’s now the end of January and between my disgust & frustration I thought I would suck it up and go try the thing out
(STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!!!!!)
I go to my local Wally world and buy 2 boxes of Winchester Win-Clean 125gr and head out.
After exactly 33 rounds the gun hangs up, I try to swing out the cylinder and find the only way I can get it open is to hit the cylinder against the heel of my left hand. I take it home & upon closer inspection find there is a crack in the frame just below the barrel. The yoke is bent & cracked. The locking pin is bent and stuck open. The trigger is again gouging the guard. And the cylinder has bent so much that it is contacting the rear of the barrel and also the lower rear portion of the frame.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See pic’s here http://www.picturetrail.com/hkuspelite1
I contact S&W again and am told “Well that shouldn’t have happened – send it back to & we’ll take a look at it” I must say that the first two people I spoke to although not apologetic were respectful. But I called a third time the day I received the second Fed-Ex label and this guy was more or less a prick (sorry if I offend)! I tried to get a straight answer concerning what was going to be done once I sent it back and all he kept saying was “Send it back and we’ll take a look.” But this was only after he implied that it was my fault the gun broke ”Those gun’s were test fired 10’s of thousands of time before we released them and WE never had a problem.” & “Each gun is test fired before it leaves the factory so it couldn’t have broke that quickly.”
Well I’m sending the pistol off today AGAIN and can’t wait to see how they handle this!
Any guesses on what they’re going to do?
Any ideas on what you think they should do?
Also I plan on sending them a link to this post just for their review so feel free to let them know how you feel!
The next day I contacted S&W and advised them of the problem, at which time they told me they would send me a Fed Ex return label and to ship it back to them and they would fix the gun. I told them that if all they were going to send me was the label I would give them my work address which turned out to be a big mistake. Before I even received the label I began to get all sort of catalogues from sporting goods companies and probably every handout and catalogue that S&W makes (most were out of date though-go figure). I was not a very happy camper not only from the standpoint of not even getting the return address label before they sold my info to mailing lists, but also because this was my place of employment and not a private address.
So I eventually receive the label and send the pistol back along with a note politely telling them that if they don’t contact everyone they sold my name & address to that I would never by another S&W product. I also ask them to contact me before they do any work or send the pistol back, as I would like to find out about getting the pistol blacked out & have a high-viz sight installed as on there model 337PD & kit gun.
(I contacted S&W prior to my original purchase to find out if they had any intentions of making a PD version in .357 magnum with the hi-viz and was told they were not going to. Imagine my surprise when I saw that exact model on page 6 of their 2002 catalogue.)
About 2 weeks later my neighbor has a package for me! Inside I find my pistol blacked out with a red ramp installed. The engraving (I believe it’s done by laser) of the serial number, etc is offset from the original so all the numbers are sort of double image (like this wouldn’t give me trouble if I got stopped by a cop or had to go to court!). And the area behind the trigger guard where the gouge was looks as though someone went at with a Dremel tool, but the trigger was not contacting the guard anymore.
Now I should have sent the pistol back immediately but it’s now the end of January and between my disgust & frustration I thought I would suck it up and go try the thing out
(STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!!!!!)
I go to my local Wally world and buy 2 boxes of Winchester Win-Clean 125gr and head out.
After exactly 33 rounds the gun hangs up, I try to swing out the cylinder and find the only way I can get it open is to hit the cylinder against the heel of my left hand. I take it home & upon closer inspection find there is a crack in the frame just below the barrel. The yoke is bent & cracked. The locking pin is bent and stuck open. The trigger is again gouging the guard. And the cylinder has bent so much that it is contacting the rear of the barrel and also the lower rear portion of the frame.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See pic’s here http://www.picturetrail.com/hkuspelite1
I contact S&W again and am told “Well that shouldn’t have happened – send it back to & we’ll take a look at it” I must say that the first two people I spoke to although not apologetic were respectful. But I called a third time the day I received the second Fed-Ex label and this guy was more or less a prick (sorry if I offend)! I tried to get a straight answer concerning what was going to be done once I sent it back and all he kept saying was “Send it back and we’ll take a look.” But this was only after he implied that it was my fault the gun broke ”Those gun’s were test fired 10’s of thousands of time before we released them and WE never had a problem.” & “Each gun is test fired before it leaves the factory so it couldn’t have broke that quickly.”
Well I’m sending the pistol off today AGAIN and can’t wait to see how they handle this!
Any guesses on what they’re going to do?
Any ideas on what you think they should do?
Also I plan on sending them a link to this post just for their review so feel free to let them know how you feel!
I have to tell you, I haven't been hearing a lot good about S&W lately, and you sure didn't help!
