Sigh, It's threads like this that seem to bring out the worst S&W-hating trolls (not naming any names as not everyone dislikes S&W is a troll, but I think everyone knows who they are). The company that made the infamous Clinton agreement was severely boycotted and forced to sell the company for a fraction of what they paid for it. Apparently though, that's not good enough for some people. I guess they want D.B. Wesson to rise from the grave just to commit ritualistic suicide in pennance for the sins of his heirs or some other such nonsense. Perhaps this isn't clear enough: S&W is owned by a completely different company which can do absolutely nothing about the Clinton agreement. Refusing to buy and discouraging others from buying a current S&W product does absolutely nothing to punish Bill Clinton, Tompkins PLC, Sarah Brady, or D.B. Wesson's ghost.
Secondly, we have the issue of the lock. If you dislike it because you think it's ugly or because its presence somehow represents the decay of intelligence in western society, fine, you're entitled to that opinion. However, please don't try to make the lock into a reliability issue that it is not. While lock failure is certainly not impossible, I've yet to see more than a handfull of documented lock failures, certainly not enough to represent any significant number when compared to overall production. As a matter of fact, I've seen many more failures of both new and older S&W revolvers due to problems not related to the lock than I have lock failures. Of the few documented failures I've seen, the majority seem to be limited to lightweight scandium revolvers shooting hard-recoiling magnum ammunition. So, if you don't feel comfortable owning or depending on a S&W because of the very minute chance that the lock may fail you, fine, you're entitled to that opinion as well. Just please don't make it out to be something it isn't.