S&W Two piece barrels

Jack Malloy,

My money is going to ... Colt when it comes to wheelguns from now on out.
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Colt apparently doesn't want your wheelgun money. :p

I'm ambivalent on the two-piece barrels. On the plus side, they offer theoretical accuracy benefits, while eliminating the potential problems of the previous crush-fit stystem (distorted bores and off-kilter sights.) On the minus side, they're as ugly as the backside of a mud fence on a rainy day, and promise to complicate life for gunsmiths, at least until aftermarket tools become available.

As far as making it harder to shorten barrels, well, there's a school of thought that claims only a visigoth would use a saw to do it, rather than purchasing another barrel of the desired length. ;)
 
While robots are most often used for repetitive work (and such robots have the greatest throughput), if you do a search in Google on: neurosurgery robot
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I had a chance to get into the Bio- Medical field as a BMET (Bio-Medical Engineering Technician) about 15 years ago.
(Not meaning to wrench my arm out of it's socket by patting myself on the back here - but the chance was via an invitation only type of interview - extended only to active students in the electronics field that were maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. I found myself in a room filled with some real brainiacs - 4 or 5 were in the process of post graduate studies..)

Anyhow - The robots used in the medical field are as far removed from an assy. line robot as an Indy car is from the family mini-van.

Military applications of artificial intelligence and robotics scare me the most
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I hear ya there. What scares me the most though is the *personality* the AI will take on. Software and firmware assume quite a bit of the personality of the programmers that write it. Presently, the bulk of code written is coming out of India, where a strong caste system is still in place.
 
With all due respect sir the Python was ALWAYS a lot more expensive than S&W guns and other makers. It required more handfitting due to the action.
And the action was then smoothed up compared to other colt actions in similar guns.
This whole switch has nothing to do with keeping costs down. MIM parts, CNC machining, not hand polishing the exteriors were all done to keep the costs down and yet in a short period of time S&W prices on wheelguns increased DRAMATICALLY anyway.
Ruger is not using a two peice barrell and their prices have not skyrocketed either. No other wheelgun makers have seen skyrocketing prices either that I am aware of except for Colt which doesnt seem able to make up its mind if its going to make revolvers or not.
The new barrel is not about holding the price line. Its just a shoddy way to make a good gun more cheaply so some corporate weasel can pay himself more at the expense of the consumer. They cun run off a lenght of rifled barrel, cut it to size and slap a sleeve on it and its cheaper than machining individual barrels with the sights and lugs and other features.
Its just like when GM started making trucks and cars in Mexico. They got the benefit of cheaper labor, but did they pass the costs on to the consumer? No, they charged even more and the fat cat execs gave themselves tremendous pay raises instead.
Its sad to see the firearms industry adopting the business methods of corporate greedheads, who don't care about the product, the consumer or the bottom line, just the fat quarterly profit increases before they take a leap in their golden parachutes.


>>>As far as "making the gun cheaper, and charging the same amount", that misses the point.
The point is, making the gun the old way is causing the price of the guns to rise to the point that they simply can't be sold at a competitive price.
The new barrel will allow S&W to hold the price line.

This is why the older Colt revolvers were discontinued in 1969, and why the sole survivor, the Python, costs almost TWICE what another revolver can be bought for.
<<<
 
Ruger is not using a two peice barrell and their prices have not skyrocketed either.
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Castings'll do that for ya'.

The new barrel is not about holding the price line. Its just a shoddy way to make a good gun more cheaply so some corporate weasel can pay himself more at the expense of the consumer. They cun run off a lenght of rifled barrel, cut it to size and slap a sleeve on it and its cheaper than machining individual barrels with the sights and lugs and other features.
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Doubtful. Given the flange on the end of the barrel, it's nowhere near as simple as running out hundred-foot lengths of 0.357" I.D. rifled tubes and whacking them off in 6" sections. If they're saving money anywhere, Jack, it's on the service end, due to reduced incidences of jugged bores and the elimination of the cockeyed sight problem (cf. my "Performance Center" 627.)
 
Hi Hal - Yes, I am a scientist in Biotechnology/Pharma - very interesting area I agree. :) I am not worried about Indian personality in the software - I went to grad school with a lot of Indians, and have had many Indian colleagues and friends at the office over the years... and to my mind, we are just as likely to cause mischief as they are. Additionally, while the US will get these things first - we have the biggest defense industry and funding by far in the world... others will also get them - just a matter of time.

While certainly all robotic products are not alike, my main point is, that the capabilities of robots for doing precise work are actually greater than that of humans. If my post on neurosurgery didn't convince people of that, I can show you atomic scale manipulation by robots.

I am a research guy, so I only read about and very occasionally see production. The robots I have seen working a lot are laboratory robots of various types, still designed with the basic concepts of either throughput or generality, depending on the target tasks (like high throughput screening, chemical synthesis, or chemical analysis). Production robots are definitely designed for throughput, efficiency at a limited number of tasks. However, from what I understand, these things are actually very expensive and sophisticated machines, and I know for example that robotic welders in the automobile industry put out a better quality product than the human welders they replaced.

I am not trying to say that it's good to have jobs eliminated, but just that it's a fact that for many tasks, robots can not only do the cheaper, they can also actually do them better. And when you can make that statement, the Darwinian nature of capitalism will cause such technologies to propagate.
 
Dfariswheel wrote:
The actual design is a rifled, tube-like barrel with a smooth faced flange on the front.
The shroud has a "key" on it that slips upward into a key-way on the front of the frame.
This key system aligns the shroud with the front sight at 12:00, and prevents it from turning.

The barrel slides down the shroud and the flange butting against a shoulder in the shroud locks everything in place.
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I'm a fan of the Dan Wesson design and don't mind the two-piece barrel on the new S&W's. I don't have one yet, but it wouldn't stop me from buying. I'm having a little trouble seeing how their system is saving them money over going enirely to the DW design. As described above, it looks like there still has to be some trial-and-error fitting done for setting the proper barrel-cylinder gap. With the DW design you set this gap first and then make up tension with the barrel nut out on the end. With the S&W design the B-C has to be set last.
 
BillCA,

Personally, I have nothing against CNC machined parts nor most technologies that improve a product. Freedom Arms produces some very accurate and well fitted revolvers (I've owned four). They use investment casting for some parts and I am sure some are CNC machined. They do, however, hold extremely tight tolerances and much hand fitting is evident. For example: a credit card slip cannot pass between the forcing cone and the cylinder.

The lack of hand fitting in some firearms is laudable when stamping out military weapons for quick production, but revolvers need a human touch. That's merely my opinion.

Best,
JB
 
I'd be happy with the new system if it were user serviceable like the Dan Wessons. I'd like to get a M60 pack with a 2", 3", and 5" barrel. :)

Chris
 
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