Why are NEW S&W considered inferior?

I'm not boycotting S&W either. Colt is the company I will never, ever buy from. They are the frontrunners developing the smart gun, guns that only fire for their owners, and that to me is far far worse than any lock S&W could come up with.
A Colt representative said "We owe it to our customers to make our guns safe for them to use."
Pure bull, IMO. I will never own a Colt.
 
I have carried a revolver for enforcing the law myself. The fact is, I carried Colts and S&Ws at different times. I have carried M36s with 3" barrels that had really bad ergonomics. The 637 I used to carry had worse ergonomics, a finish that peeled and my gunsmith wouldn't touch it. I upgraded to a M10 2" RB. Nice revolver, I am using it as my BUG. There have been no issues with it whatsoever. I bought a M10 4" SB and it was non-functional NIB. I am convinced that it was not QC tested at the factory. It wouldn't have shipped as it was non-functional. I prefer pinned and recessed revolvers for looks and durability. I have owned many Hawes single actions due to their recessed chambers. I am one of those who can say that S&Ws were noticably worsening in 1978. I have bought some recent S&Ws. I cannot TRUST a NIB S&W to be 100% functional. I had a bad SW1911 experience and I had been one of those who thought S&W couldn't make anything as bad as the M39. I buy vintage S&W revolvers and I have bought a few S&W classics this year alone. I cannot TRUST a NIB S&W revolver to be 100% reliable. I quit buying S&Ws as I have no confidence in them. I do trust vintage and classic S&Ws, pinned, recessed or not. I won't buy a NIB S&W. I will buy older, vintage and classic S&W revolvers. I still prefer tuned Colts. My two favourite revolvers are a odd pairing, a S&W M28 6" and a Colt Trooper MKIII 4". The two best and reality based 357 Magnums ever made. IOWs, I prefer classic looks, smooth function and heavy weighted weapons with adjustable sights. S&Ws current airweight mania just doesn't entice me to spend my money. I am watching the M57 project to see what becomes of it. I might spend some money on a couple. Maybe. Depends.
 
Man i guess the only smiths i will buy from now on are ones that haven't been made for 30 years and that way i know i'm getting a good product. Go figure you have to get a revolver made before i was born in order to get the best.
 
bicyclegun.jpg


A few observations. Look at the history of manufacturing anything and you see two competing goals: (1) improvements that the customers demand, and (2) figuring out ways to make it cheaper.
If you like hefty steel in an underpowered .32 caliber, buy a vintage bicycle gun. If you want a light weight corrosion-proof gun in a self defense .32 caliber, get a 431PD.

431PD.jpg


Extreme examples? Maybe, but folks are apparently buying stainless or more exotic materials instead of traditional blue.

The same gun writers who will tell you "only carry factory ammo in case you get sued" complain about the wimpy manufacturers who put on locks and warnings because they are afraid to get sued.
 
Buffalo Bore says they get better velocity from more modern Smith and Wesson revolvers. Tighter cylinder-frame fit?
 
The Corvette would be a roughly comparable analogy in the car world. The current Corvette is not the sheer high-compression muscle performer that the originals were. Is it inferior?

No , it is far superior. The current Corvette would easily smoke all of the old muscle car era small block Vettes. And the same goes for most of the old big block Vettes as well. None of the old Vettes could hit 186 mph along with the ability to hit 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 113 mph. The 2006 ZO6 Vette will be faster still:

Combined with 500 horsepower, this modest weight endows the Z06 with a power-to-weight ratio similar to the Ford GT's. Chevy is predicting a 0-to-60 sprint in less than four seconds, 100 mph arriving less than four seconds later, a quarter-mile well into the 11s, and a top speed above 190 mph.
 
Ok - back to the main topic. My newest Smiths were bought new in 2000. One is a 629 44 mag revolver and the other a 41 22lr target pistol. The 629 is equal to or better than any other Smith revolver I have owned in the area of fit and finish. I will admit that most of the Smiths I have owned were built in the 1980s and 1990s. I owned one 70s vintage Smith Model 19.

I really want my revolver , or any gun for that matter, to be shooter. As far as the way my 629 shoots - that is accuracy , I'll put it up against any other Smith made , regardless of time era. It is flat out the most accurate big bore revolver I have ever owned. In the area of magum load durability , I imagine the 29s made during the "Glory Years" would shoot loose way before my 629 would.

I'm not saying the old Smiths are not beautiful pieces , the old blued Smiths are some of the best examples of the art of revolver manufacturing ,it's just that I find it hard to believe that an older Smith will shoot any better than my 2000 vintage 629 Classic.

As far as the most recent Smiths - I have no idea how they shoot.
 
629shooter-What barrel length does your smith have? If i get a newer smith which i don't know if i will i would like to get a 4inch 686 or 629 the reason i asked is how well would those revolver balance with a 4 inch compared to a 612 to 8 3/4. Whats the weight of your gun?
 
so is there a quality revolver that is being produced today that matches the smiths of old?
Click to expand...

New Colt SAAs,,,the finest revolvers on the market in terms of fit and finish ever made on a production basis.....

As to ne Smiths...other than the idjit lock...good serviceable high quality revolvers....although not finished (noticed I only use the word finished) as well as the gorgeous revolvers of yesteryear

WildhatethelockAlaska
 
Nothing wrong with new Smiths, but theiir QC is in need of alot of work. I will give you two examples of late. I shoot every weekend with my buddies and these issues happened to both of them.

One purchased nib model 10 Lew Horton pencil barrell, noticed rifling was gouged on forcing cone end. Returned to Smith and they sent him a new gun but the timing was way off on new one so he returned to Smith again.

One purchased nib model 329pd. I don,t know why anybody would want a lightweight 44 mag. but he did. Well the problems began. The clyinder started cracking and he was,nt shooting max loads. Well back to Smith it went and he asked them to but in a stainless cylinder which they did. After he got gun back we went to range to test and after we both got peppered with splatter we noticed headspace was off so back to Smith it went.

Now this total bs that firearms are returned to customers in less than working condition. This is just my experences, I wonder what is happening nationwide??
 
Can't do any of the work yourself on the newer 'vettes ;)

With the newer Vettes you don't NEED to perform a fraction of the maintenance as you did with the old ones.

I'd put my SBH against that 629, any day :D

Too bad we did not live closer - I would take you up on that! :D Seriously , I like those SBHs also. Have owned two of them. Need to get another someday.

629shooter-What barrel length does your smith have?

Here is my 629 - it has a 6.5" barrel. The targets are 25 yard 6 shot groups. It is accurate enough for my purposes. The weight is listed at 49.5 oz in one of my Smith catalogs.
 

Attachments

  • 629 classic a c.jpg
    629 classic a c.jpg
    45.3 KB · Views: 76
shoot awe lot-I noticed when i shoot my 19 with some heavy 357 loads i occasionally get some pepper underneath my left eye about tip of nose level. as i am a right handed weaver shooter. I assumed that this is just because of the gasses coming out at a high rate. I looked at the cylinder lockup at the forcing cone at it is on the same par as my redhawk is as far as space. Is this just because i'm using hot loads. I shot 38 158 grain lead round nose and no splatter. But as of late the problem hasn't been accuring and i've noticed that there is hardly a deep role mark on the cylinder and their is hardly a shadow of cases hitting back on the breach face over the firing pin. Does this mean the revolver is still being "broke in"?

629shooter- Thems so pretty tight groups about 1 3/4 inch? Why is one low at a tad to the left? Is that your hunting round and the other is your target round? Do they offer the 629 with a semi lugged/tapered barrel? I like the looks of a semi lugged.
 
629shooter- Thems so pretty tight groups about 1 3/4 inch?

With my dial calipers I measure about .90" edge to edge on the right target and just a bit under that on the left target.

Why is one low at a tad to the left? Is that your hunting round and the other is your target round?

No , I had the scope adjusted for a heavier bullet and forgot to re-adjust when firing the lighter bullet.

Do they offer the 629 with a semi lugged/tapered barrel? I like the looks of a semi lugged.

As far as I know Smith still offers the traditional barrel profile with just the ejector rod shroud and no full lug.
 
Speaking strictly in terms of personal choice the last three guns I have purchased have been fixed sight Ruger SAs. I could have gotten any gun I wanted but I chose the Rugers . I came real close to buying the Custom shop Smith 500 and really liked the Thunder Ranch .44 special. I guess I am just retro ,well except for the 500 that is. I have about half a dozen Smiths in the safe - mostly kit guns and 629s.I don't really like the look of some of the new fiber optic sights- I know they work and are functional but once again my "retro" problem kicks in. I love the old elegant front ramp sights- no big deal, I could change them if I got one. Smith still makes a beautiful and functional handgun and it boils down to personal choice and what I want to use the gun for.
I think some folks did feel a certain amount of animosity when Smith made a deal with the devil (the Clinton administration) I know I did. I also did not like the fact that Smith was bought by a British company. But that is over now. Mechanically and materials wise Smith makes a top notch gun. The lock is a sticking point with some and honestly I do not know if I have come to grips with it yet. I do not entirely blame Smith for doing it with all the lawyers and anti-gunners pushing their misguided agenda. In all honesty I would seek out an older Smith most likely before buying a new one. If they brought out the Thunder Ranch in Stainless well.... Smith & Wesson is still an important American Institution and in the future I will probably get one but right now I have my sights set on a Freedom Arms model 97.
 
SW Lock Question

There have been several instances of the lock failing and locking up the gun.

It is my understanding that even tho Ayoob mentioned this, the info is anocdotal and has not been documented.

Any real info on this?
 
The only thing I can find to not like on the new Smiths and it's not a big deal is the frame mounted rebounding firing pin vs the hammer mounted pin. Very high quality Smiths abound on the used market and generations up to 5 are easy to come by. Buy stainless for general use and forget durability issues. All guns have issues of one kind or another. In fact, I would be more likely to buy a used stainless Smith than a new one, because if you find one that has been hardly used, you'll still find that the previous owner probably worked the action plenty and broke it in nicely for you. Most of the people knocking Smiths are those that believe they got the same for less in another brand. Rugers are great revolvers, but you'll never find one with a Smith trigger. Maybe not that noticeable until you get the gun off the rest!

Original Dan Wesson's are outstanding and Mr. Eick informs me that the new production guns might be as good or better and that is an endorsement. I have never fired a .357 magnum that was more accurate than an 1980 model DW. Stainless in .41 Magnum is on my lust list! ;)
 
I have a good number of older N fram smiths from

45 LC (25), 44 mags (29"s) 3 that shoot only 44 sp, and a 27 5 in (357)
None were built after 1980 other than one of the 29 and it was built in the 90's.
All are very good guns and I will never stop buying old smiths. Unless it has a lock.
With that said I did purchase a S&W built Walther PPKs and it was the worst piece of crap that I ever owned. 400 runds through it. (I know becouse I bought 500 and have only two boxes left) I dumped the darn thing since it was incapable of shooting more than 20 rounds without a failure to feed.
If this is the workmanship of Smith, then I am done with them.
 
A gunsmith at Gander Mt told me the floating hammers are a real pain in the butt to work on.

Ayoob wrote about the internal locks failing in the January or February issue of American Handgunner. It was in a lightweight model.

There was a thread though over at www.smith-wessonforum.com of actual owners who have experienced internal lock failures.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top