Good job S&W, keep up the good work

[phylodog]

Why did you pick the 340PD over the 642?

340PD weighs 11.4oz vs 15 for the 642 and the 340PD has a shrouded ejector rod.

 

[ART338WM]

Sounds like S&W is taking after Remington and adopting Big Greens QC methods. I would never expect any company to NEVER produce a product without any defect, but a finished product with a defect that is nearly instantly detectable to the untrained eye should NEVER make it out of the factory, especially one from a company that the product they produce is at a price that is near the highest in their industry.

It is examples such as this one and many others like it at Big Green why I am buying a Tikka T3 instead of a M700 and the two 336c's I just bought were JM stamped models made in the late 1990's because since Remington acquired Marlin QC of the 336 went south. I will admit Marlin went bankrupt making excellent high quality rifles, but with todays manufacturing and QC technologies being at their highest in history, there is no excuse for such mistakes to ever get past the QC check points and leave the factory to be sold.

 

[Fordtough25]

A year later and I'll be picking my 340pd up in a week or so, have you shot yours yet OP? Seemed like my best bet for a light 357 for real concealed carry. I can't wait!!

 

[Vigilant]

S&W doing all we can to beat Taurus at their own game!

 

[Fordtough25]

Mines solid quality wise, everything is straight and function feels great dry firing. Going to get it out of layaway at my lgs soon and looking forward to trying a bunch of loads out!

 

[phylodog]

A year later and I'll be picking my 340pd up in a week or so, have you shot yours yet OP? Seemed like my best bet for a light 357 for real concealed carry. I can't wait!!

Not any more than I have to lol

 

[Fordtough25]

Not any more than I have to lol

Ha!! Have you tried many loads yet or just a solid 357 Mag and carry that?

 

[223 Gunner]

Here is my Pro Series 640. Bought it here from another member, is and has been flawless.

 

[Hopper]

Oof, the dreaded "canted barrel". I had to send my 640-3 in to have the barrel adjusted. I was so excited when I saw it at a LGS that I didn't realize it was canted until I got it home and gave it a serious look. The canting was obvious, I really should have caught it at the shop before I bought it. But S&W made it right, and when I got it back, the alignment was perfect.

It's not just a problem with their J-frame line, their larger framed offerings come off the line with canted barrels too. I also had a 686+ 3" that was just slightly out of cant. Sent it back as well, and it came back the way I wanted it. Like you OP, the 686 was ordered due to a lack of 3" inventory in any LGS that I could find. My NM 66 Combats in both 4.25" and 2.75" (both have the newer sleeved barrel design) are spot-on.

I'm not sure what their deal is. Ruger is putting out a good product, so it's not like they don't have wheel gun competition. Maybe they are more focused on their M&P line, and revolver production takes a back seat?

 

[Drail]

PLEASE do not support the current clowns running S&W. They NEED to go under. There are thousands and thousands of older S&W revolvers out there and they are SO much better than the current junk S&W is cranking out. If you want to enjoy a nice S&W find an old one. Seriously. Over the years I have watched Ruger going downhill as well. And Remington? They're totally gone.. They may as well just move to China. Winchester is gone. Colt has pretty much given up on revolvers. Really sad what has happened to the industry. I worked on and sold a ton of S&W revolvers and competed with them regularly in the 90s and they were so much better before they went completely CAD/CAM -MIM-LOCK crazy. S&W is now completely run by people that know nothing about quality firearms. They may as well make IKEA furniture today. The last new S&W I purchased was a Model 696 in 1996. Those were the last of the handbuilt hand tuned S&Ws. After that they went downhill very quickly. The guys who built those guns took many years to train but they are all in retirement homes now - or dead. I feel very fortunate to have built my collection of revolvers back in those days. I got them cheap - the quality was very high - and there was so much to choose from and I NEVER had to send one back.

 

[Bosshoss]

PLEASE do not support the current clowns running S&W. They NEED to go under. There are thousands and thousands of older S&W revolvers out there and they are SO much better than the current junk S&W is cranking out. If you want to enjoy a nice S&W find an old one. Seriously. Over the years I have watched Ruger going downhill as well. And Remington? They're totally gone.. They may as well just move to China. Winchester is gone. Colt has pretty much given up on revolvers. Really sad what has happened to the industry. I worked on and sold a ton of S&W revolvers and competed with them regularly in the 90s and they were so much better before they went completely CAD/CAM -MIM-LOCK crazy. S&W is now completely run by people that know nothing about quality firearms. They may as well make IKEA furniture today. The last new S&W I purchased was a Model 696 in 1996. Those were the last of the handbuilt hand tuned S&Ws. After that they went downhill very quickly. The guys who built those guns took many years to train but they are all in retirement homes now - or dead. I feel very fortunate to have built my collection of revolvers back in those days. I got them cheap - the quality was very high - and there was so much to choose from and I NEVER had to send one back.

Don't even know where to start with this.
Since S&W and Ruger are going downhill I guess Taurus and Charter Arms are the go to for revolvers
I do action jobs and repairs most every day On S&W revolvers(That is all I work on) I also compete in USPSA, ICORE, Steel matches with a revolver to the tune of 10K+ rounds a year.
I disagree that the new ones are junk, just like they always did some get through that should have never left the factory but some of the old ones were embarrassing made. Just curious if the last one you bought was over 20 years ago how do you know so much about the new ones?
It takes me 25% longer to do a competition action job on a PRE-MIM gun than a new one. Most of the time trying to fix the sloppy tolerances.

I know there was some talented people working the revolver line but hand fitted and hand tuned they were not.
The ratchets were cut on a machine and the assembly line had racks of different size parts that were swapped out until they found one that fit and the gun at least functioned. They didn't fit every part and tune it for that gun.
A CNC machine can turn out thousands of perfect cut frames where a great machinist can never get them as precise even once let alone every time.

People can make fun of MIM all they want but as a retired die maker who has worked with steel and tolerances since a teenager I can say without hesitation that the MIM parts are WAY MORE precise and fit better than the forged parts ever did.
The old guns had issues as much the new ones. I have seen several old pinned barrel Smiths with canted barrels so this isn't a new problem.

I agree and really wish they would improve their quality control but as you said several manufactures should do this.
The good thing about the older guns is they are being put away in collections and not shot much which is sad but makes my life easier as they are a bigger pain to work on and get parts for than the new ones.
That works out well for those that run our guns hard and use them, we can buy the new stuff. It works well for the collectors that have safe queens they rarely, if ever shoot and want to tell everyone how much better their safe queen is than those of us out there beating on our junk guns every weekend. You all can have the old stuff.
I actually like the old guns as well but make no claim they are better than the new stuff.

As a side note people hate change in most everything in life. I remember years back when they started to go to CNC machines in the factory. I was skeptical as anyone but when the time to build a die went from months to weeks and much less fitting(grinding) I was a believer.

 

[phylodog]

Ha!! Have you tried many loads yet or just a solid 357 Mag and carry that?

I just shot the .38spl we had on hand to get a feel for it then a cylinder of the .357 carry ammo we have, I honestly don't recall which load it is. I pretty much consider this an arm's length tool (for my purposes) so if I happen to miss, they'll be easily identified as the person with their eyebrows on fire lol.

 

[Skullglide]

Well said bosshoss. I have worked over I have worked over Smith and Ruger revolvers. +\- to both.

 

[Fordtough25]

I just shot the .38spl we had on hand to get a feel for it then a cylinder of the .357 carry ammo we have, I honestly don't recall which load it is. I pretty much consider this an arm's length tool (for my purposes) so if I happen to miss, they'll be easily identified as the person with their eyebrows on fire lol.

Lol copy that, I agree on it being a close range fight ended. Major firepower!

 

[Drail]

Opinions vary.....

 

[Bosshoss]

Opinions vary.....

Yes they do and mine is just a opinion of someone who works on them everyday and shoots them in competition every weekend.( Well when the weather cooperates)

Some of the old Smiths were truly beautiful revolvers and deserve a place in history and the safe but I can't even remember the last time I saw one on the range being shot.

Like I said there are lots of older smiths out there for collectors and plenty newer ones out there to shoot the crap out of.

Despite the Quality problems I would never tell someone to NOT buy a S&W revolver(or any other brand for that matter). There is still something about running a revolver(DA) that is unmatched in the handgun world. I have said it before the revolver shooters are the stick shift experts of the handgun world. A car guy analogy.

 

[BJones]

I have stated my problems with the last few S&W revolvers that I have purchased in the past 18 months in other threads, all of which had to be returned to S&W for repairs. Their Customer Service is outstanding (maybe they get a lot of practice). They repaired all of mine, paid the shipping both ways and guarantee them forever. It is frustrating to buy a new gun and have to send it back for repairs, but at least they step up to the plate and get them right.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I have stated my problems with the last few S&W revolvers that I have purchased in the past 18 months in other threads, all of which had to be returned to S&W for repairs. Their Customer Service is outstanding (maybe they get a lot of practice). They repaired all of mine, paid the shipping both ways and guarantee them forever. It is frustrating to buy a new gun and have to send it back for repairs, but at least they step up to the plate and get them right.

That's how you maximize profit. They know there are plenty of gun owners but few gun shooters, so it's apparently cost effective to re-make the few guns shooters notice are wrong vs having decent QC across the board. Throw in a bunch of "special editions" and you've got the Midas touch.

 

[Fordtough25]

No lock, fit and finish are great, everything's straight and smooth. Dry fired it a couple hundred times last night, trigger is actually pretty nice! Can't wait to start testing it out, oh yea!!

 

[Expat]

That's how you maximize profit. They know there are plenty of gun owners but few gun shooters, so it's apparently cost effective to re-make the few guns shooters notice are wrong vs having decent QC across the board. Throw in a bunch of "special editions" and you've got the Midas touch.

I have gotten the impression some optics makers have the same philosophy.