My new 686 has a "feature"!!

[CSA 357]

I would call them this should never have left the factory, this causes thin places in the cylinder walls, might be fine but it might not? better safe than sorry i say.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Walk,

Yes sir, a cursory inspection should have caught it before it left the factory, and a cursory inspection by the owner should have caught it before he loaded it and fired it. I clean loaded ammo in vibratory cleaners without any fear of danger, but I sure would not have fired any ammo from that cylinder.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[Sam1911]

I wish people would quit making excuses for S&W, this is beyond ridiculous, period!!!!

No one is excusing it. Several people have tried to explain why it happens, even in the modern world of near-Glocklike levels of "perfection."

The OP isn't going to sigh and accept it. And S&W won't either! Hopefully the OP will be kind enough to share what steps they take to recitfy the matter.

Honestly, I'd rather see a process error like this (so long as I didn't get hurt) than a quality problem where things are just generally shoddy. This is a clear mistake which S&W will make right.

 

[Walkalong]

And I am sure they will, with a profound apology. It's just wild that it made it out of the Performance Center.

 

[Guillermo]

It's just wild that it made it out of the Performance Center.

on what do you base this?

Union idiots that are over paid and can't be fired are capable of anything

 

[blackrussian]

You could probably sell it to Ruger or another competitor. So they could use it in a marketing campaign. Not the high road, I know.

 

[DeepSouth]

Union idiots that are over paid and can't be fired are capable of anything

I just wanted to point out that the good folks at Smith and Wesson are not union workers. I think they were back in the day when they had folks that could match cylinder holes to flutes, I guess all those guys got fired.

 

[Guillermo]

good folks at Smith and Wesson are not union workers

I stand corrected

They used to be but are no longer

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

The Performance Center is where their best work is supposed to come from and they do pride themselves on it from what I've seen. This is something that should not have come from the performance center.

 

[nater762]

Lol 6 shot 7 shooter lol

 

[edwin41]

"performance centre " now has a new meaning to me i guess...
but , lets not forget , any factory makes mistakes , they sepparate themselves
by how they solve them .
i for one would like to hear how this is gonna be corrected.
greetings from holland mi amigos !

 

[Drail]

"Performance Center" used to mean something. Now it's just marketing. And there is absolutely no acceptable excuse for something like that cylinder. None. Somebody was asleep on the job.

 

[skidder]

Japle-- Thanks for the post.... Understandable why you didn't notice it right away. I saw the pic and it took me a little while, and I knew I was looking for something.

Kinda like the kids books Where's Waldo and I Spy. Never thought we'd be playing that game on a picture of an expensive revolver.

Some light humor, but in reality you could have been seriously injured. You have some leverage by having the gun in your possession. Don't settle for less, the ball is in your court. Give this some serious thought and make them beg for the worm.

 

[Japle]

Just to set the record straight, this is not a Performance Center gun. It’s part of the “Pro Series”. S&W’s description says, “Completing the line between main production and the Performance Center, the Smith & Wesson Pro Series represents the next step from standard models”.

Also, I only used standard pressure .38 Special loads to check function and sight it in. I would not try factory-pressure .357 loads in this gun. The thinnest chamber wall is only 40% of what it should be.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

Even so, this still shouldn't have happened to something that is marketed as a step up from the standard model.

 

[gdesloge]

This is an absolutely fascinating thread.

First, it's great news that no one was hurt.

Second, if no one was hurt, why all the indignant outrage? Because someone could have been hurt? What are we all - attorneys looking for some business?

Third, The OP himself performed an action job (if I read that correctly) on the revolver, and then proceeded to fire multiple rounds from the thing, and even he didn't notice the flaw. No offense to the OP intended, but that is the self-admitted truth. Be truthful here - how lovingly do you all fondle your newest acquisitions?

Fourth, shouldn't this flaw actually commend S&W products to us for their durability? I mean, the darn thing didn't blow up, and everyone here seems to think that the OP escaped certain death by the skin of his teeth.

Fifth, could this be a well-played marketing prank committed by a competitor to undermine the reputation of S&W? I don't necessarily believe that (again, this is not an intentional slur against the OP), but this is the internet, after all, and there are lots of "facts" thrown against the wall here which we discerning readers should judge with the foresight of that context.

Best to all -

gd

 

[Japle]

I mean, the darn thing didn't blow up, and everyone here seems to think that the OP escaped certain death by the skin of his teeth.

That's because - for the 4th time - I used .38 Spl loads, not the .357 loads the gun was designed to deal with.

Do you want to shoot this gun with .357 factory loads? I'll be happy to watch. From a distance.

 

[788Ham]

What have you heard so far? Are they on holiday until after the first of the year? Good luck.

 

[gdesloge]

Repeated for emphasis:

"First, it's great news that no one was hurt."

"Second, if no one was hurt, why all the indignant outrage? Because someone could have been hurt? What are we all - attorneys looking for some business?"

Best -

gd

 

[Beagle-zebub]

If we need another reason for indignant outrage, I'd be willing to settle for the OP's having gotten a defective product in exchange for his $800.

 

[Fishslayer]

Even a cursory inspection of the firearm before it went out of the factory would should catch this.

I dunno. OP did an action job on it before noticing. It's just such a wild & unexpected thing... who would think to look for that?

Looking at the photo I had been TOLD something was "off" but still had to look at it a bit. And the usual POV is from behind when the cylinder's open open.

I'm kind of wondering if a machinist loaded the wrong software, or perhaps forgot to change the software from a batch of + cylinders and set that one aside after reallizing it was wrong. Then somebody else came along, picked it up and put it into a gun.

 

[Japle]

What have you heard so far? Are they on holiday until after the first of the year?

They're closed until 1/2/2012.

 

[Guillermo]

"Second, if no one was hurt, why all the indignant outrage? Because someone could have been hurt? What are we all - attorneys looking for some business?"

Let's try this with something else.

if you had found the tire store had put only one lug nut on your car and you caught it before your daughter went on a cross country trip you would not have "indignant outrage"?

No one was hurt.

Job one of a gun company is to see that the items they produce contains the blast.

 

[Japle]

Job one of a gun company is to see that the items they produce contains the blast.

And this one might not do that!

 

[45_auto]

Job one of a gun company is to see that the items they produce contains the blast.

Actually, job one of a gun company is to make money. Many on this thread don't seem to realize that.

If you want a perfect product, be prepared to pay a perfect price for it. You're not going to get it at mass market consumer prices.

There are companies that make bomb calorimeters and blast containment chambers whose job one IS to contain the blast, but you won't touch one for the price of a S&W revolver.

And this one might not do that!

Nope, but the other 20,000,000 or so that they've made before your's seem to be working OK so far. Maybe you should have bought a lottery ticket instead of a gun!