Pre-lock & Post-lock Smith & Wessons

[Blood and Iron]

I've been stationed overseas for the last few years & am a bit out of the loop on what Smith & Wesson is doing here of late. I know they got their head screwed on straight again, or at least claim to; but the last time I was home on leave, I saw they have now come out with a hammer lock system. Personally I think its left leaning, "look how we're trying to help" crap & I won't own one for this reason. Not to mention the possibility of system failure rendering the weapon inoperable. Don't get me wrong, I think the pre-lock Smiths were as close to perfection as revolver could get & I have a pile of them back in the states. I just don't like the concept of fixing something that wasn't broken. What do you old wheel-gunners think about this?

 

[.41Dave]

You might want to use the search feature to review the 14,343,564 threads that have beat this one to death over the last few years, both here and on smith-wessonforum.com. The consensus seems to be that 90.9% of us hate and despise the lock, 9.9% don't care, and 0.02% like and approve of the locks. Almost everyone also agrees that they are VERY unlikely to go away.

 

[TexasRifleman]

This one was beat to death years ago.

Short version is S&W signed an agreement with the Clinton administration to do this. They took a good deal of heat and backlash from the gun community.

Since then S&W has sold to new owners but it would be difficult from a legal standpoint to remove a supposed "safety feature" so we are stuck with them from now on.

Frankly it's very old news.

The important thing to remember is that the current ownership of S&W is NOT the same bunch that made that agreement.

 

[Old Dog]

As .41Dave notes, this dead horse has been flogged to the extreme on every gun forum in existence.

Few accept The Lock. While I personally in the past purchased a couple excellent S&W revolvers with The Lock that had lock-up, actions and finish (stainless) to rival the best of the old Smiths, they have moved on ... I have elected to purchase only pre-lock Smiths ever again.

As progressive as the new company ownership may be, unless the ugly pimple is done away with, I'll never buy another new production S&W revolver in my lifetime.

 

[orionengnr]

Search is your friend.

 

[Landric]

I think it is at least possible that the lock will go away eventually. The M&P45 doesn't have a provision to even make the lock optional, so S&W is willing to produce a new gun that doesn't have it (its optional on the other M&Ps).

I've personally experienced an IL failure, so I'm not going to be purchasing any S&Ws with the IL, no matter what.

 

[Ghost Tracker]

Locks? ...We don't need no stinkin' locks! Heck, I'm so stubborn I still think S&W revolver hammers should have firing pins on em'!

 

[pinkymingeo]

Yes, the topic is a dead horse and no, the lock is not going away. I wouldn't own a steel S&W with the lock. The scandium guns are some of the best things they've ever made, though, and if you want them you're locked. I have four with the lock. Well, the flag is there and if you turn the key it goes up and down. Doesn't lock the gun, though, because the locking tab has been removed from each. I have a spare flag, stock, for each gun (available from S&W for four bucks and change), so I can return them to specs should the need arise.

 

[Raspu10]

cant you just remove the ILS? i was told its not illegal because there are post locked models being carried.

 

[pinkymingeo]

If you remove it you're left with a hole in the frame and a cutout next to the hammer that, to me, look bad. Plus, the gun doesn't look stock. The flag has a nub on it that locks the hammer when activated. It takes half an hour to pull the flag, grind down the nub with a dremel, and reinstall. The gun looks factory-fresh.

 

[JaxJim]

I don't own any with locks and have no plans to. It's ugly, it's another thing to go wrong and it smacks of nanny-ism.

Obviously, no strong opinion here!

 

[dispatch]

I own a few Smith's- all pre-lock. Won't buy one with a lock as a statement, and as well, a practical matter. Internal locks are a terrible idea for any firearm- just something else that can go wrong and disable the gun. Let Clinton's bodyguards use them- I won't.