The problem there is S&W is charging a premium price for equal potential QC issues as everyone else is.
I had planned to buy a .22 DA revolver earlier this year from a lower priced company because I figured if all the rimfire triggers on a revolver under $800 are crap, then I'll buy a budget turd vs a polished turd.
Ended up getting a Ruger cuz that was all that was available.
Same applies to other calibers, unless I really want a particular one, I'm opting for the lower priced model because I stand and equal chance to get something that doesn't have an issue.
S&W and other manufacturers may or may not have "equal potential QC issues," but S&W revolvers offerings, features, distict look, ergos, aftermarket and accessory support, so on and so forth aren't equal. That's why most pay a premium for them. Plus with inflation, S&W revolvers costs about the same as they always have.
S&W manufacturers well over 400 thousand revolvers per year, and I'm sure all 400k+ aren't sold every year, so I reckon there's a half a million sitting waiting to be sold NIB at any given time. Even with a 1% defective rate for some Q/A issue (whether minor or major) because an employee didn't do their job or something slipped through, that's still over 4k revolvers each and every year out of the hundreds of thousands they manufacture. Even at .5% defective rate, that would be over 10k in 5 years with a percentage of customers reporting about issues with one increasing with each year on social media and forums.
Then you'll have the small percentage of people who come across these defects who will, each and every year, accumulate in their complaints while most who don't have an issue will not take the time to join a forum or social media to tell everyone ad nauseam about how they got a good one like those who had an issue will complain about their issues with their example.
Next, I'm sure that S&W revolvers had many QC issues in the past as well. Matter of fact I know they did via first hand accounting from former L.E. who carried and/or where responsible for their up keep at their department. The difference between then and now is there was no internet, social media, cellphone, etc. None of us would know about any of the issues we just heard several members in this thread bring up. Billy on the East Coast wouldn't know about the problems Bob on the West Coast was having, nor would Bob be able to constantly regurgitate his misfortune.
Last, S&W manufactured way LESS revolvers at that time than they do today, so even if the percentage of defects were the same, their would be way less of them on the market for buyers to come into contact with. Also, the majority of gun owners back in the day didn't own 5, 10, 15 or more revolvers. Gun owners today buy and own a larger collection of firearms than in the past thus increasing the probability of them coming across one that has a buggered screw, chatter marks, small imperfect, etc.