[Lloyd Smale]

Im a little curious as i have one comming. I picked up another a few months ago and my buddy talked me out of it before i shot it. He is experiencing alot of problems with extraction with his. Factory level loads need to be pounded out of it. Its very accurate with lighter loads though. Is this par for the course with these guns. can anything be done to rectify the problem

[Jim Watson]

I have READ, not done, that cast bullets will give hard extraction and jacketed will pop right out. Which is he loading?

[Lloyd Smale]

some of both he was shooting cast handloads and jacketed factory both gave him problems. Do you know why they claimed the cast bullets caused the problem. Ive never experienced anything like that in the past

[klw]

These guns just don't work. I had one. Fiddled with it forever. Nothing helped. That's a pretty typical experience. Of all the owners I ever knew, maybe one or two got them to work somewhat but... Smith made two batches. The original distributor who ordered them had so many complaints that they dropped the order mid-way through.

The only Smith revolver of recent manufacturer that was worse was the VERY short lived 38 Super.

[Jim Watson]

What was wrong with the 686 Super?
I have had good reports on two and was close to getting one for myself, but another project got in the way.

[Black Snowman]

I haven't had trouble with mine on extraction, I haven't shot it a ton but I'd done some strange loads (http://10mmtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=472) in mine. All jacketted.

Only issue I've had with mine is unburnt powder hanging up the action. A good cleaning and a differant powder took care of that.

I haven't tried any factory loads in mine.

If he's really having that much trouble I'd say it needs to go back to S&W. I imagine they've learned a few things from the earlier runs. Mine (http://home.kc.rr.com/bsmith1952/img/Guns/SW646LSwAmmo.jpg) is part of the 2nd batch.

[DragonFire]

My 646 is back at S&W right now for a similar problem. Using the same load, some rounds extract very easily but some take a pounding to get them out. A friend who's a gunsmith suggested a slight smoothing of the chambers might help, but because of the titanium cylinder I was hesitant to do anything to it.

I wrote Smith about it and they suggested I send it to them to be examined and repaired.

I've played with mine a bit, with the intent it would be my IDPA gun. I replaced the main spring and firing pin. I eliminated any misfire problems, and mostly the gun was reliable and fun to shoot. I probably could have lived with the extraction problem since it didn't happen that often, but it would have doomed my IDPA score if it happened during a match, and would have completely eliminated the gun as a possible CCW piece.

[Brian D.]

Any truth to the notion I've read about that you need different thicknesses of moon clips for the 646, depending on what brand of cartridge is being used? If so, it seems to me you'd have to segregate brass VERY closely, and/or color code the clips, as they'd be too hard to tell apart at a glance.
Hmm, maybe there's a reason I just saw a low-miles 646 at the show this weekend, at a very tempting price, aluminum case and several moon clips as part of the deal. $425 would have bought it as memory serves..

[klw]

VERY VERY carefully separated my 40 S&W brass. Bought every thickness of moon clip made for the 646. Nothing worked. Jammed no matter what.

[Waynefi]

I just started a discussion on 646's on the S&W forum, and had some good information. Some people have excellent results with them. Here is the the thread if you would like to read.

http://www.smith-wessonforum.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/016694.html

Thanks,

Wayne