S&W key?

[mcb]

The lock is a regulatory feature, designed to shield S&W from perverse liability for other's actions. That legal perversion is far uglier than the lock itself.

As per usual:
I have seen one first hand report of a lock locking itself, on a heavy caliber (.44RemMag I think) scandium frame, with light-for-caliber bullets (snappy recoil).

On the other hand, the revolvers I own, that I might possibly carry, that have locks, have the teensie stud ground right off the locking tab.

S&W sells a few J-frame revolvers and most of their semi-autos without similar child locks. Its less to do with liability and more to do with the company that invented the internal lock for the S&W revolvers now owns S&W. At this point the NRE to return to the old Lock-less design is probably more than they willing to invest so they keep making internally locked revolver because they have IP invested and don't want to reverse engineer the old designs.

 

[aaaaa]

Ive had that happen with a couple of S&W's that didn't have the lock. It didn't work there either.

Ive got a bunch of S&W's that have the lock. Ive never put a key in one, nor have I ever had a problem with one locking on its own.

Like the kid who can't help putting his tongue to the flagpole on a below freezing day, those who can't help fiddling with the lock, may be asking for trouble. I was also told to just leave it alone. I don't have children in the house, nor grandchildren coming around, so the lock is not needed. If someone were to steal the locked gun, they can easily open the side plate, remove the lock, and be on their nefarious way.

 

[Master Blaster]

I have a few Smiths with the lock. I removed it on some of them, like my 642, where the flag is not visible if it's locked. Others I left alone and after thousands of rounds none has ever self locked.

I would rather have no lock but it has not caused a problem, and I never use the lock anyway.