So I went out with a 5 new guns and which one do you think didn't work?

AbitNutz · Apr 26, 2021

So I ended up with 5 new guns and decided to go out today and give them a spin. They're all 22 WMR or more commonly known as 22 magnums, 1 rifle, and 4 handguns.

1. Savage A22 Pro Magnum Varmint
2. Rock Island Arsenal XT 22 Magnum Pro
3. Smith & Wesson 648-2 Stainless
4. Ruger Single Nine
5. AMT Automag II (unfired)

4 out of the 5 fired everything I put through them. CCI, Armscor, and Winchester, not one malfunction or light primer strike. Which has, in my experience, been fairly common in CCI 22 WMR.

What didn't work? What failed to fire at all, in any way shape, or form? The brand new Smith & Wesson 648-2. It refused to fire on double or single action. I ran the cylinder around 2 more times just to see if I could get one to go off. Nothing. When I went to eject the cartridges, the ejector star went right past the cartridge rims leaving them all in the chambers. It never snagged one.

When I looked at the unfired cases they all had 3 very light strikes. I put them in my other guns and the rounds went off perfectly.

The failure to eject and the light strike has got to be related. I'm assuming that since the ejector star isn't under the case rims, the cases aren't being held close enough for the hammer to strike them hard enough. The ejector star surrounds the case rims but is never under them at any point.

I was worried about the Rock Island having reliability problems and it ran flawlessly. Out of the entire pile of firearms, I would never have bet that the S&W would be the one going back for warranty service.

I called Smith & Wesson on the way back from the range and they emailed me a FedEx shipping label. I finished shooting at 2:00 PM. It was gone by 4:00 PM.

BreechFace · Apr 26, 2021

...but revolvers...they always go bang

THEWELSHM · Apr 26, 2021

Makes no sense with a revolver, I cant wait to hear the outcome..

Thewelshm

milsurpguy · Apr 26, 2021

Wow smith is even screwing up revolvers now.
Never thought it possible.
But I have been hearing that a lot now. "My new pistol broke immediately" or "didn't work", is most often times a smith semiauto.

SHOOT1SAM · Apr 26, 2021

AbitNutz said:
...I put them in my other guns and the rounds went off perfectly...

Well, ‘course they did-they’d done been hit by that 648-2 a coupla three times!

Sam

FL-NC · Apr 26, 2021

I guessed the AMT. I have always heard those were all either heroes or total zeros.

Rodfac · Apr 26, 2021

Hope S&W gets on the problem for you....I sent a M-63 back, right after New Years, for lead spitting and an uneven cylinder gap....on their nickel to, complete with FEDEX shipping label both ways...but it took right at 3 months.

They fixed both issues by replacing the barrel, yoke, bolt and hand. The gun's quite accurate....shot a cpl groups this am from 15 yds, unsupported that hovered right at an inch, ctr to ctr. (CCI Mini-Mag solids). The only notice I received from Smith, that the gun was in transit back to me, was the FEDEX e-mail requiring a signature for home delivery.

Best of luck. Rod

flyingtiger85 · Apr 26, 2021

Winchester 22 magnum in the silver/red box refused to work in my Ruger single six.The bottom rim at the base of the bullet was to big and binded up the cylinder not letting it turn.

Riomouse911 · Apr 27, 2021

Rodfac said:
Hope S&W gets on the problem for you....I sent a M-63 back, right after New Years, for lead spitting and an uneven cylinder gap....on their nickel to, complete with FEDEX shipping label both ways...but it took right at 3 months.

They fixed both issues by replacing the barrel, yoke, bolt and hand. The gun's quite accurate....shot a cpl groups this am from 15 yds, unsupported that hovered right at an inch, ctr to ctr. (CCI Mini-Mag solids). The only notice I received from Smith, that the gun was in transit back to me, was the FEDEX e-mail requiring a signature for home delivery.

Best of luck. Rod

I’ve spent up to eight months to get a S&W fixed. Four were waiting for them to accept it and four while it was there.
The other two took about five months each.
And yes, they didn’t notify me they were shipping back two of the three guns I’ve sent them in the past three years (686+, 66-2 and 48-3).
Love their revolvers...hate when they break.

Stay safe.

Pat Riot · Apr 27, 2021

Rodfac said:
Hope S&W gets on the problem for you....I sent a M-63 back, right after New Years, for lead spitting and an uneven cylinder gap....on their nickel to, complete with FEDEX shipping label both ways...but it took right at 3 months.

I had a similar experience only mine was just uneven cylinder gap. .015” on the left side .005” on the right. 3 week turnaround but I got no explanation of what was done. The gap is now fine at .005”.

@AbitNutz
Baffling as to why your gun is jacked up. Out of curiosity I looked for a photo of the cylinder & ejector on the 648-2 and found this photo. It looks like things should have all looked pretty tight when the gun was loaded. Too bad you don’t have a photograph posted of your gun’s cylinder for comparison. This photo is from the website pasted below the photo:

http://firearms.shootingtimes.com/editorial/smith-wesson-model-648-22-wmr-revolver-review/374572

I wonder if S&W somehow installed an extractor from a model 63 or 317? They are 8 shot .22LR revolvers.

Hangingrock · Apr 27, 2021

Decades in the past I was on first name basis with the customer service manager at S&W. That how bad their quality control was.

mountaindrew · Apr 27, 2021

The first gun i ever had to send back to a manufacturer was a Ruger sp101 revolver. Ironic, because i bought it largely based on the reputation for sturdiness and reliability.

BWS · Apr 27, 2021

I've got a bunch of Smith's... love'm. Got a bunch of Colt revolvers as well,love them too. Have had way more "issues" with the Smith's. Just gets old constantly hearing about their superiority.

Sorry to hear about your gun. Here's hoping you get it fixed up and back on the range!!

Obturation · Apr 27, 2021

I'm totally turned off by s&w. I'm not going to continue to talk about my experience but it was not good. Small sample size (2 new center fire revolvers- both bad), I just won't buy their guns- I'm unlucky with them. That's all.

Good luck, CS did actually manage to fix one of my guns but the fix didn't last long.
Hope yours comes back and is a great range companion .

.38 Special · Apr 27, 2021

I read the thread title and guessed S&W. Then I read the OP and saw S&W and said "Ah ha!". Then I got to the Automag and thought "Oh. Guess it's not the S&W this time."

Pretty tricky, #AbitNutz!

sequins · Apr 27, 2021

You say the star doesn't even touch the brass? Wow. That left the factory without being looked at at all.

CDW4ME · Apr 28, 2021

BreechFace said:
...but revolvers...they always go bang

Mythbusted, in this thread.

Tallball · Apr 28, 2021

I've had one bad Smith revolver out of ten or so. They sent it back to me and said they wouldn't work on it because I'd put a non-factory spring in it. Admittedly I'd bought it used, so I didn't feel they were under any severe obligation to help me. On the other hand, that didn't impress me.

roval · Apr 28, 2021

flyingtiger85 said:
View attachment 994857 Winchester 22 magnum in the silver/red box refused to work in my Ruger single six.The bottom rim at the base of the bullet was to big and binded up the cylinder not letting it turn.

same thing here. i think it was the dynapoint winchester. the rim was too thick and was proud of the surface and bound up the cylinder of my single nine. (worked great with cci). i had to have the gunsmith remove the cylinder and the bullets.

Shootinator · Apr 28, 2021

Simple solution.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy a new Smith & Wesson.

Plenty of old classics available from 70s, 80s, and 90s and you can get them for good prices.

Rockrivr1 · Apr 28, 2021

FL-NC said:
I guessed the AMT. I have always heard those were all either heroes or total zeros.

This was my guess as well. I'm surprised to hear it was the S&W.

TTv2 · Apr 29, 2021

milsurpguy said:
Wow smith is even screwing up revolvers now.
Never thought it possible.
But I have been hearing that a lot now. "My new pistol broke immediately" or "didn't work", is most often times a smith semiauto.

And we'll probably be hearing about it a lot more for US makers given the extraordinary high demand because if they can put them together at assembly and ship them, they make money. If they don't ship the guns they need to for the next day, people tend to get fired or lose their bonus.

bullseye308 · Apr 30, 2021

I also was expecting the AMT, they either work or need worked on from what I’ve heard. I’d like to have one anyway. The only Smith revolver I have is a 67 no dash from 1974 and it works like it should. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

sparkyv · May 1, 2021

I'm a huge S&W revolver guy and have had no issues with my several, some of very recent manufacture including the little sister to the M648, a very new M617. I was surprised with the obviously poor QC that AbitNutz reported, was expecting the AMT to be problematic. No manufacturer is perfect, but this M648 should have never left the factory.

gnappi · May 1, 2021

milsurpguy said:
Wow smith is even screwing up revolvers now.
Never thought it possible.

With many of the real gun makers likely gone because S*W is making many plastic pistols in an injection mold I would not be surprised if they hired kids at minimum wage to make guns

So I went out with a 5 new guns and which one do you think didn't work?

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