My new 686 has a "feature"!!

[gdesloge]

It would seem to me that at this point, at least some liability would actually rest with the OP. As well as with the manufacturer.

The gun has obviously been identified as "unsafe" and "non-standard," and the OP has recognized that it needs to be repaired prior to use.



From the S&W Product Safety Information page:


NEVER DISASSEMBLE YOUR FIREARM BEYOND THE FIELD STRIPPING PROCEDURE OUTLINED IN THE MANUAL THAT ACCOMPANIED YOUR FIREARM.
Improper disassembly or reassembly of your firearm may be dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death.

NEVER MANIPULATE, ADJUST OR CHANGE ANY OF THE INTERNAL COMPONENTS OF YOUR FIREARM UNLESS SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED TO DO SO IN THE MANUAL THAT ACCOMPANIED YOUR FIREARM.
Improper manipulation of any other internal component may affect the safety and reliability of your firearm and may cause serious injury or death.

NEVER ALLOW ANY ALTERATION OR REPLACEMENT OF PARTS IN YOUR FIREARM UNLESS PERFORMED BY A QUALIFIED GUNSMITH USING AUTHORIZED PARTS.
If you do otherwise, improper functioning of your firearm may occur and serious injury or death and damage to property may result.


gd

 

[Bob M.]

Thank you

Japle, Thanks for posting this. I don't have any 686's, but I'm sure that owners are re-examining theirs. This may save someone else some grief or worse.

 

[Guillermo]

WE know, we know

LOL

and so one would expect that a thread proving such would elicit comment

 

[5-SHOTS]

Freakest thing I've ever seen on a revolver. Bad spot for S&W. Hope they learn the lesson.

 

[Japle]

NEVER DISASSEMBLE YOUR FIREARM BEYOND THE FIELD STRIPPING PROCEDURE OUTLINED IN THE MANUAL THAT ACCOMPANIED YOUR FIREARM.
Improper disassembly or reassembly of your firearm may be dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death.

NEVER MANIPULATE, ADJUST OR CHANGE ANY OF THE INTERNAL COMPONENTS OF YOUR FIREARM UNLESS SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED TO DO SO IN THE MANUAL THAT ACCOMPANIED YOUR FIREARM.
Improper manipulation of any other internal component may affect the safety and reliability of your firearm and may cause serious injury or death.

NEVER ALLOW ANY ALTERATION OR REPLACEMENT OF PARTS IN YOUR FIREARM UNLESS PERFORMED BY A QUALIFIED GUNSMITH USING AUTHORIZED PARTS.
If you do otherwise, improper functioning of your firearm may occur and serious injury or death and damage to property may result.

Right. Doing any of those things can result in excess flutes growing on the outside of your gun's cylinder!!

 

[357 Terms]

and so one would expect that a thread proving such would elicit comment
__________________

I will concede that much....on this thread.

Right. Doing any of those things can result in excess flutes growing on the outside of your gun's cylinder!!
__________________

Thats funny!

 

[gdesloge]

"Right. Doing any of those things can result in excess flutes growing on the outside of your gun's cylinder!!"


Well, I'm sure that there is no shortage of attorneys willing to be paid to make that argument!

Best -

gd

 

[BADUNAME37]

I purchased a brand new 642 several years ago. First shot and the cylinder rod got jammed as it was apparently unscrewing. When I finally got the cylinder open, the rod flew off (in the woods, with lots of undergrowth). I found one or two parts and saw that the spring-loaded rod was actually stripped where it was supposed to screw in. Then I realized that there was at least one, if not two springs missing.

Long story short, I called S&W, I paid to ship it to Customer Service and they had it six weeks before I finally got it back on the slow boat to and from China.

And, here I have been touting how great S&W is. I wasn't very happy with all that BS I had to go through for a gun that I purchased brand-spanking new! :banghead:

 

[aHFo3]

There is much that we can take away from this experience. The most important is to, as revolver owners, starting now, make December "Excessive Flute Awareness" month.

When December rolls around each year, make sure your cylinders still have the proper 1:1 ratio of flutes to chambers. Rhino, Ruger Single-10 and other unfluted cylinders do not apply, also owners of the USFA 12/22 should look for a 1:2 ratio

 

[Japle]

If they made all their revolvers like this, it would save us a lot of bandwidth.

And the guns would look cooler!

 

[45_auto]

If you want to send me the cylinder off that, I'll chuck it up in the rotary table on the mill and cut 7 or 8 flutes in it for you. Who knows, you might get lucky and I'll cut the right amount!

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

I would guess the mechanical complexity of machining a revolver to be about the equivelent of a spaceship hatch latch, or a pump for a kidney machine.

I haven't ever spec'd a gun, but assuming equivelent manned space or medical inspection and traceability requirements, I would estimate that you would probably be in the neighborhood of $50,000.

This is one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever heard! Have you even seen the insides of a revolver? It's not that complex and they've been doing it for over a century!

 

[Guillermo]

357 terms

Yes Guillermo we know!

From every single thread involving Smith & Wesson

You know but I might miss somebody!!!!

Perhaps I did go a little too far when I started ragging on S&W revolvers on the shotgun forums.



your point is well taken.

I can't go cold turkey though.

I will stop ragging on new Smith revolvers for 2 days

HEY...IT'S A START!!!

(giggling like a drunken spider monkey because one must be able to laugh at oneself)

 

[skidder]

Pretty easy to tell who the Taurus and Smith fan boys are . I think Rugers are the best, but that would not stop me from grabbing my torch and pitchfork in honor of an equal mistake.

If it happened in a Taurus factory it would have been 8 flutes per 5 holes.
But....you would have been able to tell sooner because the cylinder would have fallen off for closer examination.

 

[Ghost Tracker]

Dang, it's HARD to hold-back from the S&W vs. Colt vs. Ruger vs. Charter Arms vs. Taurus vs. Rossi vs. Llama vs. who-the-heck-built-this vs. etc. revolver debate. But I've already felt the need to apologize once this week & several of the usual suspects have contributed their learned opinions on this thread as well. But I'll bet you dollars against navy beans that S&W will get this right, do it quickly, and make the OP completely satisfied that S&W is still a wise purchase. Some manufacturers swiftly deflect the egg from their face and s-l-o-w-l-y blame the customer, the ammo, the moon phase and/or the tidal force. Others quickly wipe the egg from the customer's face, apologize for tossing the egg, accept the responsibility, work hard to avoid any lawyers & buy breakfast. S&W owes you some ham & biscuits. Let us know how it tastes.

 

[357 Terms]

HEY...IT'S A START!!!

Small steps are always the best!

 

[Old Fuff]

Perhaps I did go a little too far when I started ragging on S&W revolvers on the shotgun forums.

What you doing on the shotgun forums?

On the other hand I never Fitz'ed a shotty before...

 

[skidder]

Guillermo-- If you can make it 2 days without "enlightening" people on new Smith and Wesson revolvers. I will try try to refrain from casting my wisdom to all those thirsting for truth about Taurus revolvers.

 

[45_auto]

Have you even seen the insides of a revolver? It's not that complex and they've been doing it for over a century!

Have you ever seen the latch on the Orion hatch or the pump out of a dialysis machine? I've done engineering design work on both, and mechanically they are both MUCH less complex and have a lower part count than a S&W double-action revolver mechanism.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

Have you ever seen the latch on the Orion hatch or the pump out of a dialysis machine? I've done engineering design work on both, and mechanically they are both MUCH less complex and have a lower part count than a S&W double-action revolver mechanism.

Have you ever stopped to consider that they may be overpriced or the level of precision and liability if they are made wrong is much much higher?

 

[45_auto]

Have you ever stopped to consider that they may be overpriced or the level of precision and liability if they are made wrong is much much higher?

Very good! Maybe you're finally gaining an understanding of why you don't get the same level of QC on an $800 S&W as you do on an even simpler $50,000 mechanism!

 

[Sam1911]

We're drifting in circles. Valid points made all 'round.

Japle, send me a PM when S&W gets back to you and we'll open this up to continue discussing this gun and what they're doing about it.

[EDIT: Thread opened for Japle's update.]

 

[Japle]

UPDATE 1/3/2012

This morning, I talked to Jon Young at S&W Customer Service. He’s talked to the other CS and production guys and no one has seen a gun like this that made it out of the plant. They’ve seen cylinders like this in the scrap bins, but not on guns that were shipped.

He says there’s no problem if I keep the cylinder. Also no problem with anyone messing with the action. I just have to include a note stating the problem (I’ll include a few photos) and ask that they just replace the cylinder.

He says I can ask for a non-fluted cylinder, but he can’t guarantee I’ll get one. There might be an extra charge. I pointed out that it wouldn’t be any more expensive to install a non-fluted cylinder on purpose than to install a 7-fluted cylinder by mistake. The non-fluted cylinders come from the Performance Center, though, so he doesn’t know how that’ll work.

S&W is very aware of the fact that my gun is the subject of threads on at least 12 different firearms forums. They know I’m going to report on what happens.

Jon said he’ll have a shipping label emailed to me. I’ll remove the cylinder and sent the gun in.

Wish me luck!

 

[sixgunner455]

Very interesting.

 

[Coal Dragger]

Now at S&W the meetings about meetings, and general hand wringing begin. Glad I don't have to sit in on one of those, since I am sure some pointed not so pleasant questions are going to be asked of some people there.