You can buy some of the different Centennial-style S&W revolvers in No-Lock versions.
According to what I was told by someone at S&W, several years ago the company decided to clear out an unwanted parts backlog of manufactured frames for the older 642-1 because they were taking up too much space in their parts. They serial numbered them and produced a short run of brand new 642-1's.
They sold out to their usual distributors FAST. I spoke with a couple of folks working at the company who didn't even realize there had been a new production run of the 642-1's using the old-stock frames, let alone that they'd sold out so quickly.
Then I heard some similarly old stock 442-1's had also been put together and sold out.
It wasn't that much later that S&W decided they'd make some No-Lock versions of their most popular selling Centennial-style J-frames. (I used this as an excuse to buy my second M&P 340, when that model was released in a No-Lock version, as my first one was from the very first production run of the model made with the lock.
)
Whenever I've asked about this I keep being told that while there's a strong percentage of people at the company who would like to see all of their revolvers offered in versions without the ILS (lock), that due to opinions of their corporate legal dept, only the internal hammer revolvers will probably see production versions without the ILS. (This could change next week, or never, so who knows.)
FWIW, I shoot my J's a pretty fair amount. My M&P 340's have replaced my pair of 642-1's as my most carried J's (retirement weapons), and of the pair of my M&P 340's, I tend to carry and use my first one -
made with the lock - the most often.
I wouldn't mind seeing S&W engineers come up with a new version of the ILS. One that's less obtrusive (but just as easily accessed for owners who
like the lock feature), and maybe one that has fewer than 5 parts.
