S&W 642 Barrel is Cracked!

[..]

I bought a 642 yesterday, shot it today, came home and cleaned it and found the friggin bbl is cracked! completely thorugh and through. I'm calling S&W warranty tomorrow. What kind of service can I expect? I will insist they send out a call tag. I also wonder if they will just press in a new bbl or give me a new revolver. If they do give me a new gun I expect them to pay the FFL fee as well.

 

[..]

Here's another.

 

[..]

.

 

[Kodiak AK]

Press in would be my guess. That sucks . Is it all the way thru ?

Edit . Yea it is .

 

[..]

Yep, all the way through. Glad it didn't blow up in my hand.

 

[Josey]

I pulled a revolver out of the S&W display the other day. I handed it back to the sales girl and asked her to look at the crown. Same thing. New in the display case. S&W has a serious QC problem.

 

[JNewell]

Ouch.

You should expect that they'll send the slip immediately and fix it, free of charge, promptly. I had a problem with a M60 recently. Total door to door time was eight days. Stay cool -- they will take care of it.

 

[Mike Irwin]

And people wonder why I've been screaming about S&W's quality control, or abysmal lack thereof, for 10 years?


.., your pictures are very out of focus. Any chance of you retaking them?

Back off from the muzzle, or see if your camera has a "macro" feature. I can make out the crack, but it's kind of hard to tell the severity.

 

[..]

Mike, I did use macro, it's just not a top quality camera. The crack is severe, it goes all the way through. I don't want to fool with it again, I'm sick as is with the situation. Damn I wish I had looked at the bbl when I bought it. You can bet your "you know what" I will from now on.

 

[HSMITH]

Boy howdy, and I thought I had a bad one when the bore was only .085" off center in the barrel at the crown and the timing was hosed on my new one. Mine was a couple years ago, and luckily I found it before firing a single shot. They fixed it without a squable or even a comment. New barrel, timed well but they didn't do a thing about the piddle poor DA pull, felt like a new Ruger or a new J-frame and they left it that way. Sold that gun after it came back, something about a bad taste that you can't get out......

Shortly after that the agreement was signed, choices were very simple after that.

 

[..]

All companies have their issues, Just how bad is the question. I've heard more bad things about Taurus. What other choice do you have for a pocket .38? :banghead:

 

[Mike Irwin]

The REAL question is just why is Smith & Wesson having these problems in the first place?

15 to 20 years ago they were touting their investment of millions of dollars into CNC machinery that they said would allow them to make every gun one that would rival the hand-fitted wonders that the company made in years past.

If anything, the opposite has been the case.

I've said it before here, over at The Firing Line, and on the old Compuserve Firearms Forum, S&W quality control is SLIPPING, not getting better, and it's been slipping for years.

When I was behind the counter at the gunshop I was seeing some pretty stupendous stuff coming through the inventory, stuff that simply never should have been.

I've lost count of how many new guns I've seen that have had barrels that are BADLY out of register.

I've lost count of how many new guns I've seen that have had barrels that have been screwed so tightly into the frame that there are stress rings visible INSIDE the bore.

I've lost count of how many guns have had weird trigger pulls that, when opened, have been loaded with metal chips and other assorted crap.

I've lost count of how many guns have had triggers or hammers that drag so badly on the frame that they never should have left the shop floor, much less the factory.

Those are just the problems with the revolvers.

The problems with the semi-automatics are, likewise, disturbing and far to common.

For my efforts, I've simply been accused of being biased against Smith & Wesson on political grounds because of the agreement.

Pay no attention to the fact that I've been talking about this for over 10 years now, and the agreement was only signed in March 2000 (yep, it's been 4 years, folks).

I guess it's just easier to kill the messenger with a convenient crutch than it is to examine the actual record and question why a company that has been making guns for over 150 years, and has invested in some of the latest and most precise manufacturing technology available, is failing to live up to its history and its capabilities?

The simple fact is that yes, you hear bad things about Taurus.

But, over the past 15 to 20 years, Taurus has made improvements and strides in quality control that I feel are nothing short of a miracle.

Smith & Wesson, on the other hand, hasn't lived up to that challenge.

The way things are going, it's not going to be too many years until Taurus catches up with S&W quality wise. And Taurus already beats S&W on price.

 

[fastbolt]

I suspect that S&W will repair or replace your 642 very quickly ...

Despite what some folks have said about me, I'm not a S&W apologist ... or a paid promoter, for that matter.

I DO really, really like my 642-1 ...

During the 70's, 80's and into the 90's ... if I wanted to pick up a revolver and have it reliably function and shoot right out of the box ... I picked a Ruger. Day in, day out ... single action or double action ... I picked a Ruger.

Sure, I had to return a Redhawk once for a defective hammer ... but I've had to have more S&W revolvers repaired for problems than Rugers.

Rugers aren't "pretty" when it comes to finish, and they'll never have the really nice triggers of the S&W's & Colts ... but they're generally robust and reliable.

My 642-1 was the first S&W I was able to take out of the box and shoot it until I got tired of shooting ... and then do it again ... and again ... etc., etc.

The head armorer at work is a S&W revolver armorer. We've seen quite a number of late model S&W revolvers come through our range, and he's commented on how they're pretty much fine and functional compared to previous years. I hope this is a trend, and brought about by the new American ownership.

I will never again buy anything that is, was or ever will be made by anyone using the Charter Arms name and design ...

I won't buy a Taurus ... although I'll review that opinion, again, in another 5-10 years.

 

[Wildalaska]

Funny thing, and I have sold hundreds and hundreds, I have yet to send a new S&W back for warranty (except for a few Smegmas, which we dont sell)....

Fact I cant remember when I last saw a problem with a new Smith that wasnt caused by operator error....oops my mistake, had a 1911 Smith recalled...took one day for the call tag to reach Alaska and 5 days for the gun to get back......

Now Taurus...how about 1-5 a month go back....some right from the hands of the distributor to the factory,,,

And Taurus factory servvice sucks (as does Springfield Armory by the way)...the last time I had to deal with Taurus I had to threaten them with the old "how about I put a banner on our home page saying how bad your guns are so that some of the 3 million hits a year can hit that" before I got some results...

WildlikeswqualityAlaska

 

[Kestrel]

I don't know if I've just been lucky, but I've actually had very good service out of Springfield.

 

[BluesBear]

I did use macro, it's just not a top quality camera.

That's not it.
Your camera is area focusing instead of spot focusing. Place youe hand or other large opject next to the gun so it is in the same focal plane.
After your camera focus', remove your hand/object and then trip the shutter.

 

[Stainz]

The barrel tube had to be cracked during forging... maybe during rifling (cut or hammer-forged?). It probably propagated throught the alloy housing after a few rounds - thus the display-case new example. Sad, but things happen when folks get close to lunch... or Friday afternoon!

I am a neophyte in S&W terms. My first S&W revolver, a 625MG in .45 Colt, arrived 8/02. I have bought seven new 2001 or later production S&W revolvers since then, and one '83 vintage unused safe-queen. All of the new ones were fine. The Bangor Punta era safe queen was unbelieveably horrid. It had spattered brazing on the frame innards interfering with the trigger slide & bolt. How it got through a dry-fire trigger 'test' is beyond me. Thankfully, in my experience, they really don't make them like they once did!

From my experience personally... and at the range... I'll continue to limit myself to Ruger and S&W.

Stainz
Stainz

 

[..]

Just got off the phone with S&W, the guy said he would get the FEDEX shipping label right out to me and they will take care of it. I'll report back when I get my revolver back.

 

[Hutch]

Dios Mio!!! Visions of that picture will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life....

 

[farscott]

It probably propagated throught the alloy housing after a few rounds ....

I do not understand that statement. The M642 barrel is made entirely of steel; there is no barrel liner with an alloy housing like the AirLite revolvers.

I sure would love to know what made the barrel crack in such a manner. What was the failure mechanism? Did the crack start when the barrel was screwed into the frame? Was the barrel cracked during forging? During machining? During rifling? If so, how and why? How did this barrel and the revolver make it through proof firing? How many of these are in the field? I admit I am going to very carefully inspect my relatively new M642-2.

 

[Parker Dean]

It seems obvious to me that ALL firearms manufacturers have learned that they can ship everything they make, from jewels to junk, and that most consumers are so clueless as to what makes a good firearm that they return only a small percentage.

 

[popeye]

There is a large percentage of the public that buys a gun, may or may not shoot it once, and puts in a drawer "for home protection" and there it stays. Hence the viability of offering lifetime warranties. Read a few stories on the 1911forum about new $800 series '70 and $500 1911a1's that when disassembled were full of shavings or blueing salts. Fortunately in those cases a good cleaning solved the problem in most cases. But where is Colt CC? Buying a gun is crap shoot anymore.

642's and 442's are supposed to be S&W's best seller. You'd think they'ed have it down by now.

 

[DrDremel]

Smith will send you a new gun. They are very good with something that was their fault.

 

[BerettaNut92]

Holy crap :banghead:

 

[tex_n_cal]

maybe that "Crack" is just an experimental noise reducing muzzle brake that escaped R&D.