S&W made it right!

Recently purchased a lightly used S&W model 60-15, 3” .357. Had a few handling “beauty marks “ but all minor. Took it o the range to try different loads. It shot to POA with factory.357 ammo, but there was always a “flier”. I thought it was probably me as full house .357 mags in a 3” J-frame are pretty awesome. But lighter loads, even .38 wadcutters, had the same result. Every group had a flier. I took it home and got out the pin gages.

The bore checked good with only a .001 constriction at the frame. Sure enough one throat was under size @ .355. The other four were all .359. Inserting the pin gage from the back of the chamber showed that the throat was .359 except for the last ~ .025 of the throat. It appears that the throat was not reamed/finished completely!
I am “assuming “ that this constriction was swaging the bullets and causing the fliers. I have never seen this or even heard of anything like this before. How could this get out the door?

I was very disappointed, and called S&W to see what could be done. They sent me a return label and I sent it to them. Just over 3 weeks later Fedex delivered it to my door.
The paperwork just says “Inspected Repaired Test Fired” Not a lot of info but after checking the gun it appears that they have replaced the cylinder. All the throats now check .359 , there is no turn line on the cylinder and no burn marks on the front except for the three holes that they test fired. No end shake, good lockup, bore/cylinder alignment is good. So far everything is looking good! It still has a 12# DA trigger pull but I will have to fix that. If it shoots a good group now I will be a happy camper!

Now off to the range to see how it shoots! Keeping my fingers crossed! Looks like S&W has made it right!

 

I have had excellent service from S&W, including with long discontinued firearms. Glad to hear it is still the common practice for them.

 

I have had one occasion to deal with S&W customer service. It was an issue caused by me, and they still took care of it at no charge.

 

let us know.

murf

 

That 12# DA trigger pull can be improved but not a lot. 10# may be all that you can get. That is a big improvement though and you don’t want it too light anyway.

 

km101

Nice to hear about a positive customer service experience! Looking forward to more good news after your next range visit.

 

I m

 

Their customer service should be top notch. Look at how much practice they get.

s&w will make it right, the 2nd or 3rd try. Sad what that company has become.

 

I’ve never needed their customer service on any of their older products I have bought.

 

Well, Fathers Day and family took precedence so I was not able to get to the range until today. I shot several loads in both.38 and .357.

The best performing load in .357 was 7.5 grains of CFE - Pistol under a Zero
125 grain JHP. It produced 5 shot groups of 3” and 3.5” at 25 yards.

The best load in .38 was 5.1 grains of Titegroup under a 110 grain Sierra JHP.
It shot into 2” at 15 yards. This is a +P load with some “noticeable “ bark and flash.

So I am quite pleased with my “miniature 686” after it’s return from the mothership.
I am sure that the gun shoots better than I can hold it considering my deteriorating vision!

S&W really did make it right!

 

Neither have I on my stuff produced before ‘85, but it’s nice to know that they will correct problems with the new stuff if they arise. Makes me much more comfortable with buying the new stuff if there is something that I want.

 

This is encouraging...

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