It was a combination of things.....
It really was a gorgeous handgun
I wanted to help with the cost of my wife's graduate school and was looking to part with a gun to help defray some of the expenses. I had so many to choose from, but I needed to decide which
one should go. At first I didn't even consider the TRR Model 22 since I felt it was truly unique.
I finally selected the Model 22 over all the others for several reasons.
The rifling was so shallow that it was almost like a smoothbore. Speer Gold Dot 230-gr bullets were barely etched by the lands.
As a reloader who likes to shoot cast lead bullets, this was totally unacceptable. :banghead: It shot jacket bullets OK but lead was another story.
And the roll markings on both sides of the thin-walled barrel were struck so hard that they were actually plainly visible inside the bore...
I emailed S&W with the following message and
pictures:
"I have noticed that on my New Model 22-4 Thunder Ranch Revolver the rifling grooves inside the barrel have visible "bumps" on both left and right sides of the bore from the roll-stamped lettering."
Mr. Frank Branchesi (
[email protected] ) had only the following comment for me:
Mar 3, 2006 9:29 AM
"Sir, if the accuracy is good there's is no reason for concern."
Gee, thanks for offering some sort of remedy, like a new barrel.
A-Hole...
Then there was the fact that I bought a S&W with "The Lock", which admittedly I went into willingly with both eyes wide open. It still bothered me sufficiently enough that I later grew to hate my decision to buy it.
The fact that the first few hundred Model 22s had front sights that were much too high, causing them to shoot way too low, was not a consideration. That only required a simple sight blade replacement at the factory if one chose to do so.
I have witheld mentioning any of this for a long time because the collector who purchased it seems quite happy with it. I don't think I misrepresented it when I sold it, as it was in NRA Very Good/Excellent condition. I had shot fewer than 200 rounds of factory WWB 230-gr ball thru it when I sold it. It still carries the lifetime warranty if he wants to avail himself of any of their services.
:banghead:
