Won't touch a Smith & Wesson ......?

[printerman]

A friend of mine collects dozens of guns (just recently "had" to get another safe) yet he won't touch a Smith & Wesson !

He would own a collectors piece (old school or highly prized) but might get sick from touching a modern S&W .

Is his fanatasism warrented and are new "Smith's" really just boat anchors ....

They still fetch a price and seem every bit as good as they used to be with some minor exceptions and magazine article comparisions .

What's the scoop ? GO or NO-GO !!!

[Schuetzenman]

S&W revolvers are just fine. They have had a problem with auto pistols historically but the M&P line seems to have taken care of those issues.

Many of us don't like S&W becasue once it was owned by English Business people and they were very anti-US citizen sales anti-gunshow. They got boycotted for their snotty attitude and it about bankrupted S&W. The limeys sold it and now as far as I know it is owned by a pro US citizen gun owner corp.

[gpwasr10]

You get people hating on all kinds of gun makers. I pay it no mind and mostly try and base my oppinions on personal experiance. Hell, some of the best guns I have owned have been Taurus' products... but I have been told that regardless of my experiance... they are a junk gun maker. I have also seen so called "Excellent" gun makers' products shit the bed.

They are mechanical objects with a rollmark that some people inject their own (almost fanatical) faith into.

I don't own one (As I prefer Ruger revolvers, no particuler reason, just do), but every Smith I have seen/shot/handled has been an outstanding representation of it's class.

[O.S.O.K.]

I've seen guys raving about Ruger and how they'll never ever buy Ruger... what ever. It's a free country... for now.

[NAPOTS]

S&W revolvers are just fine. They have had a problem with auto pistols historically but the M&P line seems to have taken care of those issues.

Many of us don't like S&W becasue once it was owned by English Business people and they were very anti-US citizen sales anti-gunshow. They got boycotted for their snotty attitude and it about bankrupted S&W. The limeys sold it and now as far as I know it is owned by a pro US citizen gun owner corp.

What he said, I believe much like Ruger, that they have turned things around in this regard.

However I think they sold out to the anti's by putting the internal lock mechanism in their revolvers

[insider]

The older pre-lock Smiths are the way to go, the new ones are way too overpriced. Ruger and Taurus make excellent products, especially the older ones. I had three Taurus 92's and a couple Taurus revolvers, they were excellent pistols, hit the bullseye every time.

[American Rage]

Your friend is flat wrong!

[hazmat]

I've had Ruger, Smith, and Colt revolvers. Personally, I prefer the Smith, but that's me. I actually like the new Smiths better than the old for the transfer bar safety issue. What good is it to have 6 cylinders if you can only ever use 5 of them? Besides, I found a guy here locally in RC that makes a nifty little plug to take care of that unsightly little zit above the cylinder release. He did both my 57-6 and 310 and the plugs look just like they were supposed to be there.

As for QC issues, the Colt Trooper Mk 3 I once had, had an issue with 3 cylinders where the spent cases would get hard stuck requiring more force than I was willing to impart on the ejector rod to remove. My first 57-6 had a barrel timing issue...in that it wasn't. Even with the RS adjusted as far as it would go the right, I still shot 4 feet left at 10 yds aiming center of target. Got the replacement and it everything's fine. I chalk that on up to a Monday/Friday thing.

Some folks are just fickle that way.

[Ezra Coli]

I don't know about S&W firearms, but they have a line of knives now that are cheap Chinese junk, some of the crappiest knives out there right next to Frost Cutlery brands. If they sell out to Chinese labor and materials for knives, what do they do for firearms?

[Dr. Gonzo GED]

Some of their old auto's were weak sauce.

The .460 round is hot enough to ruin the .460 gun's forcing cone over a shorter lifespan than you would expect for a modern production piece.

They are upper end on the price scale.

But most unforgivably and worst of all, I don't own any of them. :smiley31:

[Richard Simmons]

I've had Ruger, Smith, and Colt revolvers. Personally, I prefer the Smith, but that's me. I actually like the new Smiths better than the old for the transfer bar safety issue. What good is it to have 6 cylinders if you can only ever use 5 of them? Besides, I found a guy here locally in RC that makes a nifty little plug to take care of that unsightly little zit above the cylinder release. He did both my 57-6 and 310 and the plugs look just like they were supposed to be there.

As for QC issues, the Colt Trooper Mk 3 I once had, had an issue with 3 cylinders where the spent cases would get hard stuck requiring more force than I was willing to impart on the ejector rod to remove. My first 57-6 had a barrel timing issue...in that it wasn't. Even with the RS adjusted as far as it would go the right, I still shot 4 feet left at 10 yds aiming center of target. Got the replacement and it everything's fine. I chalk that on up to a Monday/Friday thing.

Some folks are just fickle that way.

FYI

S&W doesn't use a "transfer bar safety". They did go to a "hammer block safety" in 1945 and switched from a hammer mounted firing pin to frame mounted firing pin in 1997.


As a S&W collector, (got a few Colts, Dan Wesson and Rugers too), I would say it's a personal choice. Personally I buy what I like, at the price I want to pay. Sometimes I buy to feel a need. Sometimes to fill a niche in my collecting. Sometimes because the deal is just too good to walk away from.

[abpt1]

A friend of mine collects dozens of guns (just recently "had" to get another safe) yet he won't touch a Smith & Wesson !

He would own a collectors piece (old school or highly prized) but might get sick from touching a modern S&W .

Is his fanatasism warrented and are new "Smith's" really just boat anchors ....

They still fetch a price and seem every bit as good as they used to be with some minor exceptions and magazine article comparisions .

What's the scoop ? GO or NO-GO !!!
The M&P15's are top shelf imho but the M&P40 pistols are shit .....

[Richard Simmons]

I don't know about S&W firearms, but they have a line of knives now that are cheap Chinese junk, some of the crappiest knives out there right next to Frost Cutlery brands. If they sell out to Chinese labor and materials for knives, what do they do for firearms?

Yep. Years ago the S&W line of knives was pretty decent. Why they restarted the brand with the crap they are putting out now I have no idea? You can get great quality knives from Taiwan and mainland China (see Spyderco and some of the Buck models as an example) but S&W doesn't even bother to go with those makers.

You'd be surprised at how many LEO carry S&W knives because of their "law enforcement" connection when they could get 10x the quality for the same price.

[abpt1]

Yep. Years ago the S&W line of knives was pretty decent. Why they restarted the brand with the crap they are putting out now I have no idea? You can get great quality knives from Taiwan and mainland China (see Spyderco and some of the Buck models as an example) but S&W doesn't even bother to go with those makers.

You'd be surprised at how many LEO carry S&W knives because of their "law enforcement" connection when they could get 10x the quality for the same price.

I was given a S&W knife about 15yr ago great knife (I lost it) I bought two or three since but they all turned out to be crap ....