I doubt it.

 

Being a curmudgeon I'll say quality is on par with all the other new revolvers and nothing matches the older pinned/recessed magnum and pre-hole guns

 

I think with most major manufacturers, QA/QC is in moderate decline but not as bad as echo chamber Internet would lead us to believe.

S&W seems to me about as it has been for the last decade or more; the deletion of the lock on certain models has not heralded a change otherwise.

 

TL/DR, scroll to the bottom for my answer to the specific question of the topic.

S&W has fantastic designs and the newer two-piece barrel design is certainly an improvement from the traditional barrel.

The quality of parts is, well, DIFFERENT. The newer MIM parts are all built to stricter tolerances that all play well together right out of the box without any help from a craftsman — which is good as S&W has no craftsmen building guns.

However any/every S&W revolver made in the era of MIM feels different to me and I don’t care for the DA trigger stroke.

Revolvers are built by low wage assemblers. S&W also has quite possibly the absolute rock bottom worst QC in the history of their brand.

Yes, it is true that in the age of the internet, everyone gets to hear about every single problem, but if you were to hang out on the S&W Forum, you would see the endless laundry list of completely ridiculous problems they ship.

I would not recommend a new production S&W revolver to anyone today. That’s not to say you cannot get a decent one, they certainly exist. And yes, you can find old (original) issues with older S&W revolvers too.

If you hang around the brand and their life long fans, you may get the feeling that much of this is generational. Guys who love guns from the 1930’s to the 1950’s will scoff at the shoddy S&W revolvers from the 1970’s and 80’s. I certainly understand that, but the quality control today is an absolute tragedy.

The shining light, at least in my opinion is that the DESIGNS are still legendary. If you can carefully inspect an example and you also have the patience to deal with customers service and warranty work, you can come up with a great gun.

You asked a version of, “do the post ILS revolvers match the quality of the pre-lock revolvers?”

My answer is no, they do not, for dead sure certain. The QC is the problem, not the design. And specifically to your question, the ONLY difference right now is that the hole is not drilled in the frame and the silly lock unit is not present. But the hammer is still MIM and molded for the lock.

They do not make sweeping changes to all the parts and the guns with no locks are just a part of the revolver lineup, most of them still have the lock.

 

It was my understanding that the models with the locks eliminated were distributor exclusives for Lipsey's maybe? Or is it just on some of their "Classic" models that they've re-introduced like the Model 19 and Model 36? I don't understand the decision to straddle the fence, either completely eliminate the locks from every model or double down on the ridiculousness and keep the locks for everything.

I can't help but think Colt has started eating into the market share for revolvers now?

 

I have personally had to send back for "warranty repair" over half of the 15-18 new S&W revolvers I bought sight unseen over the internet the past 15 years. In every instance, it was one or more obvious issues that even the most cursory QC would have caught. Clocked barrel shrouds. Cylinders that had to be beaten into submission to open. Things of that nature. As mentioned, there is no rational spec for trigger pull; you never know what you're going to get from one example to the next. They consider a .012 cylinder gap to be "within spec," not to say that even wider ones wouldn't go right out the door.

 

Colt says, HOLD MY BEER!! There QC isn’t any better!

 

I miss the "old" days relatively speaking. Early 2K gun when they went to the CNC frame. PC of course so not a regular production line gun but indicative of a culture that truly beleived and took pride in what they were doing.

 

I miss the "old" days relatively speaking. Early 2K gun when they went to the CNC frame. PC of course so not a regular production line gun but indicative of a culture that truly beleived and took pride in what they were doing.

View attachment 1838126

I had that same gun about 15 years ago. One of the first guys around to remove the rear site and install a, then cutting-edge, Docter red dot. One of the few guns I regret selling.

 

No. There the same guns Smiths been making for the past couple decades, just without a lock. I've handled (just handled) 2 no lock model 10s and 1 no lock 36. Felt like every other modern Smith- glitchy trigger and the model 36 had problems with the cylinder sticking a bit in the gun when trying to release it. (Usually a hand problem, right?).

There's no special QC or anything going into them. Still drop in parts put in by people that don't know how to assemble revolvers. I imagine the move to Tennessee is only going to exacerbate the problem.

A friend once described modern Smith revolvers like a PSA AR 15- it's not a gun; it's a fully assembled parts kit that you've got to fix. After handling hundreds of new production Smiths, I think that's about right.

 

No. There the same guns Smiths been making for the past couple decades, just without a lock. I've handled (just handled) 2 no lock model 10s and 1 no lock 36. Felt like every other modern Smith- glitchy trigger and the model 36 had problems with the cylinder sticking a bit in the gun when trying to release it. (Usually a hand problem, right?).

There's no special QC or anything going into them. Still drop in parts put in by people that don't know how to assemble revolvers. I imagine the move to Tennessee is only going to exacerbate the problem.

A friend once described modern Smith revolvers like a PSA AR 15- it's not a gun; it's a fully assembled parts kit that you've got to fix. After handling hundreds of new production Smiths, I think that's about right.

This sum it up pretty well. With modern CNC, parts consistency is much better than decades ago. On the other hand, the art of firearm fitting/assembling become the weak point of the manufacturing process because nowadays they treated more like putting together a Lego kit, instead of a fine piece of art work. Not just S&W issue, its pretty widespread industry trend.

 

From what I’ve seen, the newer no-lock models feel a bit better built and the QC seems improved. Still not quite the same as the older pre-lock guns, but definitely a step in the right direction.

 

Seems be trending that way but I would rather buy vintage models in good to great condition. I think long term there’s better value in those and also… you can’t beat the old craftsmanship.

 

They have a lot of new employees since their move to Tennessee. Still, its a move in the right direction. The recent Colts, Pythons and King Cobra’s also had problems because Colt went too light on the mainspring. They quietly rectified that and the Python I bought earlier this year has been reliable. Smith still has a lifetime warranty and Colts is only one year 😳😬🤨. I am planning to purchase one of the new 19’s, maybe next month, so i guess I’ll find out.

 

I have a '47 M&P 6", bluing and fit and finish is top notch, I have a 27-2 again top notch. I have an 80's 686, nice but not as well done, then a 2000 model 66 2 1/2", meh. I've held but wouldn't own anything with the Hillary hole, I have seen and held the new one without the holes, they are better looking w/o the hole, but the quality , bluing, fit and finish are not as good as the revolvers from before the 1980's. I say buy an oldie but goodie, a lot of collectors are selling their collections and prices are dropping a bit.