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Holy Bovine! My comp blew up!


jcoers

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I double checked the bolt holding the compensator onto the barrel before heading to the range. It was good and tight. The locking washer was in place. Fired 8 rounds of Remington factory .357 then went to reload and saw this. The comp was on tight and straight. Ugh!!!!!!

I'm thinking I should do absolutely nothing to the pistol (it's unloaded, of course) and ship it to Smith & Wesson for evaluation.

comp2.jpg

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They really need to open up the diameter on those comps and caps. My V-Comp is not even close to being concentric to the bore. Let us know what they say, I'm sure they will just replace it for free.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

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I couldn't stand sitting around here on a beautiful day looking at a blown up comp. So..... I did some poking around on the interwebby and found that this has happened to others. Rather than send in the gun, they just called Smith & Wesson and got a new comp.

I decided to go ahead and take the comp off and do a little shooting. Everything is functioning fine and accuracy was exceptional, so I don't feel I need to have them look at the pistol. It shoots great - it just looks ugly without the compensator.

When I removed the comp, I noticed what I believe the problem is. The lock washer doesn't seem to have much "lock" to it. It really looks like a plain old flat washer with a cut in it. Nothing there to grab hold of the bolt head and lock it down.

Also, as expected, the bolt is bent. I'll see if they can send that too.

 

LockWasher.jpg

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Update:

I spoke with Smith and Wesson this morning. They told me to send the pistol on in and that it is under warranty.

I had hoped they would send me the parts and I would not have to send it in, but last night while going over the pistol with a fine tooth comb, I noticed that it is not locking up on two charge holes before the hammer drops. So, off to Springfield she goes. 

The customer support person was very nice and I think I will be good to go when the pistol returns. Their turnaround time, at this point, is estimated at three weeks. 

I'm really glad I checked the timing last night. Good to get all the issues fixed at one time. 

 

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7 hours ago, jcoers said:

I noticed that it is not locking up on two charge holes before the hammer drops. So, off to Springfield she goes. 

In order to check the timing properly, you need to have empty cases / snap caps in the cylinder. The extractor times up on the case walls. 

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14 minutes ago, alecmc said:

In order to check the timing properly, you need to have empty cases / snap caps in the cylinder. The extractor times up on the case walls. 

Tried it with and without cases. I even loaded some empty cases into a moon clip and gave it a whirl. No joy on two charge holes. Oh well, I expect they'll have it up and running soon. :-)

 

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Lets be clear. Smith doesn't really have a custom shop like you think a custom shop should be. I have stood inside what they call their Performance Center in Springfield MA. It is a cage about 30'x40' just outside their tool and die center within the heart of the factory. It has cabinets with lots of little drawers full of hard to come by parts. There are a couple of benches, with a couple of work stations, a buffing wheel, drill press with other odd and end air tools. Not a single PC gun goes through this department. Performance Center is simply a badge they place on an otherwise production gun with alternate production parts. PC may have meant something 30 years ago, but today it is simply a different model that insinuates "I am better".

As for crappy quality. It is not limited to 929's. It is every revolver. I part time at a gun store. I fondle most every revolver that comes in. They all suffer from something. From the M36 - M500, Smith quality is just horrible. Smith is really focused on their M&P line from .223-.45ACP. That said. Every Smith revo is easily tuned up and ready to race without too much difficulty.  

Edited by Ty Hamby
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6 hours ago, Ty Hamby said:

Lets be clear. Smith doesn't really have a custom shop like you think a custom shop should be. I have stood inside what they call their Performance Center in Springfield MA. It is a cage about 30'x40' just outside their tool and die center within the heart of the factory. It has cabinets with lots of little drawers full of hard to come by parts. There are a couple of benches, with a couple of work stations, a buffing wheel, drill press with other odd and end air tools. Not a single PC gun goes through this department. Performance Center is simply a badge they place on an otherwise production gun with alternate production parts. PC may have meant something 30 years ago, but today it is simply a different model that insinuates "I am better".

As for crappy quality. It is not limited to 929's. It is every revolver. I part time at a gun store. I fondle most every revolver that comes in. They all suffer from something. From the M36 - M500, Smith quality is just horrible. Smith is really focused on their M&P line from .223-.45ACP. That said. Every Smith revo is easily tuned up and ready to race without too much difficulty.  

You hit the nail on the head. Being as this was a Performance Center revolver, I didn't really go over it the way I normally do. I should have seen that the lock washer was too weak to keep the compensator attachment bolt from loosening. Every firearm I've purchased, over the past 30 years, has arrived with some sort of issue that required a fix. 

The simple fact is that firearms are machines. They require maintenance - sometimes right out of the gate. I, somehow, let my guard down and didn't stay ahead of the machine.

The bottom line is: Was there a defect in the machine? Yep - bad lock washer. Should I have caught it before the machine damaged itself? Yep.....

Lesson learned: Always stay ahead of the machine.

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Update: Got an e-mail from S&W stating that my pistol has been received and informing me about my RMA number and which phone number to call with questions. 

That was good to see. I had read where some people sent their pistol in for repair and didn't hear a word until it arrived back at their door.

Also, I guess I caused some confusion for them when I sent a message about the pistol over their website then placed a call to them the following morning. To make a long story short, I jokingly asked for a t-shirt, and sure enough, one is on the way. :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pistol arrived back to me today. Turnaround time was 2 weeks and 3 days. Very good.

New lockwasher holding compensator on looks more aggressive and they locktited it this time. I'm still considering opening the end of the compensator up some. 

Timing issue was resolved as well with a new hand and cylinder stop.

I'm very pleased with their customer service!

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Did it go to the repair shop or to the PC?  Wonder if there is actually a "repair shop"?

Many years ago I sent an old Model 29 in to be replated, get new sights (black on black), new trigger and hammer, etc. and asked for it to be returned in the wood presentation case.

Don't remember the turn a round time but when it came home it was beautiful:) Total cost was $65.00!!

Oh yeah, I still have it:)

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I'm not sure of repair shop vs. performance center. Whichever route it went, I'm a happy camper. Nice cylinder lock up before the hammer falls. And, I managed to talk myself into a free S&W t-shirt :-)

I did go ahead and drill out the front of the comp. I really never felt a difference with or without the comp anyway. But, it does make a good muzzle protector. So, I drilled it out with a 1/2" bit. Now it looks like a .50 cal 627..... ha ha ha

Here's a pic of the 627-5 .50........

 

NewComp.jpg

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