Jerry Miculek "De-Locked" his competition revolver!!!

[Steve_NEPhila]

I posted this on the Smith and Wesson forum as well. Love or hate the most, most people either hate it or do not care at all. Every Smith and Wesson fan has a position on the lock.

I would not believe it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. The 627 PC that Jerry Miculek uses for competing in IRC (.38 Special, with Bushnell Holosight) has had the locking flag removed.

Say what you will about the pros and cons, this is quite an interesting find. The picture is on his website:
http://www.bang-inc.com/store/index....in_page=page_3

Scroll down to the IRC revolver with the Bushnell Holosight on it and look at the close up picture showing the cylinder cut for moon clips here:
http://www.bang-inc.com/images/gunsg...nder.large.jpg

One can clearly see that the locking flag has been removed from the mechanism. I can spot this as I have done it to one of my frequent carry revolvers. The locking key hole is still in place, yet the flag that locks the hammer is gone... rock on Jerry.

[brian]

awesome factory smith guy not playing with the lock. i bet they made him keep the grease fitting.
they once bothered me, but i don't notice them.
i did PLUG one of mine just to see what was what. unless i get one of the light weight guns, i doubt i'll mess them anymore.

[ithinkimamedic]

I pulled the lock on my 638 airweight. There was just no way of knowing weather it was locked or unlocked since it has the big shroud on it. I just didn't want to chance that it some how engaged itself with out me knowing it. Wish I had known better when I bought it since it was right when they came out I could have got the same gun with out it. ahh the ignorance of a new gun owner. Lessons learned.

[625]

Nice, that's not very good PR. Doesn't Jerry get a lot of money and guns from S&W? I wonder how the marketing team is spinning this. When the locks first came out, I trusted S&W to do it right, so they didn't bother me that much even though I thought they were ugly. But it didn't take long for multiple people to have problems with the locks. I have no interest in owning one of their revolvers with the lock even if it's been disabled.

[Steve_NEPhila]

There is no PR spin yet, as far as I know I am the first to post this up!!!

[BlueGunGuy]

i know very little about S&W revolvers, but i do know that my M&P9c came factory without the lock, but still had the lock hole. are you sure that isn't the case here?

[Rundownfid]

Why is any spin necessary? Jerry is the worlds best revolver shooter he uses Smith and Wesson Revolvers. He makes numerous changes to optimize the guns to the use he puts them to. He has phenomenal success with them. Why would that need spun in any way? The facts speak for themselves!!

[brian]

i know very little about S&W revolvers, but i do know that my M&P9c came factory without the lock, but still had the lock hole. are you sure that isn't the case here?

the "flag" is missing.
hard to explain, but if you know what you're looking at/for, you can clearly see that it is missing.
and no on the revolvers, it is either all or nothing. a few models are offered(or were)without the lock, that gun has the "grease fitting" but the flag is gone....and it surely did not leave the factory like that.

[brian]

lock?
flag?
key?
i thought we were talking about pistols here.
well we are, for those that do not know, i'll do my best to explain.
apparently some people think pistols are bad(all guns really, but more so the evil handguns),and as we sleep tight late at night our hand guns are prone to sneak and lurk about doing foul things to other people not sleeping tight late at night, who seem to be so concerned about the lack of a lock that they are unable to get a full nights rest. so in order to prevent this mischievous and inappropriate behavior smith(and many others) started installing trigger locks on them. each manufacturer has their own take and method on the subject, however we are only discussing s&w's approach here and now.
smith uses a flag that has a few pins on it, the hammer has a slot that one of the pins rides in. when unlocked the action works as it should. when a key is inserted and turned, a cam and spring comes into play, the flag is raised which moves the pin in the slot on the hammer to a position that binds the action up.
the lock can only be engaged with the hammer down. when locked the action can not be moved at all, in either single or double action. the firearm is now nothing more than a club or hammer at best. and as such we can now all sleep tight late at night knowing that our pistol can no longer run the streets causing harm and misdoings among our peers.

the first picture shows what has become known as the "grease fitting".
this is not a lubrication point, this is the insertion point for the key.
that is not a scratch that is an engraved arrow indicating the direct in which to turn the key to lock it. to the left of the arrow is a faint letter "L".

number two shows the flag, retracted, next to the hammer. it is the thin piece apparently riding on the upper side of the the hammer.
this is the part missing in the op's linked pictures. and if you look closely you may see a reflection on the back strap.....is that me, flashing you the bird? we may never know.

number three is demonstrating the key inserted into the lock mechanism.

numbers four and five are showing the external results of engaging the lock.

to some it is an eye sore, and i was one. but it's not going away and i wanted some new in the box s&w's. my new take on it is: it's really not that bad, yes it takes away from the classic lines of these fine guns but it is what it is. the enjoyment i get from them over powers the minor eye sore.

the model used for this demonstration is an m29-8 mountain gun in .44magnum.

thus concludes this brief lesson on the smith and wesson trigger lock mechanism.


and yes i'm home on vacation and it has rained almost all week. so maybe later i'll take one apart to show the internal workings of the lock.

[625]

Why is any spin necessary? Jerry is the worlds best revolver shooter he uses Smith and Wesson Revolvers. He makes numerous changes to optimize the guns to the use he puts them to. He has phenomenal success with them. Why would that need spun in any way? The facts speak for themselves!!

Because it means Jerry doesn't trust the lock design. How can that be good for sales?