Experience with New S&W's

[American1776]

I'll start this by saying I love S&W revolvers. I'm a revolver person, love them. But here's my experience today on buying a new J-frame:

Went to my LGS. It's a large store but privately owned. Looked at new models 649, 60, 640. There were 2 model 60's, 4 model 649's, and 3 model 640's. ALL nine of them had canted barrels. Some of them were VERY bad, with the square edge of the barrel touching the edge of the frame. I decided to go with a 640, which had the least cant. I got home, cleaned it, and then noticed the forcing cone had metal shavings on the port side, right on the edge, and the circle was not concentric. It's as if a tool was taken to the cone, and shaved only on the left side. Very sharp shards. Bought it back to the store, they were very good and let me get something else.

After looking at all of them again, I decided on a m649. Barrel cant was slight. I do notice that while endshake is minimal in full lock up and when at rest, the cylinder does have quite a bit of rotational play both at rest and even in full lock up. I know that this isn't necesarily a bad thing (as the bullet aligns itself as it leaves the cylinder and enters the f/c).

What bothers me is that all nine new J-frames had what I would consider significant problems. At least two of them had VERY loose cylinder to yoke strength (pushing on the cylinder slightly made the gap increase A LOT). All had canted barrels, some significantly so. Cyinders have a lot of rotational wobble, especially compared with my older smiths.

I'm not trying to bash the company. I bought a S&W today after it all. BUT, am I the only one to notice these huge QC problems? Especially the forcing cone burrs.

I'm noticing on this new m649 that one chamber wiggles side to side more than the others when in full lock up. I wonder if this will be a problem?