A Tale of Two guns (and the companies that make them)
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:38 pm
A tale of two guns. (similar posted on S&WForum)
About one and a half years ago I purchased a Ruger 22/45 Mark III (.22 LR) with replaceable panels (I have a few 1911 nice grips).
As time went by and I was mentioning to fellow shooters that I felt that "something" was not right with the gun. I felt it might have been the V-shaped Rear-sights. I changed the sights to Volquartsen ones and still I wasn't comfortable. I also didn't want to expose myself to the chiding of, "It's the shooter, not the gun."
I took pictures of the gun upside down, on a tabletop, where its base was a very narrow triangle whose apexes where the two points of the rear sight and the front sight. I placed a right-angled square next to it and the angle of cant of the gun was noticeable.
Just as I was in the process of writing to Ruger and planning to send the gun to their Canadian Repair Centre, the bolt jammed and I was unable to disassemble it. Forced to send the gun, anyway, I attached a note and a picture of the gun by the square.
The repair centre fixed the jam and sent the gun to their armourer. He did confirm that the dovetail slot for the rear-sight had been machined wrong, resulting in that cant.
Since Ruger had stopped production of that particular Stainless Steel model, they offered me a free replacement with any similar gun up to their newly marketed 22/45 Lite. I accepted and they rushed me one via their Repair Centre who also registered the handgun for me with the authorities.
Now to Smith & Wesson
Just this last February I found a NIB S&W 617-6 10-shot cylinder, 6" barrel. A beauty and a joy to shoot. I disassembled it (just took off the side-plate to look at the insides) once, following many Youtube videos and watching Jerry Miculek's DVD "Trigger job".
I decided to get the Wolff Trigger Rebound Springs kit and when I removed the side-plate to install it, the yoke screw kept turning under my screwdriver but was NOT coming out.
I removed the other two screws and tapped on the grip frame (as per usual instructions). The side plate came off and the top half of the yoke screw fell out. It had been sheared clean around its middle. The bottom part was still engaged in the gun frame and its plunger/ball/head still inside its yoke slot.
The cylinder and yoke could not be removed.
I was unable to remove the screw part that was stuck inside and I didn't want to mess up with screw removers, tapping or destroying with a drill, etc... So I knew that eventually I would need to go to a gunsmith.
I wrote S&W qa people. Sent them all these details and a couple of pictures. They tell me (after all that) to remove the yoke and the part will fall out. AS IF I HADN'T ALREADY TRIED TO DO THAT AND TOLD THEM ABOUT IT. (Sorry for the shouting.)
I write back to them and this is their reply, verbatim
I gave you a suggestion because there is no way to send you a new yoke screw for no charge. Sometimes the screws can be put together and reused. You send a pic that does not open for me so now I'm guessing at your problem. You do not live in the USA so I can't help you. If you lived here your problem would have been corrected at no charge to you.
The pictures were .jpg
Same exact pictures that can be found here
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolv ... t137149888
About one and a half years ago I purchased a Ruger 22/45 Mark III (.22 LR) with replaceable panels (I have a few 1911 nice grips).
As time went by and I was mentioning to fellow shooters that I felt that "something" was not right with the gun. I felt it might have been the V-shaped Rear-sights. I changed the sights to Volquartsen ones and still I wasn't comfortable. I also didn't want to expose myself to the chiding of, "It's the shooter, not the gun."
I took pictures of the gun upside down, on a tabletop, where its base was a very narrow triangle whose apexes where the two points of the rear sight and the front sight. I placed a right-angled square next to it and the angle of cant of the gun was noticeable.
Just as I was in the process of writing to Ruger and planning to send the gun to their Canadian Repair Centre, the bolt jammed and I was unable to disassemble it. Forced to send the gun, anyway, I attached a note and a picture of the gun by the square.
The repair centre fixed the jam and sent the gun to their armourer. He did confirm that the dovetail slot for the rear-sight had been machined wrong, resulting in that cant.
Since Ruger had stopped production of that particular Stainless Steel model, they offered me a free replacement with any similar gun up to their newly marketed 22/45 Lite. I accepted and they rushed me one via their Repair Centre who also registered the handgun for me with the authorities.
Now to Smith & Wesson
Just this last February I found a NIB S&W 617-6 10-shot cylinder, 6" barrel. A beauty and a joy to shoot. I disassembled it (just took off the side-plate to look at the insides) once, following many Youtube videos and watching Jerry Miculek's DVD "Trigger job".
I decided to get the Wolff Trigger Rebound Springs kit and when I removed the side-plate to install it, the yoke screw kept turning under my screwdriver but was NOT coming out.
I removed the other two screws and tapped on the grip frame (as per usual instructions). The side plate came off and the top half of the yoke screw fell out. It had been sheared clean around its middle. The bottom part was still engaged in the gun frame and its plunger/ball/head still inside its yoke slot.
The cylinder and yoke could not be removed.
I was unable to remove the screw part that was stuck inside and I didn't want to mess up with screw removers, tapping or destroying with a drill, etc... So I knew that eventually I would need to go to a gunsmith.
I wrote S&W qa people. Sent them all these details and a couple of pictures. They tell me (after all that) to remove the yoke and the part will fall out. AS IF I HADN'T ALREADY TRIED TO DO THAT AND TOLD THEM ABOUT IT. (Sorry for the shouting.)
I write back to them and this is their reply, verbatim
I gave you a suggestion because there is no way to send you a new yoke screw for no charge. Sometimes the screws can be put together and reused. You send a pic that does not open for me so now I'm guessing at your problem. You do not live in the USA so I can't help you. If you lived here your problem would have been corrected at no charge to you.
The pictures were .jpg
Same exact pictures that can be found here
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolv ... t137149888