Check out the aftermath of a rental Smith & Wesson going kaboom at a range in Nevada. From the ARFcom thread:
Here’s what happened to our S&W 500 here on the range. It’s been used on a daily basis for nine months with weekend use a bit higher. Davidson’s (who we purchased it from) won’t warranty or repair it because they “have determined that the damage to this weapon was not the result of a defect in the materials or workmanship of the firearm”. They actually said… “We do not recommend firing this firearm as it is not in a safe condition to shoot”. Not to poke fun at the blind but I’m pretty sure Stevie Wonder see that it’s not safe to shoot
We use Magtech ammo in this weapon and never had an issue with the lot as we shot plenty of ammo prior to this in our other S&W 500. We didn’t feel the need to quarantine the ammo and the rest of the lot was used without issue. Since this happened, we are now going to put a six-month life span for all of our S&W as a preventative measure to avoid any possible injuries. Speaking of injuries, nobody was injured but the shooter was a bit shaken up just because of the weapon falling apart after the shot went off. He was a good sport about it and ended up shooting the other S&W 500 and we put him on a Desert Eagle .50AE and M134 minigun for free because of the scare.
EDITED: Smith & Wesson sent the letter saying they won’t repair it to Davidson’s (who we purchased it from)
[Source: Reddit]
Wow I’m cured! As a loyal decades long S&W fan I no longer wish to ever own a S&W500 I will stick to my BFR.
P.S. I bought a new Talo 3″ 629 that left my hand bleeding on the 2nd shot fired from it when the grips failed firing 240gr slug. I only purchase Magnum Research, Ruger and S&W wheel guns and have only had an issue with the 629 witch took 6 months to receive replacement grips witch failed identical on the 5th round.
Nothing is going to bring that revolver back from the dead. Repair is not what you do with a weapon that failed like that. That said, if I was S&W, I would think it was worth a free exchange to get the failed unit in the lab. This particular revolver saw far more use than the average one will see, so it might be useful to find out if you are going to see a class action lawsuit in a few years.
S&W won’t repair it? Talk about bad after-sale service. Other reputable revolver companies (Taurus, Ruger, CharterArms) would cover such failures in their warranties.