Smith 43C and 351C

[Totem Polar]

Just sent my 43c back to the mothership. About 5-7k through it. Was spitting lead at the forcing cone regardless of ammo choice, and experiencing hard ejection with Winchester bulkpack. Will see what they say about resolving the issues.

I got my email notification that mine was in the repair process, this morning. We will also see what they have to say about my own 43c’s issues.

[jandbj]

I got my email notification that mine was in the repair process, this morning. We will also see what they have to say about my own 43c’s issues.

Same issues or different ones?

[Totem Polar]

Same issues or different ones?

As to the 43C, on the gun's maiden voyage to the range, I discovered that the trigger cannot be successfully pulled all the way through on 2 of the 8 chambers. As well, one of the chambers exhibits light strikes, with the result that between 5 or 6 of the 8 chambers reliably fire as expected. This was verified and repeated across 4 cylinders of factory Winchester .22LR ammunition before I called it a day, packed up, and headed out to the parking lot to phone S&W customer service. Of further note: case extraction is extremely stiff, and I say this as a current owner of 3 other--well, now 4 other--S&W J-frames, to say nothing of those that came before. It's already halfway back to S&W via the FedEx label they emailed me.

[Polecat]

I found my 43c would do a similar thing and bind badly with CCI’s not allowing the cylinder to even rotate, like after 2 rounds, it was hot etc. I found Federal copper plated worked great as did some others, took alot of experimenting. They are enjoyable when ya get em dialed in. The accuracy between makes was another pain in the ass, as some shot 3 o’clock, some 1 etc. quite abit of variance.

Dave

[jandbj]

Mine arrived in Springfield today. Watching my email to see their diagnosis.

[jandbj]

Mine arrived in Springfield today. Watching my email to see their diagnosis.

Got the “in the repair queue” email.

[Totem Polar]

Aaaaaand... i just got the return fedex tracking #

due back on Monday. Pretty decent turn-around, IMHO.

[Totem Polar]

Got it back, says they replaced the yoke and the firing pin. Pretty fast repair, in all. Maybe I can get out tomorrow after work and see how they did.

As an aside, my wife had to sign for it while I was at work; she thought there might be a mistake, or that someone had poached it during shipping, because the fedex box was so light.

[Totem Polar]

Ugh. Still having light strikes. The same 2 chambers are the culprit. Winchester super x 40 gr--same ammo works fine in my single-six, Erma, various rifles, etc.

Back from S&W and right out of the box it's clearly the least reliable handgun I own (aside from a couple that are totally defunct). I guess I'll be calling S&W again.

Thanks for talking me out of a 43c.

No problem.

[willie]

Since it's the same two chambers, the problem appears to be caused by these two chambers having been reamed too deeply. Or the cylinder may not be square with one side lower than the other. Unless the cylinder is replaced, the issue will not be resolved. I hope that they don't tell you to try another ammo brand. The techs did not know what they were doing.