I think most people "in the know" pass on new smiths because they dont want the soul to leak out of the hole.
Quality wise? I have 5 other pre lock smiths and the 2.75" m66-8 has the best trigger and is the most accurate.
When i was working in a gunstore/range the prelock rentals saw a lot of rounds and we seldom had people bring the new ones back with issues.
I dont think their QC is any worse than beretta or ruger with their customer service somewhere in the middle.
3" MR73 here if you dare
It's got a goodly amount of carry wear but may go at a somewhat reasonable price. Currently $1160.
I posted this in the above linked thread by accident.
Little to add, but after trying a 3" fixed sight GP a few months back, I would have no hesitation in buying one for anything except maybe for carry. It tames full-power .357 better than even a 4" 686, IMO. Heck, it tames recoil better than my 4" Trooper MKIII of similar weight.
REPETITION CREATES BELIEF
REPETITION BUILDS THE SEPARATE WORLDS WE LIVE AND DIE IN
NO EXCEPTIONS
That's a good point. My 625-9 is reliable and accurate and occasionally gets carried in the backcountry. My 19-3 is much prettier, which is why it lives in the safe and hardly ever goes to the range (I have a beat up old 19-5 for that).
The way I'd phrase it is that I'd be hesitant to buy a new S&W without being able to hold it and examine it first, because I've seen more than a few clocked barrels and other issues on store shelves. On the other hand my M&P 340 no-lock was purchased new several years ago and runs fine, and I keep being tempted by that Model 66 2.75-inch, just haven't seen one on the shelf yet locally.
As a follow-up to my earlier post(s), a short addition on "general purpose" holsters for my "general purpose" revolver...
I wanted an OWB holster that would allow me to wear strong-side or cross-draw, and I wanted a hammer strap. The latter might be an old guy thing, but whaddaya gonna do? The two tried so far are a Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake and a DeSantis Dual Angle Hunter; the former is recent, the latter has been on gn's island of forgotten holsters since the Great Revolver Purge.
While I like the idea of the Sourdough, the thing is huge. "It's like a planetoid... has it's own weather system..." Nice, thick leather, and acres of it. It is dandy as a chest rig if you have a harness that will accommodate it, but it slops over my own subjective size limit on a belt holster. Bigger cats than me (a paunchy 5' 9-1/2") may find it more to their liking.
The Dual Angle Hunter is much more trim, but the leather of the belt loop is depressingly thin.
After some walking about with both of them, I will say that both do work, though the DeSantis is far more useful as a cross-draw rig for me due to the more "horizontal" orientation of the gun due to the belt loop configuration and resulting angles thereof. The Sourdough covers the trigger, a feature I have come to prefer but am not insistent upon. So, much to my chagrin, I remain on the hunt for the right utility holster for my utility sixgun.*
*Anyone out there ever use a Galco Switchback with a GP100? If so, speak into my good ear and tell me about it. I am not a leather snob, and actually used to like nylon holsters for hunting and woodswalking. There. I said it. Flame away.
Last edited by gato naranja; 08-21-2020 at 09:23 AM.
gn
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These features are combined in the Bianchi 111 Cyclone.
https://safariland.com/collections/h...-holster-10814
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Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”