Well, agreed on the part about sending it to Frank. For a gunsmith of his stature he is very responsive with email and he turned around the barrel work on my N-frame PDQ.
As for S&W, though. S&W is, at least, still an actual gunmaker instead of a "shop" that assembles foreign parts which is what most American brands are turning into. They still run their own drop forge for hard parts like yokes, barrels and frames, they still AFAIK manufacture their own MIM parts. Etc etc. The issues of the lock and slipshod assembly don't really change that. They had their issues during the past as well. I'd take a modern 66 with a disabled lock over most anything made in the Lear-Siegler or Bangor-Punta days when buying sight unseen.
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