Never seen this before!

[thor447]

A friend of mine was teaching a handgun safety course today in Norman. One of the ladies attending that course brought her recently purchased Smith and Wesson 642. She said she bought it brand new at Academy recently, and this was her first time shooting it. During the shooting portion of the class, she loaded ammo in it for the first time, pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. The cylinder was locked up, they could not open it. My buddy called me into the range, I checked to make sure that there was no squib, then we proceeded to take the gun apart to get it safely unloaded. When we popped the side plate off, it was missing that hammer safety bar, there was absolutely no lubrication inside the gun, and as you can see in the photos the hammer is completely rusted.

She had the receipt from Academy where she bought it a couple months prior.

We told her for safety sake that we would not reassemble the gun because it was not safe to fire. She is taking it back to Academy, and if they will not replace it for her, we gave her instructions on how to send it back to Smith & Wesson directly.

The pictures are incredible, just thought I’d share with you all. I’ve heard horror stories about big box store guns being not as high-quality because manufacturers sometimes skimp on things to be able to sell it to them at a certain price point. I don’t know what was going on with this one, but I cannot believe this made it out of the factory.

 

[rickm]

Im wonder if someone else bought it for parts and then took it back to the store to get a refund or trade for something else

 

[adamsredlines]

I didnt think Academy would do any returns on guns for any reason.

Edit:

1) Firearms: With the exception of brands sold exclusively by Academy, all firearm sales are final, and customers must return any damaged or defective firearm to the manufacturer for warranty repair or claims.

 

[rockchalk06]

Usually Academy has a no return policy on firearms, but will act as the warranty middle man with the manufacturer, shipping it to and receiving it for the buyer.

 

[O4L]

I have been hearing of problems with new guns from S&W. Apparently their QC is rather iffy.

Very sad.

 

[gerhard1]

Yes; take it up with S&W. It's their problem.

 

[davek]

Sabotage?

 

[rickm]

OK was unaware of their policy since i have never been to or done business with them.

 

[AKguy1985]

Yes; take it up with S&W. It's their problem.

X2 send it back to the mothership.

 

[sumoj275]

All manufacturers are rushing stuff out the door asap. Something has to give with the old adage you can have fast, cheap, but not good or you can have any 2 of the 3.