S&W internal locks

[pbearperry]

Today after reading about those darn locks locking up by accident,I rendered mine inoperable.Instead of grinding anything off,I just removed the small piece that the locking arm went into.Now,no matter which way the key is turned,nothing gets locked up.Yes there is a small hole over the cylinder latch,but if I want to sell the gun,all I have to do is put the part back.
Has anyone else done this?

 

[Davidk]

I'm not fond of having a hole that can allow dirt in. It would be my suggestion to sell or trade if for a pre-lock or a new one without a lock.

 

[vellnueve]

I don't think that those locking failures are prevented by removing that knob, but I've never taken mine apart to take a close look.

 

[pbearperry]

Hole in the gun

I'm not fond of having a hole that can allow dirt in. It would be my suggestion to sell or trade if for a pre-lock or a new one without a lock.

I too thought about that lil hole,but I really don't think that much dirt could get in there cause it's a real tiny hole.I also think that a lot of people are getting turned off by the lock thing and not many people would want to buy it.S&W now wants over $1000 retail for my gun.I think they will end up history like Winchester in the near future unless they smarten up.

 

[Dick]

Over on the S&W Forum, there are details on a number of approaches to rendering the IL inoperable, complete with step-by-step instructions and photos. They range from simply removing parts, which is reversible if you know what you're doing (but does leave the hole), to simply grinding off the part that does the locking (irreversible, unless S&W decides to start selling the parts, which it does not currently), to one very complicated but elegant way of removing parts and filling the hole so it can hardly be seen.

I'm hoping that the current over-the-top sales figures for the non-IL version of the 642 will help S&W to see the light on this, but the IL-equipped revolvers seem also to be selling pretty well and the company cares more about the M&P market anyway.