Smith & Wesson Factory Gunsmithing

[TrackDayRdr]

Has anyone used their service? I sent my Shield back to have the striker block fixed and while it's there I am considering having it sent to the Performance Center for an "action tune" and throat/hood polish. Relatively cheap and covered under the warranty unlike the Apex kits. Thoughts and experiences?

 

[MuzzleDiscipline]

Do it you won't be sorry more than once. Then you can send it back.

 

[greencobra]

not exactly the same work...i sent a model 10 revolver (circa 1974) in last year for a re-blue and action work. 80% of the original finish was gone and smegma was growing on the exposed metal and i couldn't seem to stop it no matter how much oil i kept on the surface. the action was horrible also, like someone had got to it and put a burr somewhere. i asked if they could smooth it up while keeping the original parts. it came back like new and the action is as good as any out there. for $155 here's what they did.
- strip original remaining finish
- treated the metal parts to stop the fungus growing
- reblue
- replaced all visible screws, they were buggered up. sent the originals back.
- replaced the missing hardware on the original service stocks. i had the original grip screw.
- custom shop smoothed and polished the lock work (so the return invoice says). the sa/da action is slicker than shit.
- returned it in one of the current blue plastic boxes
- returned on their dime
so am i happy and did they do a good job? hell yeah. and a couple of days after they received it i got a call from someone there explaining that the bluing process they do now is not the same as in 1974, it wouldn't have that deep high luster as back then, and do i still want to go ahead with the finish anyway. i though that was nice of 'em to toss a heads up. they did a nice polish though, so it came real close.

eta: mis-quoted the cost, changed it, sorry for the confusion.

 

[MuzzleDiscipline]

not exactly the same work...i sent a model 10 revolver (circa 1974) in last year for a re-blue and action work. 80% of the original finish was gone and smegma was growing on the exposed metal and i couldn't seem to stop it no matter how much oil i kept on the surface. the action was horrible also, like someone had got to it and put a burr somewhere. i asked if they could smooth it up while keeping the original parts. it came back like new and the action is as good as any out there. for $125 here's what they did.
- strip original remaining finish
- treated the metal parts to stop the fungus growing
- reblue
- replaced all visible screws, they were buggered up. sent the originals back.
- replaced the missing hardware on the original service stocks. i had the original grip screw.
- custom shop smoothed and polished the lock work (so the return invoice says). the sa/da action is slicker than shit.
- returned it in one of the current blue plastic boxes
- returned on their dime
so am i happy and did they do a good job? hell yeah. and a couple of days after they received it i got a call from someone there explaining that the bluing process they do now is not the same as in 1974, it wouldn't have that deep high luster as back then, and do i still want to go ahead with the finish anyway. i though that was nice of 'em to toss a heads up. they did a nice polish though, so it came real close.

Wow now you got me thinking I should send them my Mod 10.

 

[greencobra]

Wow now you got me thinking I should send them my Mod 10.

sure, do it. i just looked at my invoice, it was a little over a year...nov '17. i know there was a price increase since but it can't be that much. call them, i did that before i shipped it to 'em. i would have liked to keep it original but since the stuff kept growing on the surface...battle was lost before it started. the bonus was i never mentioned custom shop, so... if your interested i'll start another thread and post a pic there so i don't hijack this thread anymore.
eta: they said 6-8 weeks, came back in 4.