Smith and wesson revolver?

Question

anyone know why S&W went from a floating pin on the hammer to a flat hammer with an interior pin? which is better and what are the pros and cons?

Answer 1

newer is better..safer...more dependable,,,

Answer 2

The exposed pin on the hammer was traditional, but it was exposed to damage and catching on things. The interior pin fixes all that, and lends itself to eventual safer transfer bar designs like Ruger uses. Regards, Larry.

Answer 3

Smith & Wesson moved the firing pins about 10 years ago.  Even worse, at about the same time, they added that idiotic key-lock safety.

I could live with the firing pin being in the wrong place, but d**n the locks!  I've heard that there have been some problems with the lock sizing up and rendering the revolver useless at some very inconvenient times.

As long as Smith & Wesson keeps that damned lawyer and slickwillie inspired lock, I will be purchasing older S&W revolvers with the firing pin where the God intended them to be, on the hammer.

Doc

Answer 4

To show how far behind I am, I wasn't aware Smith and Wesson changed their firing pins. The only time I ever heard of one catching on anything was when the officer was disarming Lee Harvey Oswald. The pin punched a hole in the web between his thumb and hand.

The floating pin in the hammer could be dry fired a million times and cause no damage to the gun. The pin in the frame will be battered beyond recognition by about 100 times. Other than that I see no advantage or disadvantage for either setup.

It appears to me to be a solution to a non-existent problem.

Answer 5

larry ands Pedro S are correct from a technical standpoint, however, another BIG reason that led to that change is the MA Attorney Generals Office!  For guns to be compliant in MA (Smith & Wesson is headquartered in Springfield, MA and MA is a BIG market for the company, being its home state), they need to be on an "approved list" of firearms that is deemed "safe" from a consumer safety standpoint.  The only new guns that get onto that list need to have internal firing pins.  Older guns (pre 1998) are grandfathered