No-Lock Smith & Wesson 642s!
As reported on THR and the Smith & Wesson forums, a batch of 4000 new Smith & Wesson Model 642 revolvers WITHOUT the cursed integral lock are now hitting the market via wholesaler RSR.
I fired off a quick email to my favorite S&W expert, asking if I should buy one. To Tam’s credit, she had the patience and courtesy to answer such a patently stupid question in the affirmative:
Does a big snake crawl low to the ground? 
I take Tam’s opinion pretty seriously, so I stopped in at my favorite local emporium of death, had them check with RSR (11oo guns in stock as of this afternoon), and slapped my credit card down on the counter. It’s actually costing me a few bucks less than the lock-afflicted 642 currently sitting in their showcase.
This will actually be my first Smith and first D/A wheelgun (I’ve shot a bunch of ‘em, but never bought one until today). Hopefully they sell out fast and signal to Smith that there’s a goodly number of us who would be happy to buy their products if they’d just ditch the locks.
I got mine, go get yours!
It won’t happen - remember, S&W was bought out by Saf-T Hammer Inc, the company that invented that lock.
Comment by HTRN — July 26, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
Yabut, S&W is now a publicly-traded company. If these no-lock guns sell like wildfire (which, I admit, is not guaranteed), management may not be able to ignore the foregone profits any longer. Shareholders might not let them.
Comment by TD — July 26, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
That’s good news. I’ve always been wary of guns with internal locks. I know the chances of them causing a problem are slim to none, but I feel like Murphy’s Law would rear it’s head and the lock would somehow engage when I really needed the gun to go bang.
Comment by mike w. — July 26, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
In 2001, Saf-t hammer acquired S&W with the intention of incorporating their design in order to comply with the 2000 Clinton deal..
In 2002, They changed the name of combined entity to Smith and Wesson Holding Inc.
How much do you want to bet that the people behind the acquisition own both the patents and are majority shareholders? S&W knows full well how hated those damn locks are, yet they still put them in. Smart money is somebodys making money off of it..
Comment by HTRN — July 27, 2008 @ 1:37 am
That lock is the reason I won’t buy a new production Smith. They change that, maybe go back to the unfluted cylinder on the 610’s that I can get in CA, maybe make the 681 again, maybe…oh, I guess its not the only reason I don’t buy new Smiths.
Comment by Josh — July 28, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
The day after I buy my locked 442, I find out they’re making Heller-engraved 442s. Now I could have had a 642 without a lock?!
This is just not my week.
Comment by existingthing — July 28, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
i just bought my 642-1 for$429.00 good price without the lock. i hope they come out with a k frame or others. theres rumours the might?
Comment by john champagne — September 23, 2008 @ 4:28 am
i just bought my 642-1 for$429.00 good price without the lock. i hope they come out with a k frame or others. theres rumours they might? is this true?
Comment by john champagne — September 23, 2008 @ 4:29 am
if you check out S&W’s website, they are now a cataloged item. Is this the wave of the future?
Comment by tom sundermeier — October 4, 2008 @ 10:48 pm
The best we could hope for is that this will become an optional feature.
Comment by michael tyler — November 1, 2008 @ 10:16 pm