Hi Guys, thanks for the reply, I just stumbled on this thread again through doing another variation on the search for my issue.
I have emailed S&W, I did not know whether they did have someone here, thank you for that information! I'm going to have to look a bit harder at their website, I missed it. I will definitely follow up Grycol directly or the dealer I bought it from if they won't deal direct. (I know they don't deal direct with sales.)
Thank you for the suggestion of testing where the brass actually is most likely to be let go. I have actually tested this by putting an dummy I have made in the action with the recoil spring out, racking the slide back (not too far to hit the extractor) and dis-assembling. I even was able to move it further down with it seeming like it would never let go.
It is bizarre - any scenario I can think of that would cause it has at least one flaw that seems to make it an impossibility.
Hey just one strange thing - on the S&W site I (just now) found ONE of the Grycol listings that you kindly replied with here, the Alexandria one, but not the other one - were they on the same page? -
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/w..._image#Pacific
Again, thank you for your replies!