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zinj · November 22, 2009, 04:54 PM

A few months ago I impulse purchased a Smith 66 no-dash without giving a full checkout. I now understand why some experts have the opinion that the Bangor Punta era represents a nadir of S&W quality. The gun has a few issues, the most apparent being a crane that is not closely fitted to the frame, and a barrel/cylinder gap of .012. Is this gun worth keeping? I'm sure there is a smith somewhere who can fix the problem, but I don't want to dump hundreds of dollars into this gun. What would the consequences be for shooting it. I have read up a fair amount on the forcing cone issue of the magnum K-Frame, and would primarily be shooting .38s through the gun. Would a large B/C gap result in more forcing cone erosion?

There also is a small flange of metal around some parts of the end of the barrel, it looks like a leftover of the milling process that should have been cleaned up. Is this a cause for concern?

From what I can tell, the gun seems to have been carried a fair amount and shot a bit too, but not with too many hot magnums, seeing as there is very little flamecutting of the topstrap. There was .004 cylinder endshake, which I have fixed with some endshake bushings.

November 22, 2009, 04:54 PM	#1
zinj Member Join Date: September 25, 2008 Location: Chicagoish - Love the museums, hate the rest Posts: 66	S&W 66 Excessive B/C Gap A few months ago I impulse purchased a Smith 66 no-dash without giving a full checkout. I now understand why some experts have the opinion that the Bangor Punta era represents a nadir of S&W quality. The gun has a few issues, the most apparent being a crane that is not closely fitted to the frame, and a barrel/cylinder gap of .012. Is this gun worth keeping? I'm sure there is a smith somewhere who can fix the problem, but I don't want to dump hundreds of dollars into this gun. What would the consequences be for shooting it. I have read up a fair amount on the forcing cone issue of the magnum K-Frame, and would primarily be shooting .38s through the gun. Would a large B/C gap result in more forcing cone erosion? There also is a small flange of metal around some parts of the end of the barrel, it looks like a leftover of the milling process that should have been cleaned up. Is this a cause for concern? From what I can tell, the gun seems to have been carried a fair amount and shot a bit too, but not with too many hot magnums, seeing as there is very little flamecutting of the topstrap. There was .004 cylinder endshake, which I have fixed with some endshake bushings.