My new S&W R8

[Paul_R]

I've been lusting after one of these for a while and along came a deal I couldn't pass up on an unfired complete S&W M&P R8. In my opinion the perfect house/camp gun and just pure pleasure to shoot thanks to the folks at the Performance Center. What a great gun!

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h312/pjriss/MampP%20TR8.jpg

[S. Galbraith]

Nice! That's an eight shot right?

[Paul_R]

Yup. 8 x .357

[Mytmousemalibu]

I just slobbered on my keyboard! It just looks like it shoots good! Looks like a gun Jerry Miculek would shoot often! That man has some really nice Performance Center gems!

I am truly in envy!

[5.7 MAN]

I have the similar TRR8, love it.

Its my my winter woods gun and occasional carry gun as well, I find the moon clips to be somewhat difficult to use.

The barrel on mine unscrewed itself after maybe 200 rands of 38 & 357 and I had to send it back to Smith, they made it right and it's been fine ever since.

Talking about it has made me want to shoot it! Great gun

in case you are into this sort of thing, Maggie on "the walking dead" has been toting one in the past two seasons. Both her and the gun are easy on the eyes!

[Love Life]

The finish wears easily on those, and you may have light primer strikes. If so, just remove the grips and tighten the screw.

[S. Galbraith]

What ever you do, don't install an APEX light trigger pull kit. Tried one on a M&P revolver and the cylinder hand trouble revolving when the pistol got dirty or it was cold out. Reinstalled the factory parts and it worked just fine.

[roysha]

The finish wears easily on those, and you may have light primer strikes. If so, just remove the grips and tighten the screw.

Learn something new everyday. After all these years I didn't realize that by removing the grips and tightening the screw I could cure light primer strikes AND repair the worn finish. Neat!:kidding:

[Paul_R]

Thanks for the tips guys!

[S. Galbraith]

Learn something new everyday. After all these years I didn't realize that by removing the grips and tightening the screw I could cure light primer strikes AND repair the worn finish. Neat!:kidding:

:holysheep

[Love Life]

Learn something new everyday. After all these years I didn't realize that by removing the grips and tightening the screw I could cure light primer strikes AND repair the worn finish. Neat!:kidding:

Yeah, I saw it on Youtube on the internet. Figured I'd pass the information along.:bigsmyl2::popcorn::veryconfu[smilie=s::|:oops::shock:

[Silver Jack Hammer]

What the frame metal? Stainless? Carbon? Scandium? What the finish called?

[Love Life]

Scandium frame. It's a real handy gun.

[9.3X62AL]

THAT is a nice-looking, all-business wheelgun right there. I'm not a user of Picatinny-form mount systems on a wheelgun, but this one doesn't look like an ill-conceived afterthought. I would not at all mind having one in my safe or in my holster.

Love Life--have some of these examples come from the factory with the mainspring strain screws backed off, or have they backed out while being fired, or ? Inquiring minds wish to.......well, inquire.

[Love Life]

I had the TRR8. Cost me a pretty little penny. Had light firing pin strikes out of the box. The strain screw was backed off which was disappointing since the Performance Center used that method to achieve it's "Tuned" action. A turn in, a bit of blue loc-tite, and all was good. Mine had other issues that were fixed, but at the end of the day I sold it and the only new production S&W I have bought since was a snub nosed revolver.

The finish wore extremely quick on the gun. The holster was fitted for the gun so it definitely had the proper holster. Wear on the scandium parts was the worst, but the cylinder finish wore very quick as well.

Don't use 5 star aluminum speed loaders as they will scratch the Scandium frame.

Accuracy wise it was good to go, and was a very easy gun to shoot even with full snort 357 magnums. Was easy to pack all day as well. I'd buy one again if the price were right.

Paul R- My apologies for the hi-jack.

[jeepyj]

Now that's wheel candy :) Please let us know how it preforms!
jeepyj

[Paul_R]

The light firing pin strike issue is common to a lot of S&W's. It's how they set them up to pass California's idiotic drop test. Love life I don't think you hijacked anything, I appreciate your insight.

[John Allen]

That sucker is awesome. I love the smiths but that one just looks great.

[S. Galbraith]

Let us know how it shoots. I might have to pick one up myself after the first of the year.

[Dale53]

Paul_R;
That is a fine lookin' revolver! If it shoots as well as my Smith Model 520, you did GOOD!

Dale53

[dragon813gt]

I was eying up the R8 and 627 V-comp. Sanity ruled the day and I bought a Franken CZ instead :laugh:

[Paul_R]

Let us know how it shoots. I might have to pick one up myself after the first of the year.

Well I've been shooting a couple of times since the OP and she's deadly accurate and points naturally in my hand. Trigger is awesome unfortunately reliability is not. Had to send it back to S&W for light primer strikes. On the bright side, S&W customer service is awesome.

[Virginian]

Wow! Nice find!

[Groo]

Groo here
If you put the rail on with a red dot don't be suprised if some rifle shooters feel bad at the 100yd line.
Those puppies SHOOT.

[rototerrier]

I have about 600 rounds through mine and I've had a hand full of light strikes. I seem to have about 1 / 100 shots. It appears to be related to high primers, but I've had a couple that didn't really support that. I may send mine in. I tried tightening the tension using the screw under the grip, mine was/is fully tight. Nothing has come loose, so if it is mechanical, there aren't any adjustments available to me to correct it.

The finish is holding up fairly well. Getting a bit of permanent wear around the front of the cylinder.

I do have a Burris Fast Fire 3 on mine and up close it's amazing.

At 100 yards I'm not the best with it. Shot this weekend and was able to only put 1 in 8 on a 1 x 1 steel plate at 100.

Put 7 / 8 on a 3 x 3 steel plate at a 100. The gun is certainly more capable than I am at those distances. The little red dot moves a lot.

[Paul_R]

I have about 600 rounds through mine and I've had a hand full of light strikes. I seem to have about 1 / 100 shots. It appears to be related to high primers, but I've had a couple that didn't really support that. I may send mine in. I tried tightening the tension using the screw under the grip, mine was/is fully tight. Nothing has come loose, so if it is mechanical, there aren't any adjustments available to me to correct it.

The finish is holding up fairly well. Getting a bit of permanent wear around the front of the cylinder.

I do have a Burris Fast Fire 3 on mine and up close it's amazing.

At 100 yards I'm not the best with it. Shot this weekend and was able to only put 1 in 8 on a 1 x 1 steel plate at 100.

Put 7 / 8 on a 3 x 3 steel plate at a 100. The gun is certainly more capable than I am at those distances. The little red dot moves a lot.

I would think high primers would have the opposite effect of a light primer strike. Regardless, mine was a pretty obvious problem with the gun. Pretty consistent 25% fail rate in DA mode. Primers were barely touched on the ones that failed. Didn't have any failures in SA mode. My tension screw was all the way down as well.

[rototerrier]

Mine fails in DA as well. Guess I should have mentioned that. SA is fine. What did they do to correct it and about how long did it take? This is currently one of my favorites and hate to be without it for any length of time.

[Paul_R]

I'll let you know tomorrow, it's at the local FedEx hub scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. It will come with a report. It took right at 3 weeks from when I shipped it. They emailed me a shipping label so this whole thing didn't cost me a dime. Like I said, awesome customer service.

FWIW, watch what you say when you talk to customer service. They like domestic factory ammo and reloads voids warranties.....

[rototerrier]

Point well taken, will do.

Looking forward do hearing the report.

[Dan Cash]

Light primer strike, exaserbated by high primers.
Expedient correction: Remove grips, loosen strain screw at bottom of grip, insert one or two "beer can" shims between main spring and strain screw, tighten strain screw, replace grips. Strain screw is a fitted part (or used to be) and is intended to be screwed all the way in.

[rototerrier]

After researching this a bit, looks like someone in another forum had suggested using a hollowed out spent primer as a shim. I did that and I can tell there is a slight increase in trigger pull. Will take it to the range and see how it does. It will either work or it won't. No harm in trying.

[Paul_R]

Point well taken, will do.

Looking forward do hearing the report.

Got it back just now. They replaced the firing pin.

[rototerrier]

Wanted to update this and let everyone know that adding the spent primer shim resolved my issues. I've fed several hundred rounds through it since making this modification and haven't had a single light strike. I've not noticed any significant difference in DA trigger pull, but I have noticed a significant increase in primer strike consistency. They look text book perfect.

Not going to say this will solve the problem for everyone, but it certainly solved it for me. No shipping and took less than 5 minutes to do.