Night Guard Series

[Mikey]

Has anyone seen or purchased one of these yet???  Scandium N Frames with stainless barrels in 44 spl and 45 ACP interest me.  Mikey.

[Graybeard]

Sounds VERY interesting but I've heard nothing about them. I tried to get to the S&W site to check on them and it doesn't seem to be working at all for some reason. I guess I'll have to wait awhile longer to learn about them. Got any more info to share?

[Hammerdown]

Has anyone seen or purchased one of these yet???  Scandium N Frames with stainless barrels in 44 spl and 45 ACP interest me.  Mikey.

Hello Mikey
A friend of mine wanted to buy one until he looked them over closer. They appear to be a J-Frame design on Steroids. S&W Introduced their smaller J frame series with Scandium frames, Titanium cylinders and Stainless steel barrels Inserted in an Aluminum shroud that this Barrel screw into. The design is decent looking but I am not fond of Barrels that screw into frames with shrouds around them, as my past experience with a J-Far,e was not a good one at all. I had Purchased the model 331 revolver in a round butt-J-frame configuration. It's frame was Scandium which is a mix of aluminum alloy with a very small amount of Scandium as S&W had Bought the Scandium Mines in Russia to extract this high priced Ore.I carried this revolver chambered in .32 H&R magnum round daily as my carry piece and it only weighed a meek 11 OZ. empty. I had it about Four months and discovered that the  silver finish was flaking off. I was NOT Impressed spending well over $600.00 back in the late 1990's for a revolver with a spray Painted on finish that flaked off from daily carry. As time wore on, the finish looked worse. I pulled it out of it's holster while I was at the range one day shooting another revolver, as I had Planned to shoot it as well that day. I laid it on the carpet covered surface they had for a shooting bench. When I proceeded to Pick it up just before firing it, I heard a very distinct Rattle coming from it that sounded real odd to me. A further investigation showed that the Internal stainless Barrel had unscrewed it self from the main frame of the revolver and it was the shroud that this rattle  Noise I had Heard was coming from. I shuttered at the thought of what might have happened if I had not caught this lose Barrel issue and gone ahead and fired it with a Loose barrel  ? I called the Factory service department at S&W as soon as I arrived home that day. The service guy shared with me that this problem was a very common one and they had let a few get out the door that the barrel nut was Not tightened up to specifications on. He gave me a shipping Ticket number, and while I had him on the phone I discussed with him in great detail how I was Not at all pleased with their finish on this revolver. That is how I learned that the silver looking finishes were actually spray Painted on this gun. I asked by me returning it and them refinishing it, if the New Finish would last any longer when refinished ? He said they had not changed a thing from when my gun was made to improve this spray painted finish, so it led me to believe it would not last any longer when it returned from S&W refinished than when it came to me New. It came back to me looking like a brand new one. I then read an article where they had ceased using Titanium in the cylinders of this revolver, because of excessive stretching while Firing it from the Cartridge pressures that some of these revolver's had a slight scrub mark on the inside of the Top strap due to the excessive cylinder stretching when being fried. They Now replaced the Titanium with Stainless material and dropped The Scandium material out of the frame for what reason I still Don't know. All this happened within a period of about Three months time, and it made me Very leery of their New found wonder materials used in this weapon. I sure did not feel comfortable with all the issues that surrounded it, so I swapped it off for a all stainless revolver that served me fine other than weighing a little more than the Modern Wonder materials that failed Miserably in this More Modern gun. I Flat refuse to Look at any of their new offerings ever since and now carry daily a Old School material designed revolver that shipped in 1958. Here is a Picture of the barrel removed from my Model 331 that I Unscrewed by simply Placing my Thumb in the end of the barrel and unscrewing it after the guy in service told me it was Impossible to unscrew any of the newer S&W Barrels as they had a special wrench they used at the factory to place or remove there barrels. I sent this Picture shown below to the same guy in S&W service and he promptly returned a shipping Ticket for me to send in my revolver for service... Hammerdiown

[Mikey]

Hammerdown - it sure does sound like you got one that slipped through.  But how does it work since you got it back from S&W?  As you mentioned, this is not the first time S&W has used screwed in barrels with shrouds but they have sold an awful lot of the Scandium revolvers.

According to the adds, these are L and N frame revolvers.  Even the j-frames are strong enough to do what they are required to do and this series ahs the strength of the larger frames.  The frames are Scandium and the cylinders are stainless steel.  I would expect the finish to be bead blasted, jusding by the look of it.  The S&W rear sight has been replaced by a Cylinder and Slide Extreme Duty fixed rear sight and a Tritium night sight up front.  They come in 38, 357, 44 Spl , 44 Mag. and, 45 ACP.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Hammerdown]

Hammerdown - it sure does sound like you got one that slipped through.  But how does it work since you got it back from S&W?  As you mentioned, this is not the first time S&W has used screwed in barrels with shrouds but they have sold an awful lot of the Scandium revolvers.

According to the adds, these are L and N frame revolvers.  Even the j-frames are strong enough to do what they are required to do and this series ahs the strength of the larger frames.  The frames are Scandium and the cylinders are stainless steel.  I would expect the finish to be bead blasted, jusding by the look of it.  The S&W rear sight has been replaced by a Cylinder and Slide Extreme Duty fixed rear sight and a Tritium night sight up front.  They come in 38, 357, 44 Spl , 44 Mag. and, 45 ACP.  HTH.  Mikey.

Hello Mikey
I swapped off that model 331 less than a week after it Came back from S&W service with it's New paint Job. True S&W has made many frames in scandium and many with the Titanium cylinder but the problems that arose with the one I had Cured me from wanting any more. I carry an Old School Carbon steel revolver that is high Polished chrome made in the late 1950's. I saw a Video one time of how Much these Titanium cylinder's actually Grew when being fired, and it cured me of ever wanting another one. Sometimes New is not always better to me. Good luck in the Purchase of one I did ll the company Field Testing I cared to do with the one I got rid of.. I Know I can count on the one I carry now to get the job done safely...Hammerdown

[SharonAnne]

help please/ I though Scandium was aluminum with titanium?!? yes/no?

[Graybeard]

NO. Scandium is a naturally occurring element just like aluminum or titanium however I do believe S&W alloys it with the others at least with aluminum and maybe ith titanium as well.