Around three years ago I bought a S&W 460xvr. I bought it because I like the 454 Casull cartridge the gun was also capable of shooting and I liked the build of quality and style of Smith & Wesson. I am not a fan of the internal lock. So I bought a delete kit

I watched a couple of tutorials and figured the process wasn’t beyond me. My gun was a little different than the tutorial gun but similar enough to figure it out. There were ten steps in disassembly and then in reverse. I had trouble returning the side plate but patience paid off.

On function testing I noticed the little ‘Locked’ flag would swing up to follow gravity and law of motion. While turning the gun over, I noticed the tiniest spring lying on my assembly mat. Dang. I was kind of pressed for time so I put the spring in the lock delete parts package and into my parts to be replaced later box.

Skip ahead three-ish years to this morning. I broke it all back down because that spring is under the last part in the stack. Also, that spring is as tiny as an ingrown hair all coiled up. It took some doing to get it positioned and function tested. All back together and the gun works perfectly. Nice to have it back together right. It still worked without the spring but if the flag lifted up, it would lock the hammer. Annoying and unreliable.

I removed it and put that plug in the side of my 617. Looks a lot cleaner and no issues.

I have a few with the lock, so far I haven’t dived into getting rid of any. I have seen the kits and know the videos are out there.

On a related point, years ago I had an issue with my 340PD so I took it to a local gunsmith. This gunsmith was close, easy, but got bad reviews. He just mostly had to put the gun back together. I thought, relatively easy.

After a few weeks with no movement I went in and got my gun back in a parts bag. He said it would be a good project for me?

I went to the videos, started and went slow. I have never had a problem with the gun since. I’ve done similar over the years, often plenty of time between such events. I have to go back to videos for the refresh.

Thank goodness for video tutorials! It’s gratifying to do the work yourself I think. Takes the mystery out of how it works and you know it’s put together right.

I've done a few with my Smiths & always removed the "flag" along with the other parts.

quote:

Originally posted by Delta-3:
I've done a few with my Smiths & always removed the "flag" along with the other parts.

I did the same on the 638 I just did. As I saw it, removing the flag plate and that little spring that goes with it is optional once you remove the lock. I just didn’t like the thought of the flag plate pivoting around in there so I yanked that out too.

Not sure how it was to do the job on a .460 X frame, but on a .38 J frame, doing the delete/plug job was one of the bigger pains in the butt I’ve been thru. Working with the cylinder release spring and fork was tricky to get it correctly seated.

quote:

Originally posted by Delta-3:
I've done a few with my Smiths & always removed the "flag" along with the other parts.

Agreed. If I'm plugging a lock, I'm taking the flag out, too. The flag is the part that actually locks the action, the lock cylinder just pushes it up. I don't like the gap that it leaves next to the hammer, but if you leave the flag you still run the risk of the gun locking up.

When my 329 PD locked up under recoil, the flag and spring were properly installed. The lock cylinder never rotated, the flag just popped up on its own and stuck in the locked position until I pushed it back down.

I debated removing the flag. The purist in me wanted to. The tutorial counseled to leave it in place to prevent the possibility of debris getting in. Is that likely? I doubt it. But with the lock cam out, the flag never engages the hammer (as long as the spring is in place) so what’s the harm? My fall back position if I couldn’t install the spring was to remove the flag and be done.