I own one of these and have always liked it for what it was (and wasn't). It's a beater rifle that shoots above it's weight class. It was only made for a year or so, and this was years before the Ruger American, Savage axis, T/C Compass, etc. came along. The recall was for a piece within the bolt that was out of spec, there will be a punch mark on the bottom side of the flat bolt handle if it has been back to S&W for the recall. They always came with Timney triggers, designed specifically for the rifle. 3 position safety, middle is safe but lets the bolt operate. One piece picatinny rail which has a recoil lug that abuts to the face of the receiver opening (strong as hell). The barrels were made by Thompson Center, they are 5R rifled and usually stupid accurate. The stock is cheap plastic, but has a soft recoil pad that is quite functional. There is a molded tube space inside the stock for a mercury recoil reducer (never tried it). The most common complaint (and justified) are the molded sling swivel studs. They do not protrude so most normal sling swivels do not work well with them. I added a normal sling stud to the forearm of mine, it is an Uncle Mike's machine screw version with a washer and a nut that fits inside the hollow of the forearm under the barrel. The wrist of the stock is small, but I like that. The 2nd most common complaint is cartridge feeding from the leaf spring internal magazine. All calibers had swing down floor plates. Common for them to feed fine with 3 down, put 4 down and it tries to load two at a time. I bought a model 700 spring and feed plate hoping to retrofit but it wasn't even close to fitting. So I live with only putting 3 down. It's never taken me more than one shot per deer, but I have cycled action a few times to drop more than one doe at a time (3x a day limit where I am in TN, they are like rabbits). Removing the bolt is a weird concoction of pulling bolt all the way back, pulling trigger, pushing bolt 1/4" forward, rotating counter-clockwise then pulling back. Like walking, chewing gum, tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. I bought mine for $200 from some redneck in Alabama who said it didn't shoot worth a [bleep]. Rifle was never cleaned, the barrel looked like the inside of a copper mine. I wet patched it every morning before work with copper cleaner and cleaned every night for two weeks. Got it to bare steel, used JB bore paste to polish, Dyna Bore Coated it and it's been trouble free ever since. Mine is a 30-06. Shoots about 0.5" groups with my cheap 150 grain Sierra Gameking reloads. It shoots any factory ammo I feed it under 1 MOA. I have mine topped with a Burris Fullfield II with the BDC reticle in Warne split rings. It is the ultimate "loaner" rifle. Any time a friend or a friend of a friend needs something to shoot I loan them this one. It is indestructible and I don't have much money in it. Tell them it is zeroed at 100 yards and the 4th hash down is 500 yards, they can hit anything in between with each hash mark. Doesn't get much easier.
They only made them in 30-06, 270 Win, and 25-06. Black or camo stocks. Blued (more like parkerized) or cerakote stainless (those are rare). I would love to own one in 25-06 for what I paid for my 30-06 blued camo stocked one.
Last edited by cotis; 11/09/21. Reason: spelling
