I should add, that if the cracking question were to turn toward L.C. Smith...it's a different matter entirely. That I can speak to firsthand, having owned, and known others who have, guns with cracks behind the plates.

Even if one asserts 'hot loads' as the culprit, you would have to explain away why other makes aren't affected in similar numbers.

Even so, I hesitate to call it a "design flaw," as some have said over the years. More, an unfortunate drawback. Lots of things we buy are susceptible to unintended wear affects.

They're still pretty guns that work. Made by New Yorkers!

It's hard to believe, given current regional politics, that up until a few decades ago, the vast majority of guns ever made in the U.S. came from Connecticut, New York, and too a lesser extent Massachusetts.

NDG