Smith and Wesson

[Stahlketten]

Over the last two days, I have "Fixed" two pairs of S&W handcuffs because they did not close smoothly.
Both pairs were bent in different ways but a little hammering and bending was able to address the issues. These are in addition to the previous ones I have worked on which is at least a half dozen or more pairs. All were slightly twisted or bent in some way. Has anyone else noticed this about S&W cuffs? It seems like the newer ones are much softer metal than ones made a couple decades ago. The quali5y of the versions before the M-100 seem a lot better.

[Stahlketten]

I have gone back and looked over a few pairs of S&W Model 90 handcuffs. While they do seem to be better made, the sizes between different pairs seems to be inconsistent. Ones in good condition are not easy to find anymore. The last ones were made around 50 years ago.

[Stahlketten]

A little while ago I came across a pair of S&W Model 1 handcuffs.
Although they worked, neither cuff would close without some binding.
On one side, the single arm did not clear the pawl even when the key was used.
On the other side, the single arm seemed to be binding in the slot for the locking mechanism.
After about 20 minutes in the garage using a bench vise to bend the single arm on one side and a wooden baseball bat to expand the frame on the other, everything now moves smoothly.
It doesn't take that much effort to straighten things but the metal must be really soft if most of the used S&Ws get bent out of shape.