I have had good ones and not so good ones in all 3 guns. Got a Security Six now, 6 inch stainless, I had to ream the cylinder mouth because on two charge holes the ammo would stick going in. Other than that little headache it's been a fabulous gun. My SP101 I didn't have to do nothing but do a little internal polishing and it's a pretty nice shooter. I also have one in .22LR, one of the original 6 shot models that's a pretty good gun. But both of them are few years old, probably early 2000s. Most of the time you can't go wrong with any of the older Smiths, but even then, when they were owned by Banger Punta (May not have spelled that right) the quality was iffy. The new Smiths, although I hate the hole, are actually pretty decent guns. I just buy the plug that you can get on line and plug the hole because it's so friggin ugly! But, one never knows what quirks a gun may have until you actually shoot it. The Security Six I mentioned above for all intents and purposes looked brand new when I bought it, but had the issue with the ammo sticking. (It wasn't from someone shooting .38s in it as I originally thought) Most all guns can benefit from a good polishing of the internals, if you know what your doing. Otherwise let a competent gunsmith slick it up for you.