Totally not surprised. The S&W Sigma that I had was the biggest piece of trash I've ever had the misfortune to own. To top it off, the darned thing wouldn't feed Speer Gold Dot JHP. When I sent it back to the factory, I was told that they considered it not feeding hollowpoints "operating perfectly within acceptable parameters."

I have read about the key lock failures before, and feel the same way about key locks as I do about magazine disconnects. I would LOVE to have one (or two) of the current Smith reissues of the fixed sight 45ACP revolver (forget the number at the moment), maybe one of the ditto 44 Specials, and wouldn't mind having one of the superlight high cap 22LR revolvers either.

But I absolutely WILL NOT own one of their guns with a trigger lock, no matter how much I might want it otherwise. Sadly, I have read that key locks on their guns are now a Smith & Wesson company doctrine that has been chiseled in the granite above their doorways (well, not literally) and that it is unlikely in the extreme that they will ever disappear from S&W guns. Sigh.

I don't get it. I've never used a weapon with an internal trigger lock so I don't really understand how the mechanism is so different from a regular selector switch that it would be significantly more prone to failure than a normal safety.

Is it really more complicated than a trigger disconnect or another catch on the seer?

Don't get me wrong, I completely believe that it's possible to design and market a fundamentally flawed trigger lock, but I would have thought that an internal design would make it a great deal more reliable.

I have read about the key lock failures before, and feel the same way about key locks as I do about magazine disconnects.

Well, I feel the same way about magazine disconnects as I do about people who don't clear their weapons properly: It sucks that they exist, but they're there and that's the reality of it.

When I sent it back to the factory, I was told that they considered it not feeding hollowpoints "operating perfectly within acceptable parameters."

The way you're quoting them makes me wonder if they were talking about hollowpoints in general or just your preferred brand of hollowpoints. Did they straight out say that only ball ammunition is guaranteed to feed?

They straight out said that it was "perfectly acceptable" for it to not feed any hollowpoints at all. I had tried few different brands, but Gold Dots are what I prefer. When my gunsmith called them about it, they told him, "Well then, feed it ball ammo."