True,and their products became pretty darned shoddy at the same time. But they've been owned by a more enlightened company for several years now and have redeemed themselves in the eye of many.
How many S&W products made during the time you mention do you own? I have eight revolvers from that era, they are flawless. All of them are stainless and all had heavy DA triggers, but the SA trigger pull was superb right out of the box and the DA pull was fixed with an after market main spring/trigger return spring set that cost $14. Model 629 revolvers will digest heavy loads better than anything made before, especially the ones made in the 50's and 60's. The 625's rule IPSC and IDPA revolver classes.