Smith snubbie damaged. Any suggestions?

[Chucklz480]

  I inherited my dad's S&W airweight 38 spcl. when he passed away.  It's a huge keepsake for me as it's the first gun I ever fired and my dad's off duty piece for many years.   I would fire it on his birthday evey year since he died.   This last year when I fired it the frame cracked badly.  I did some research and found this happens sometimes with the old aluminum alloys.  I spoke to Smith and they seemed non commital as to what they could do for me.  I just want the weapon functional so I can retire it to a place of honor in my collection.  Any suggestions as to who might be able to help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[Double D]

Contact Smith an Wesson Factory instructions on how to send your gun to them for repair.

This is from there website:

How can I get my S&W handgun repaired?
Please contact our Customer Support Center for instructions on how to return your handgun for repair: 1-800-331-0852 (Inside USA) 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Monday - Friday).

Send your gun to them and ask for a estimate for repair.   

[Graybeard]

If you want the gun your dad owned then DO NOT send it to S&W. You WILL NOT get that gun back from them if you do. If you want it as a keepsake just retire it and leave it be. You likely fired it with over pressure ammo or it wouldn't or shouldn't have cracked the frame.

If you send it to S&W they likely will either replace it and charge you for the new gun or just replace the frame and cylinder so about all you'd have of your dad's gun would be the barrel and grips.

You need to decide if you want the gun he owned or a working gun. You are not ever again gonna have both in the same gun.

[Chucklz480]

      Thanks for the advice.  I figured that S&W would replace most of the parts, so I guess I'll have to decide if I want a paper weight that my dad owned or a working gun that has some original parts form his gun.   Those were standard pressure factory PMC loads (semi wadcutters)  that cracked the frame by the way.  The gun had alot of rounds through it over 20-25 years, must have fatigued it some.    Anyway thanks again.!