My 2 pet irritations on S&W wheelguns--filed down strain screw tips, and clipped rebound slide springs. The Sign Of The Shade-Tree Gunsmith. Revolvers carried in harm's way need to have OEM springs. I didn't open up sideplates on personally-owned S&W firearms, but I had free rein on Department-owned S&W Model 64s. Invariably, misfiring sidearms (using issued carry rounds) showed one or both of these modifications when the armorer inspected them later. The Powers That Be started handing out stern sanctions to anyone caught carrying such a firearm--modified parts or Wolff replacement springs. 3 days off without pay. It only took a couple such fangings for the word to get around. This applied to agency-owned guns--if you carried your own sidearm and it misfired on factory ammo, it got red-tagged and could only be re-instated after a visit to a certified armorer that issued a factory-backed certificate of reliability. Again, a couple such examples sent the message succinctly.
This wasn't "sprung" on the deputies by surprise--it was put out at daily briefings about 3 months before taking full effect, and memos were posted, and all of the usual acknowledgements were documented. Bureaucracy.....hijo la. The range rats weren't nasty about it--we just said "Hey--this is your life and the lives of others in the mix here. The sidearms gotta be RIGHT--they gotta be reliable." Couched in terms like that, the whines and moans were minimized.