I've been surfing through the archives here on the TFL and I can tell you that the cylinder lock ups I have experienced on my 686 7 shooter are neither new nor unique. I have found many, many posts of 686 owners experiencing this same problem. Basically you shoot about 50 rounds of ANYTHING and you start experiencing cylinder lock up. The problem seems to be resolved by whipping out a brass brush and scrubbing the cylinder face and forcing cone but who wants to be hassled with doing that every 50 rounds? I'm no gun expert, but I've been shooting guns of every type for the past 40 years and imho, the 686 7 shooter is basically a manufacturer's defect. I realize that not every specimen of this particular model will exhibit this problem, but it occurs often enough to me and others that I would not recommend purchasing one of these models new until S&W gets this problem corrected. Too bad too, because its a damn fun and accurate gun to shoot. We as gun buyers deserve a more trouble free reliable product than Smith is currently putting out in this model. Fleiger
686 7 shot cylinder lock ups not new
- Thread starter fleiger
- Start date
If you use a standard nail-file on the face of the forcing cone, with substantial pressure the problem will go away. When your gun gets dirty after so many rounds the debris binds the cylinder between the cylinder face and forcing cone. Creating enough breathing room between the two in an answer. The B/C gap is still in spec. If it is another problem then I have no idea.
Send it back to s&w.....
sounds like you gap is too tight on one hand that could be good (more retained velocity). I can understand you frustration though over not being able to shoot more without cleaning, though. S&W does seem to be making
smaller gaps these days but not so extreme as to lock it up after 50rds.
I have a 686-6 + with a 4"er, its about 9months old, and My gap is really tight
(.003), I've gone 300rds of .357 without a problem. Get a feeler gauge
like the kind they use to check the gap in spark plugs, and check it your self
if its .002 or.001 send it for service. S&W is reknown for there excellent service they'll send a fed ex label for you and have them pick it up right
from your house.
The other thing I was going to mention is it could be ammo related,
I have experienced problems with sellier&bellot, .357 rims being WAY
out of spec. Enough to lock my gun up. That fairly common for them,
also UMC it absolutely the dirtiest ammo on the market, after fifty
rounds of that stuff, it looked like I had dumped my 686 in tar and
that dragged it thru a pan of coal soot.
Heres mine when it's clean.
sounds like you gap is too tight on one hand that could be good (more retained velocity). I can understand you frustration though over not being able to shoot more without cleaning, though. S&W does seem to be making
smaller gaps these days but not so extreme as to lock it up after 50rds.
I have a 686-6 + with a 4"er, its about 9months old, and My gap is really tight
(.003), I've gone 300rds of .357 without a problem. Get a feeler gauge
like the kind they use to check the gap in spark plugs, and check it your self
if its .002 or.001 send it for service. S&W is reknown for there excellent service they'll send a fed ex label for you and have them pick it up right
from your house.
The other thing I was going to mention is it could be ammo related,
I have experienced problems with sellier&bellot, .357 rims being WAY
out of spec. Enough to lock my gun up. That fairly common for them,
also UMC it absolutely the dirtiest ammo on the market, after fifty
rounds of that stuff, it looked like I had dumped my 686 in tar and
that dragged it thru a pan of coal soot.
Heres mine when it's clean.
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My 686 has done it I think twice??When it was almost new,took a very fine file to the edge of the forcing hasn't done it since.The has been a bunch of posts on this and it all seems to be from the 686?????? I think at the time I was using Unique powder and since going to w231 hasn't happened.I had forgotten untill just now about the powder so was it my file job or the powder?? But the Unique was a very dirty powder after shooting my hands were black 
fleiger... sounds like a nice tight gun... you should be getting some very nice velocities with that revo. You'll probably never get through more than one cylinder-full during a defensive encounter, so from a defense standpoint, there is no issue. But if the gun is a target gun, you might want to relieve the gap a touch, or if you want to retain excellent velocities, just give it a quick brush-off with an brass brush every 50 rounds or so... nothing troublesome about that, is there?