686 - six or seven rounds?

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kesserman

New member
I'm pretty sure my first purchase will be a SW 686. Call me crazy, but seven rounds seems too good to be true.

What are the downsides to seven rounds (vs. six). Accuracy? Reliability? Integrity? (i.e. will it fatigue and blow up in my hand after one too many .357 rounds?) - or even resale value (is seven rounds a fad? Or is it the new standard?). In other words, if there's a seven round cylinder out there, why bother selling a six?

This will be a range gun, which means .38 or .38+P for targets. I want to shoot .357 for kicks on the range and keep the night-stand loaded with .357 for the bad guys. I've heard of 'rings' building from shooting .38's in the 686. Is this somthing that keeps you up at night? Or is it just cosmetic, and requires a little more elbow grease?

While I'm at it...Which is easier to keep clean..Blued or Stanless?

Thanks for the help....
 
Kesserman edit

PS - I live in California - seeing as I can only get 10 rounds anyway, seven is much more than six when it comes to revolvers.
 
Let me start by saying that I think you have made a wise choice. The 686 (plus or otherwise) is, in general, an excellent revolver. That being said, the choice between the plus model and the regular model is (to me at least) somewhat of a difficult one. As far as accuracy, I don't feel that the extra hole will affect it that much if it all. That being said, although I have never experienced this first hand, I have heard (from magazines) about revolvers having one chamber that doesn't shoot as accurate (consistently produces a "flier"). So, with seven shots I suppose you up your chances of having that...but on the other hand you will still have 6 shots that are "on" as opposed to five if you had a six-shooter. But all that is hypothetical anyway. And as for durability, I have heard it stated on threads here that the seven shot cylinder is actually stronger than the six shot cylinder. This being due to the cylinder bolt notches being located between two chambers rather than at each one. However, I don't really see that there will be enough difference in them even if that isn't true for you to worry about. I think both will be plenty strong to handle any factory .357 load.

As for the question about it being a fad...in short I don't know. Who's to say with any degree of certainty. I don't really think that it is a fad. Smith just introduced the 619 and 620 with seven shots only. The Taurus 66 is 7 shot and the 608 is an 8 shot. Even if it is a fad though, it won't make your gun obsolete, it would probably increase its value.

At this point though, don't think I'm trying to talk you into a 7 shot plus model. That's not my intention. Several on here feel that the 6 shot is still the way to go. They have speedloaders already for 6 shots and have their "mental shot count" down for a 6 shot. ("Did I fire 6 shots or only 5?") To an extent, I am in that crowd. But I will say that I have ordered a model 620. Had it been offered with six shots I would probably have gotten the 6 shot. Call us traditionalists I guess...or old fashioned.

If you shoot a steady diet of only .38s through ANY .357 without cleaning it, rings will develop. This is not a problem inherent to only the 686. This can lead to problems with .357s (which are longer) seating properly. However, with cleaning this is not a problem.

As for which is easier to clean...neither is really easier to clean in my experience. However, you do have to keep more of a watch on the blued guns to make sure that powder and lead isn't left on them for an extended period of time. The blued ones will rust easier on you. Therefore with my blued guns, periodically, I will take them out and clean and oil them whether they have been shot or not. With my stainless guns I typically do not do this (if they haven't been shot).
 
686 - six or seven rounds?

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I'm pretty sure my first purchase will be a SW 686. Call me crazy, but seven rounds seems too good to be true.

What are the downsides to seven rounds (vs. six). Accuracy? Reliability? Integrity? (i.e. will it fatigue and blow up in my hand after one too many .357 rounds?) - or even resale value (is seven rounds a fad? Or is it the new standard?). In other words, if there's a seven round cylinder out there, why bother selling a six?
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If there is a rifle out there, why bother selling handguns ? If automobiles are available in black, why use any other colors ? Seems about the same as you are asking ... different strokes for different folks.

I'll speculate ... revolvers were once the standard ... the auto seemed to have overtaken the revolver ... one point was the 13 shots in a 9mm auto verse the 6 in a revolver. I figure to try to add a little more adverstising clout to the revolver, the 7 shot revolver came into being.

Pick what you like.

This will be a range gun, which means .38 or .38+P for targets. I want to shoot .357 for kicks on the range and keep the night-stand loaded with .357 for the bad guys. I've heard of 'rings' building from shooting .38's in the 686. Is this somthing that keeps you up at night? Or is it just cosmetic, and requires a little more elbow grease?
Click to expand...

Depends upon whether or not you are a light sleeper, and how often and how through you are in cleaning up after yourself.

While I'm at it...Which is easier to keep clean..Blued or Stanless?

Thanks for the help....
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The one you don't shoot is easier to keep clean, otherwise seems a break even to me.

Good Luck
 
The 6 vs. 7 shot has been discussed over at the S&W Forum some time back. As noted above the 7 shot has offset notches between the chambers a al Ruger so theoretically is stronger. The 7 shot has a shorter trigger stroke double action in that the cylinder is not rotated as far as a 6 shot. Some have claimed the 7 shot goes out of time faster. The 7 shot I have is doing just fine after 2,000 rounds. Finally, being the 7 shot cylinder has an additional hole the weight is reduced a couple of ounces vs. the 6 shot offering. If you can find a 686 Mountain Gun they even weigh slightly less than a K frame 4" bbl.
 
686 plus

I've got a 4" barreled 686 plus (7 shot) I bought in 1996. It is a very fine revolver with great accuracy and fantastic balance. The trigger action on mine is quite good in either DA or SA, with a relatively short DA pull. SA is crisp and perfectly weighted IMO. I've shot a 6 shot 586 and found it to be an equally fine piece. I don't think you can go wrong either way, but I can't imagine a situation in which it would be a disadvantage to have 7 shots available instead of 6.
 
I can't imagine a situation in which it would be a disadvantage to have 7 shots available instead of 6
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I can: if you want to compete in IDPA or USPSA, or use the best available speedloaders.

Were it not for that restriction, I'd still have my 686+, which was a great gun in and of itself.
 
I have a 7-shot 686 plus. I lost count of the number of rounds it has fired, but it's been several thousand at least mostly with .38's.

I've been very satisfied. Reliable and accurate.

I used it for a while shooting USPSA matches just after the 6-shot rule took effect. 7 and 8 shot revolvers are legal, you just have to reload after 6 shots fired. The only problem I had was with the HKS speedloaders I was using. They have a tendency to crack between the holes due to the thin walls. It is true that your choices in speedloaders go way up with a 6-shooter. I later bought a 610 (10mm/.40) for match use. Moonclips are the way to go for speedy reloads.
 
I prefer the six-shot S&W model 686-5~!:cool:

Just something 'bout revolvers that shoot 7, 8, or 10 times.:eek:
 
I have a 686+. The only downside I can think of is that you are more limited in speedloaders. HKS and those rubber Maxis. There used to be some Swiss Jet-somethings but I think those have been discontinued.
 
I have had a 4" 686+ and a 686+ "snubbie" for about three years each. Both 100% reliable and quite accurate too. I recommend them without reservation.
 
I have one of each. MY 4" 686+ i probably put 10,000 rounds through it in the last 6 years. Last year I added a 6" 686 6 shot. I like them both very much.
As far as the trigger pull goes, there is no difference, If I close my eyes and pull each double or single action I cannot tell the difference. The hand may have to rotate the cylinder a little less on the 7 shot, but the trigger covers the same distance when pulled, it still has to cock and release the hammer either way.

Why did I buy the 6 shot when I have a 7 already??, variety and tradition. I am more used to six shooters and the 7 seems a little odd, not bad but different.

I recently acquired a 617 .22lr revolver, and I had the choice between a 10 shot and a 6 shot, I bought the 6 because having a 9 shot taurus .22 revolver for several years already, one of the things I dont like is cleaning all of those charge holes, 6 are easier to clean and take less time than 10 charge holes.

6 shots is more traditional, and some feel that the balance is better with a longer (6"+) barrel.
 
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