Do Any Other TFL Member's Like Their S&W 686?

A

Ala Dan

Member in memoriam
Greeting's One & All;

About a month and a half ago I purchased a NIB Smith & Wesson 686-5 with a 6" barrel. Having been acustom to
the older generation of S&W revolver's, I had neglected
to even consider this as a target revolver.:( Well, folk's
I'm here to tell all of you this is an awesome weapon.:D
Despite all the hoopla regarding "the agreement"; this is
a very nice revolver; that I find as accurate as any Smith
& Wesson .357 magnum ever produced, coming straight from the box of course.:) My question is, how do other owner's of the
L-frame 686 like their's?

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.

PS: Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I believe revolver's were made to shoot only six times. That being said, I bought a
"six-shooter".
 
I'm not an owner but I've shot my brothers 686. Very Nice. It is certainly close to the top of my list when I go to buy a center fire revolver.
jhisaac
 
Mr. Smith I presume...

After having a S&W 586 6" for a number of years, and it being a great target gun, I decided another was in order to keep it company. Recently, the range I belong to had a shipment of 15 police trade-in 686 4"'ers. So I gave one of the lonely fellows a new home.

I have to say... I like the newer S&W stuff, but when it comes to my $$$, I buy the old stuff.

-LeadPumper
 
I have a 586 with a 6" barrel and absolutely love it. Mine is a real tack driver too. When I had a 2-6 power Bushnell Scope on it, I shot a handfull of groundhogs with it at 75 to 85 yards in a prone position. It is far more accurate than I think I ever could be.

Boo586
 
I have a 686 6", bought for a song and a dance out of a trade-in batch at my local gun store. It's a beautiful gun, accurate and fun to shoot, with a sweet trigger and all the Smith quality of a few decades ago. Mine is actually a 686 first run, no dash-anything. It's my night stand and home defense handgun. The 686 is an all-time classic...if you only get one .357 wheelgun, make it a 686.
 
Bought one used. Older model, but it has been worked on by a gunsmith. The SA trigger is BUTTER. It's awsome.

Love the gun. Now looking for 657, 627, 627, 610... you get the picture.
 
I love the 686. I would love to have one with a 6" barrel. This will, unfortunately, wait until they do something about the Agreement.
 
I had two 686's and ended up selling/trading them off when I got the Glock bug. I *WILL* have another, or two, or three! Out of all the .357 revolvers I've owned, the 686 4" is close second behind my Ruger SP-101 w/3 1/16" barrel in my all time favorites. Of course I haven't owned a Redhawk in .357... yet! ;)

R6
 
I've got SEVERAL 686's--and ONE 586--right now...and have owned quite a few more over the years...I can honestly say that my L-frame revos are my favorite .357's...and I've currently got a Python, several 19's, two 66's, two Blackhawks AND a five-screw "Pre-27", and the "L's" are the first ones I reach for when contemplating a trip to the range....mikey357
 
I have a 6" 686 that came from the factory with the wide target trigger, black on black target sights, wood target grips and an unfluted cylinder. It has a very nice trigger and is very accurate. The gun was made in '98 but the frame isn't tapped for a scope so I kinda of think maybe it was a factory throw together.
 
Now and then we get one of these "ultimate combat revolver" threads going and I always think of my 686+ with the 4" barrel. Seven rounds of 357. A barrel the right length to give the ballistics of a 357, but not so long as to be unwieldy. Great sights. Accurate? Hand held at 21 yards (Weaver stance) I shot two 5 shot groups. The best measured 2 3/8" with three holes touching. The other measured 3 3/8" but I knew one was a flier when I shot it, flinching slightly. Take that one out and I shot a 1 3/8" group. D--n! I was shooting Corbon's 110 gr. .357 magnum. Their 125 gr. load was a little less accurate. Not only is the 686+ a very accurate gun but I'm getting pretty good at slow fire, single action, Weaver stance shooting! Of course it's also an easy gun to shoot accurately, with a very light trigger, great sights, and a heavy barrel. I'm also getting good at shooting it double action and I've never had any work done on the trigger. Again, the mass of the gun helps hold it steady.
 
I have a 686+ that I bought used ($295), it was mfg in july of 1999, and was used as a range gun for 6 months at the local targetmaster, When I shot it I was not real accurate with it and I was considering having the barrel recrowned. The crown looked a bit uneven to me.
Last week I went to my club and shot my .357 target load:
3.2gr of Bullseye under a 158gr LSWC. I was spraying the shots all over the target at 25yrd. So I decided to rest the gun on a sandbag and adjust the sights.

I found it was shooting to the right and high. I had previously adjusted the sights when I bought the gun as I was shooting low and left(flinch).

I fired a cylinder full from the sandbag in single action.
To my surprise it shot a 1.5" group of 7 shots right on the bullseye!!!!

I then tried shooting free hand and my groups improved over before.

MY conclusion the 4" 686+ was extremely accurate and it needs no work. I need more practice with sight alignment and trigger control.
 
Ditto to all of the above. My 686-4 6" Power Port is a tack-driver.

Kind'a makes me regret my chosen screen name! :)
 
I've had mine since 1984. Incredibly accurate. When I tell my friends about shots I have made with it, they don't believe me.
 
My 686-4 is a 2 1/2" brought out as a special by R&S (back when they sold Smiths). It was tuned specially at the factory (don't know if the PC did this or not) and Magnaported. The action is the best I've shot, bar none - 11 lb. DA pull, and SA is just under 3 lbs. The Magnaport, on a snub, takes a bit of learning. Forget hipshots :0 Before shooting at an indoor range, check the ceiling above your booth. An amazing amount of dust/carbon/crud can collect up there, just waiting for the first schmoe with a ported gun. Sight picture, with the short barrel, takes concentration, but it will "ring the ram" consistantly if you do your part. I don't shoot silhouette with it, of course, but my wind-up at the end of a range day is to try each piece on our practice ram mounted at the end of our 100 yd. rail. Keeps you from feeling "too good" about an otherwise great day.
 
The stainless L frame in 4" barrels are my favorite "shoot at the range" guns. My most treasured piece is a 686 that was a U.S. Customs Service contract overrun. It is 4" with a round butt and a frosted finish. This is my favorite "show and tell" piece. My favorite shooter is a 4" 686 with the traditional square butt. I had a smith smooth the action and install a patridge front sight. It shoots like a dream. My friends who are accomplished shooters amaze me with the groups that they shoot with my gun. My favorite truck and woods gun is a LE trade-in 681.
This is a stainless L frame with fixed sights. I had a smith grind the square butt to the same diminsions as the Customs Service piece. I have the Butler Creek grips on it, which I have on all my round butt K and L frames. It seems that every weight bullet that I shoot in it shoots to the same point of impact, which is 6" low at 15 yards. Still, its good enough for me. You can't go wrong with an L frame smith in any barrel length. Rugers are good solid guns that never go down, but my training and experience has been with a smith and I'll stick with them.
 
686

I own both a 4 inch and 6inch Perf Center version. I think the balance, trigger, hammer fall and site pictures. are oustanding features of this model. I wouldn't be without them. Next to my 44 mag these are my favorite guns
Herb Leventhal
 
Hey Folk's

Some mighty fine information here in this thread. Looks like
we all basically like the S&W 686.:):D As I stated, I had
grown up on S&W N-frame's models 27 and 28. A few years later I turned to the K-frame S&W Model 19; and even a
couple of Colt Python's and Ruger Security-Six'es. But
when all it said and done, I believe the 686-5 with the
6" barrel will out shoot them?

Thanks for the many response's and best wishes to all.

Happy Handgunning,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.
 
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