New to all this - your chance to help a newbie!

C

Complete Neophyte

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Hi all. Today I took possession of my first firearm - one chosen in some part at least due to lurking on these threads for a while. I ended up with an S&W 686 4" barrel (paid $529 new - probably could have done better but local gunstore gave freely of time and advice so should be rewarded).

Now my firearms experience is limited to .303 prone 100yd range shooting 20 years ago in the British equivalent of the ROTC. Given that I grew up there you can imagine guns were not a large part of my youth. However basic gun safety was driven into me well enough to still remember that part of it (not that a refresher would be bad - however just reading the voluminous red type in the manual was quite a refresher!) Needless to say I need a bit more before heading off to the range and will certainly take an approved course but in the mean time nothing like group advice!

Where I admit my total ignorance is the things you guys take for granted and I'd welcome help on the following:

1 -How do I clean the gun - the manual offers little details? I bought a basic Hoppe cleaning kit.

2 - Should I practice with .38spl rounds first and work my way up to mags or get used to the larger rounds it will be loaded with for defense right away? Picked up some Remington 130gr MC 38 spl and 125gr JSP .357 mags - gun store recommendations I'd welcome feedback on. I should probably add I'm an ex-weightlifter so not too worried about the jump of recoil, just getting used to it.

3 - I am very much left eye dominant - my right eye is extremely weak and yep you guessed it I'm right handed. Better to adjust the way I sight (trust me training the right eye is out of the question - I can barely read with it till the page is 2" from my eye) or to shoot left handed? My left hand is strong but not dextrous. Any particular stance or grip that helps?

4 - Exactly what should my next step be? One on one with a range officer? A beginner course (again safety ignorance is not my MAIN ignorance) ? Buy an experienced shooter dinner and have him show me the ropes? Yes I'll take a normal course just to feel confident and comfortable - but is that all I need ?

Thanks all!
 
You did OK. I would prefer 158 gr in 38 Special and 357 Magnum. You will go bloody nuts trying to sight in otherwise. I use Tetra cleaning products and Kroil. The thing to do is practice. Yes, by all means including dinner, seek a shooting partner. Congratulations on your entry into revolver shooting.
 
I like to dip my bronze brush in hoppes #9 powder solvent and swab each chamber and the bore about 2 or 3 strokes,dry out with a clean patch,( old t shirts , sheets, or pillow cases) then run a lightly oiled patch thru every thing and finish by a very lightly oiled piece of flannel I keep in a zip lock bag in the gun cabinet to wipe the outside of the gun down.There is no reason to shoot 357 mag ammo for practice other than to see where it strikes the target and to get a feel for what to expect.WEAR HEARING PROTECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You can probably learn to shoot left-handed about as easily as you could right. Since you're just starting out and the gun you've chosen is fairly ambidextrous, I think that's probably a good way to start. If that proves to be a problem, you can always adjust your head position and shoot right handed. You'll just need to tip your head over until you can get your left eye behind the sights.

Here are some tips on cleaning.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161434

For a revolver, you'll also need to brush out each chamber, and then use a sturdy bronze or nylon brush around the inside of the frame where the barrel meets the cylinder and on the front of the cylinder. There will be some remaining black discoloration in these areas that you do not need to remove.

Start with the lighter rounds, they'll make the shooting easier. You'll need to clean carefully in the cylinder to get rid of the rings in the cylinder left by shooting the shorter .38 rounds in a .357 chamber. It's not an issue until you want to load .357 rounds--the rings can build up to the point where the .357 rounds are hard to chamber. If you clean them out each time you won't have any trouble though.

Go slow at the range and concentrate on sight alignment, grip and trigger pull. Always leave one chamber empty, spin the cylinder and don't look when you close it. The random empty chamber will tell you if you're jerking the gun when you pull the trigger. Dryfire a lot at home to get used to pulling the trigger without moving the gun around.

Keep anything you care about away from the barrel/cylinder gap when firing. A lot of very hot, very high pressure gas comes out of that gap when the gun goes off.

I recommend reading a lot. "Expert shooters" aren't that easy to find and you may have to sort through an awful lot of crap to get a bit of good information. Finding a decent trainer will be helpful, but you will have to know enough to know if he's decent...

BTW, NEVER flick a revolver cylinder closed like they do in the movies. It looks cool but tears up the gun.
 
Welcome to the forum, Neophyte.

For detailed cleaning advice, see my post in the Revolver forum;
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158727

As far as a choice of firearms, it sounds like you did fine. A S&W 686 is a good choice and should give you many years of service. Some comments about revolver/handgun ammo & accuracy.

First, don't expect rifle-like accuracy out of a hand gun. It ain't gonna happen! An experienced shooter can usually get a 1.5" to 2" group of 5-6 shots at 25 yards if he does his part. If you're hitting an 8" circle (pie plate) to start with consider it decent shooting. Handguns are much harder to shoot well than most good rifles.

Secondly, if your gun is factory new, it's sights, if they were regulated at all, were probably adjusted for a 158gr .357 Magnum cartridge or possibly a 125gr .357 Magnum. Firing .38 specials of the same weights may not give you the same point-of-aim accuracy but they will (should) group together. Do NOT mess with the sights for a while yet if your shots are grouping on the paper. I'd suggest break-in firing with the 130gr ammo you have and/or any other "range ammo" from 125gr up to 158gr. You should try some 125gr and 158gr .357 Mag ammo just to get familiar with the KABAM! and to see which is more accurate out of your gun.

Left eye -- you'll have to work on this one yourself. I've seen one shooter use a Weaver stance and rock his head to the right (cheek on bicep) so his left eye could gain the sight picture. Others simply move the gun further to their left side that I do. Experiment a bit and see what works best for you. You might try painting the front sight (if it doesn't have a red ramp) using a bright color (see Brownell's sight paints - $14.95 for a 5 color kit). Having my front sight brilliant orange with white dots works well on my Glock. Others like the "toad" lime-green.

For instruction, you can do all of the things you mentioned. Most ranges will have some kind of instruction course offered within several weeks. You can also find someone with revolver experience, buy them dinner and get some coaching and that's very sociable. Don't be afraid to ask range instructors for tips and pointers too, but find out who their best revolver shooter is first! :D

Good luck with your 686! Get us some pics soon too!
 
Excellent choice for a first handgun. I chose the same model. Sounds like you got a decent deal too. I got mine for $300 used at a pawn shop. Good cleaning advice has been given. I'd suggest a lead cloth, though, if you want to get the rings off the front of the cylinder. However, that's often more effort than it's worth, in my opinion. As for the ammo, I'd recommend shooting both, just to get a feel for them. Although if I'm shooting outside without hearing protection, the magnums are just too loud. I agree with 44-40. Get some protection. Can't offer much advice on stance or grip, but congratulations on the new gun.
 
A 38/357 revolver always has a place in any brace of pistols. Even better if it is the first of a brace of pistols :)

I have nothing to add because our good folks here already covered everything I can think of. So I'll just throw in: Remember to be proactive with your gun rights.
 
"You'll need to clean carefully in the cylinder to get rid of the rings in the cylinder left by shooting the shorter .38 rounds in a .357 chamber. It's not an issue until you want to load .357 rounds--the rings can build up to the point where the .357 rounds are hard to chamber. If you clean them out each time you won't have any trouble though."

Wish I knew that Last weekend :)

I have a Taurus 651 and am having a problem with my rear sight. If I push on it, the left side moves down but springs back up for the most part when I take my finger off. Anybody expiriance this?
 
All the above information is excellent.

Definitely go for instruction and you would do well to pick up Jerry Miculek's videos on revolver shooting techniques.

I would go with .38 spl for reduced recoil and recovery. I shoot 158 gr bullets only, with a load approaching +P. Even if you have no major problems with .357 magnums, you still don't need distractions when you are trying to gain skill with sight alignment, etc. Start off at 7 yards so you can get a definite pattern developed to analyse your stance, trigger pull, etc.

Single action work will eliminate having to concentrate on long trigger pull for a bit. When you are doing double action work make sure you are watching the front sight, not the target. Keeping alignment constantly through the long double action trigger pull as it requires your full attention. The target just sits in the background.

Hold the grip high up where it seems the hammer will touch the web of your hand. This gives you the best leverage advantage for handling recoil. Hold in a position where the front sight automatically centers when you take the grip. If you let it settle without watching it and then find it sits to the right or left, adjust your grip. Off hand is wrapped around the shooting hand, thumb either up over the back of the shooting hand or under the thumb of the shooting hand.

Hold your hands high enough that your shooting wrist locks in downward most position, head up and looking straight forward.

If you get it all right the sight will go up for a bit and then drop down close to being back in alignment.

I shoot with my left (weak) eye when shooting weak hand as I like to do weird things and don't like to cant the revolver for my right eye. I find that I can shoot as accurately and sometimes better with the weak compared to the strong hand. Not difficult except for building speed.
 
Congratulations and welcome., Your 686 will do just about anything most people would want to do with a handgun. You need never buy another one. (Fat chance!)

I recommend that you pay someone to show you the ropes. You may not think you need a "beginner's course" but a review of basics certainly won't hurt anyone. As others have said, shooting revolvers is quite different from shooting rifles. In any event, I would definitely hire someone to instruct you individually if you can afford it.

Good luck and have fun.
 
Thanks all

Thanks for the kind advice. I will call up the local range and see if they can recommend a revolver instructor, and start with the .38 only for a while. The strong eye/weak hand thing may just have to be a process of trial and error I guess. All your input was read and digested I assure you and thanks again for offering it.

BTW my 686 does have the red ramp front sight. Not sure how long they've had that obviously but they do now. Paperwork says the gun was made in January 04.

Will let you know how it goes - maybe post a scan of my first target shots for you all to laugh at! :eek:
 
Attack turtle

is right. To take it a step further, if you get too much build up in that part of the chamber that would have been occupied by the longer .357 case, difficult extraction is the first sympton. If it builds up even more (and don't count on difficult extraction to always warn you), then it can prevent the .357 rds., should you later decide to fire them, from opening up enough to release the bullet without building up excessive pressure. .357 mag pressure is high enough already--you don't need that. Additionally, moisture under the build up will cause rust, and pitting. All of us who shoot .38 spec.'s in .357's have to live with some pitting caused by the muzzle blast. Keep the chambers clean---after every shooting session.

Some handloaders prefer to shoot downloaded .357 ammo to eliminate the problem. Others have two guns. One for practice with .38's and one for .357 only.
 
Actually, I shoot almost nothing but .38 spl. unless I am brushing up with a few rounds of Hydra-Shok every year or two. I do regular cleaning at least every 500 rounds. I have only once had a problem dropping in a .357 magnum and that was after extended use with a powder I no longer use.
 
I have the same problem as you... very much left eye dominant but right handed. I never noticed a difference in just tilting my head slightly, and at the range I sort of turn my body so if I look straight ahead, i'm looking to the right.

also, if you shoot "competiton" style, your arms striaght out and slightly bent, I find it's good to keep both eyes open and focus on the target. You'll catch the sights easily enough, and you'll see exactly where your shot is gonna go.
 
I'm right handed and left ey dominant. I aim w/ my left eye when shooting handguns and use my right eye when shooting rifles. I have no idea why, but that works for me. Trying to change, just makes me shoot worse.
 
One tip.

Always take six empty 357 cases to the range with you when shooting 38s. After the session put the 357 casings in and seat them. I like to run the cylinder once (pointed downrange of course) to make sure they are all the way in.

The empty casings will scoop up and residue left from the 38s and make cleaning much easier. It's always better to avoid buildup than to fix it afterwards.
 
Great Information! I take the Crane Screw out and pull the cylinder out to clean the gun. The Crane Screw is the one to the front of the side plate. If you remove it, be careful as it may have a spring and plunger in it. The the whole cylinder assembly slips oout to the front.
 
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