S&W 686, 6 or 7 shot, whaddya like?

T

TheFineLine

New member
I've settled on getting myself a Smith and Wesson 686 357 Mag 5 or 6 inch with the square butt for my birthday this year. I love the look, feel, and accuracy of them. It'll be a sometimes carry and target gun mostly. As my boys get a little older and I have some free time I will want to do some competition shooting in IDPA with it and some of the other handguns I have. I'm a big guy so concealing the larger 7 isn't an issue.

Any reason to go with one or the other? What do you have, what do you like?
 
Whether 6-shot or 7-shot, does not effect size. Round butt vs Square butt does though - a lot. Round butts conceal much better than square. And of course, barrel length affects concealment.

I carry a 3" bbl, 7-shot, round butt 686. It takes an extra layer of clothing to conceal, but it tucks away nicely. I carry it rather often on cooler days.

I also have a 4" bbl, 6-shot, square butt 686 for IDPA competition (which I'll be doing tomorrow :D ). In IDPA the SSR division capacity is 6 rounds. You can use 7 shot revolvers, but you can only load to 6. But the big show-stopper for using the 7-shot is that there are no competition style speedloaders for them.

I like having the 7th round when I carry, but I much prefer the 6-shot revolver overall. If I could only have one Smith 686 (I have three), I would get a 3"bbl, 6-shot, round butt. It would be suitable for carry and IDPA use.
 
I prefer the five inch barrel for carry. It does make the gun large. A four inch barrel is much more common and prelock guns will be easier to attain.

Why do you want a square butt grip? It is more difficult to carry and you can buy square butt conversion stocks that fit on the round butt grip. You get the best of both worlds.
 
The round butt with bantam grips make for nice concealment. The sharp pointed "heel" of the square butt makes for some serious printing.

This is my 3" carry. . .

686-3inch_zps08c99226.jpg
 
I have a 686+ 4" (7 shot) and 686-4 6" (6 shot) and I like the extra round and size of the the 4", but the trigger pull is way better on the 6". Pulling the hammer back is much smoother on the 686 6" also.
 
About 2005 or so S&W had a Stocking Dealer Exclusive 686 with 7-round cylinder and 5" barrel with 1/2 lug, target hammer, target rear sight and fiber optic front sight. Might be worth taking a look for one of those.
 
Something about the term "6 shooter" makes 7 a little odd to me. I do understand why someone might want the 7 shot version, just not for me.
 
I've never tried a 686+, so I have no opinion on 6 vs 7 in the wheel. But I am pretty sure IDPA limits you to a 4" barrel, so if you want to play a 5 or 6" gun is out.

My L-frame is a 4" 586 no-dash, square butt. It is a great shooter but if I were looking to CCW the beast I'd be on the lookout for a 2.5" round butt 686 or better yet, a K-frame 19 or 66. I do have a square butt 4" M-19 I carry from time to time. The end of the grip frame is a bit of a pain to keep tucked in and not printing.
 
TheFineLine said:
As my boys get a little older and I have some free time I will want to do some competition shooting in IDPA with it and some of the other handguns I have.

Any reason to go with one or the other? What do you have, what do you like?
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I prefer the 6-shot. The 7-shot 686+ isn't IDPA-legal, so if you see yourself shooting IDPA, get the 6-shot.
 
My usual carry flips between a Kimber UCII, Ruger LCP, and an old Rossi snubby with a round-ish butt. I have a few other small guns so I'm good there. I'm flushing out my collection with big handguns. Just to give you an idea I recently got a Para Pro Custom doublestack .45. Man thats a sweet shooter. I CAN carry it but it's not 100% yet so until then it's a target gun. It needed a trip back to Para but when it's shootin' boy I love it!

My pop has both square and rounded 686s and for a target gun I really like the feel of the square butt with the longer barrel. I've been going back and forth between the 686 6 inch with the rubber grip and the 686+ 5 inch Talo with 7 rounds. I thought that the capacity might be in issue with IDPA but never thought barrel length would be. I really like the idea of a round butt with a square conversion kit. I'm going to google that here shortly.
 
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My Experience

Had them both: 6 and 7 shot.
Had trouble at the range with the 7, never had any hint of problems with the 6 shot. If I ever replaced the 686 I sold, certainly I would buy the 6.
That may not be fair, might not be true with others, but that's what I experienced.
 
If 6 shots are good then 7 must be better. That was my thinking when I bought my 4" 686+, I now have a 6" version also.
 
I've owned a 4-inch 686+ for many years and it is probably my favorite gun in my small collection. I wish I'd gotten thre 3-inch, because I might carry it; I find the four-inch is just too heavy for me to drag around. I put a set of Trausch grips on it to cover the backstrap and it makes recoil far less of an issue.
 
does S&W still offer a Square butt option?

I've never owned a 7 shoot S&W, so I can't speak to the extra round effecting the balance or how it handles, but I do like the idea of having an extra round.

My seven shot Taurus 2" 617,(which is a COPY of the 681) feels just fine to me, and I don't see how an extra round would effect handling.
 
I have a seven shot and a six shot 686. They both handle and shoot just fine. I prefer the seven shot for the extra round, but unfortunately Safariland doesn't make my favorite speed loader to fit it.
 
I've settled on getting myself a Smith and Wesson 686 357 Mag 5 or 6 inch with the square butt for my birthday this year.
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Nice choice


free time I will want to do some competition shooting in IDPA with it and some of the other handguns I have
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Both your choices of barrel length are not legal for use in IDPA, too long as max length is 4.2" barrel
 
Unless, as MrBorland noted, you are planning on competing in IDPA matches (which you did imply that you plan on doing), I'd go with the "plus" simply because I fail to see any downside to having an extra round on board. I have shot more than a couple of different 686 and 686+ (along with one 586) revolvers and I have never detected one whit of difference between their respective trigger pulls (neither da or sa). I realize that others report having had a different experience than mine but I can only offer references to my time behind the triggers in question.
 
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