Smith & Wesson Model 681 Gunshow find.

A

ATCDoktor

New member
I picked this up today at the Crossroads of the West Show in Phoenix and figured I’d share:





As per usual this was stuck in the back of a dealers case he had to move a gun or two to get it out.

I eyeballed it pretty hard and figured I’d haggle with him and see what I could get it for.

We went back and forth for a few minutes and seeing is how he was an FFL and had to collect sales tax (near 10% in Phoenix) we split the tax and he let it go for $420.00 OTD.

Not a great price but near enough to what I wanted to pay to go ahead and close the deal.

Now, I need another fixed sighted duty revolver like I need the proverbial hole in the head but you don’t see these every day and I have a thing for the odd and uncommon so I figured I’d take it home.

Rooting around on the interwebz I was able to discern there were about 52,000 of these made between 1981 and 1991/92ish.

Not rare but not all that common either.

Both the double action and single action trigger pulls are exceptional which led me to check the mainspring strain screw and it was snugged up as tight as it could be.

I’ll check it out tomorrow and see how it shoots with 38 specials and 357 magnum rounds anything remarkable reference shooting and I’ll report back.
 
L-frames

The L-frames are arguably S&W's ideal .357 mag, smaller than the big N-frames and easier to tote, and tough enough that a steady diet of mag ammo should not hurt them over the long run as surfaced with the K-frame in certain situations.

A 686 was my last issue revolver back in the day (before SIGS) and although they were notably bigger than the previous K-frames, they gobbled up 125 JHP and were relatively easy to shoot with the hot load too.

A T-grip on that would look right. Congrats on a good buy.
 
Nice gun and a VERY nice price.

I like it just the way it is.

You can shoot the beejeebees out of it and pass it on to an offspring who can do the same. Nice purchase.
 
I do not much care for the L frames... It's the full underlug. Makes it look like a double barrel shotgun to me.

I also don't care much for stainless steel.

But for that price? I'd have bought that in a freaking heartbeat.
 
I found mine in a local gun shop where it was a police trade in. As usual it was carried a lot and shot a little. Back then I had the notion to turn it into a NRA action revolver but never got around to doing it. Kinda glad I didn't.
 
I have 2 581, its blued brothers. Love them and would like to have the barrel cut down to 3" on one and the under lug removed to look like a Model 13 on Steroids.
One of my favorites
 
That is a fine price for a wonderful revolver. Congrats on a fine addition, I love my 686 and am sure the 681 would be just as good. So how well does it shoot?
 
I agree that that was a great find. I disagree with the statement about the price. That was a great price. The few I've seen in this area are $600+. For some reason they just don't show up very much and the 582 even less
 
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