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Custom 686 questions

Was hoping to hear some thoughts on the 686.

The back story: I absolutely love the 5-inch Smith & Wesson revolvers. To that end, when someone pointed me to some 5-inch 686 barrels at Numrich, I bought a couple. My thought was/is that I would really like to have a matching pair of 5-inch 686s. Don’t ask why, I’m not quite sure to tell you the truth, I just think it would be cool.

Now, I need two 686 to screw the barrels onto. I’d prefer to use revolvers with the silver colored hammer and trigger (hard chromed is it?). That leaves me with a 686 no dash, -1, -2, or -3.

All this has been leading up to… is there one of those that is a better foundation than the others?

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Chris


686-1 6-inch, 5-inch barrel, 686-2 4-inch

Hi
I had a 686 with a 5" barrel some years ago, a cut down 8 3/8"
This is the best balansed revolver I have used
I sold it, but now I miss it
To have a pair must be great

Anyone?

Is there one of those that is a better foundation than the others?

This is my 625 with a 5" barrel and is a tack driver.. I like the 5" myself a nice compromise between a 4 and 6

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As far as 686's go my recomendation is to avoid any that have a floating cylinder hand. If you dont know how to tell they are the ones that have a stud on the trigger itself to attach the hand to. If it has had action work done to it with the floating hand I would avoid it altogether. The reason is I dont think it is possible to get a clean trigger with the floating hand. If someone has smithed it to accomodate the hand they will sometimes "manipulate" the trigger boss pin, I wont say how, to remove the wobble from the hand as it passes up. you can tell most of the time because the trigger will stack up as you start the pull then after the hand passes up the trigger will feel "freed up". It feels like a two stage trigger. A lot of guys also smack the hand window closing it to stabilize the floaters which can cause timing problems if you switch it to a solid hand. S&W put these in the L-frames for several years and I dont remember what model number they stopped. If it has a floater and you plan on a nice double action I stronly recomend you have it replaced. Just a few thought's after fighting with a few 686's. Oh BTW if you send one back to Smith they will replace it and the charge is pretty small. One of their repair guys told me his floor is littered with them! Hope this helps you out.

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