I have one of the *very, very rare* (to use a potential Gunbroker description) 686-2 models with the IL. It is a great revolver even if it does have the lock.

I carried mine often as a woods walking and outdoors gun where it was just the right combination of power, weight and ease of carry. My standard woods load is a Speer 240 lswc at 1000fps. It is superbly accurate. The most dangerous critter, besides meth heads, I'm likely to encounter around here is a black bear and, although on the light side, it should work. The gun is a lot stronger than many give it credit for being. Pearce indicated in Handloader #236 that factory torture tests demonstrated the 696 easily endured pressures well beyond his published Level 3 loads at 25kpsi. If I need more than my standard load I can easily drive a Speer 200gr Gold Dot to around 1150fps at less than 22kpsi. With it's gaping deep hollow point cavity that would be a devastating SD load.


Even though there have been some concerns expressed about the thin forcing cone, I haven't seen any problems, but it is my belief that the barrel face is slightly thicker on the -2 models, at least by visual comparison of my gun to 2 of the earlier models. Maybe it is a different contour. Whether that it is significant or not could only be determined by actual measurements and I didn't have the means to do so at the time.

As much as I like my 696, I find myself carrying a Ruger Lipseys 44SP more often now. I don't know if it is that much lighter, and load levels are similar, but I just like the SA. No doubt about it, there is a certain cachet to the 696 that has driven prices to really high levels lately. Not that the IL model is going to ever be one of the more desireable. Eventhough it is the rarest! ;^)

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