I have a 686PC 2.5" with over 1000 rounds through it. I have it's bigger brother the 627PC 2.6" with hundreds of rounds through it. I also have a 386 Night Guard and a 586 L Comp, with over a thousand rounds through each. Oh and even 386PD with just a few hundred rounds through it. Basically all the same guns with the same action and parts.

I have had zero problems with any of them. The 686PC 2.5" shoots everything I have put in it. Range Reloads, Wadcutters from the 80s, Magtech, Fioochi, Georgia Arms reloads, Freedom Arms reloads. It eats everything. Moon clips, no moon clips. It just works and is dam accurate too!

Just shoot your gun and don't worry what Bubba wrote on the internet, or what your cousin's, brother's best friend who spoke to a guy working at Home Depot said about the 686PC.

I read this forum everyday and have read hundreds of posts about the 686PC and I have never heard mention of any of these problems. So these are not widespread or well-known issues with this gun. Just forget it.

And it is the exact same gun as your 686 Talo 3". Just a little better because it gets some love from the PC shop. Same exact parts. Zero difference. It will work exactly the same as your other 686 and the millions of other 686 that S&W has made over the last bunch of decades. All the same gun and parts.

Yes an occassional 686 has a problem. Big deal. Send it back and it will get fixed. No epidemic problem with S&W 686PCs.