I got a 686+ 2.5" last month from Buds. I just took it to the range yesterday for the first time. The first thing I noticed was that the rear sight was adjusted all the way to the left so I centered it. I then noticed that the front sight was tilting to the right when lined up with the rear sight which was level and parallel to the ground.
At 15 yards, my first shots were off paper by 15" left! I adjusted my rear sight to the right but was only able to bring the group to within 5" to the 8" shoot-n-see! Very disappointed. I've looked up the "canted" barrel issue on the Youtube and heard some real horror stories about S&W CS. I'm think I'll send it back to Smith for warranty. Funny thing, my blue box has a label on it that reads: "SHP: 8/11" If this is the month and year it was shipped from Smith, why would I be getting a new gun that is over 5 years old? Can anyone here tell me when the gun was made from the serial #?