quote:

Originally posted by BUFF:
Originally posted by H P Bushrod:

"What was wrong with the firing pin bushing?"

When the L frames were new, some of them would lock up with some .357 Magnum ammo. The primers would flow back into the hole in the bushing that the firing pin pokes through and you could only rotate the cylinder or swing it open with great effort, which brought shooting to an immediate halt. There was a lot of finger-pointing between S&W and the ammo makers. Eventually, S&W fixed it by changing the dimensions of both the hole in the bushing and the firing pin itself, but for a year or two it was a mystery, wrapped in a conundrum, concealed in a corn tortilla.

I had purchased the first 2 M-686's I saw, a 6 incher with the PPC Patridge front sight blade and a standard 4 incher. The 6 incher always shot great but the 4 incher had "the problem" with several varieties of ammo. The business I bought it at was a S&W warranty/repair center with an excellent, experienced gunsmith. He could find nothing wrong and it did not lock up for him with his ammo. It continued doing it for me and they sent it back to the factory. The factory said everything was in spec and returned it. It still seized up. The dealer exchanged it for one that didn't, which I still have. S&W figured out the problem a bit later and all became right with the world.

One of my "will have someday" guns is a nickel finish 4 inch M-586. The 4 inch L frames may be the best shooting .357 Mag that Smith & Wesson ever made.