A 686-3 that is unmodified from the factory has a very hard hammer-fall, no doubt in the world that it will fire the primer. I recently shot a 686-5 and its hammerfall seemed to be about half as hard. The double action is much more pleasant and controllable but it just seems to hit half as hard as the -3 gun. Is this a factory thing and just the difference in the guns or has work been possibly done to the -5? The -5 is "supposidly" unmodified. It fires every time and I like it; just would make me feel better if someone would say that it was just a factory improvement for the double action pull. Any info is appreciated.

The difference between the two guns is significant, the -3 has the traditional hammer nose firing pin. The -5 has the newer - frame mounted - firing pin. Generally speaking, the later gun will "feel" much heavier, so I'm guessing that either something is really wrong with the -3, ot the -5 has been modified.
The frame mounted firing pin design apparently needs more hammer force to fire, and recent guns all feel like they have very heavy springs.

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.............SmithNut

If thats the case, then these two guns are completly backwards.

As SmithNut said, the later versions have stouter springs as a rule. When I first shot my 686-6, I couldn't believe how stiff the DA pull was. There was no way I was going to leave it that stiff. I got a set of reduced power springs and now it is as I like it.

That being said I would say that the operative word in your original post is "supposedly" unmodified; i.e. the -5 probably IS modified, though someone has said it isn't.

Andy

It might also depend on how many rounds have been down the pipe. Older handguns such as your 686-3 tend to break in as more and more rounds are fired with them. I bought a nearly unfired 66 no-dash about a year ago and, at first, I was really disappointed with the gun. The trigger was heavy and gritty and required considerable work by me to cycle in da. However, with the passage of time, the trigger has lightened enormously. So much so that my 66 has become my all-time favorite centerfire revolver. That's with factory springs and no modifications.

The -5 is as good as a 627 in da so I'm thinking some work had been done to it from listening to you guys.