S&W 586
 

I have a opportunity to purchase a 586 and would appreciate some input on the gun. The current owner claims it's a Combat Masterpiece, but I'm no expert and thought that name was K38/K22 specific. It has target grips, and what looks like a target hammer...not sure of the trigger being a target type though.

S/N is BFR2xxx which the owner figures put it in the 10 to 15 yr old range. Unfortunately he's not the original owner.

Round count's unknown, but he claims it's been used for a few PPC competitions with .38 special rounds only. Finish is 95%, and looks good in the photos I've seen.

What puzzles me is the front sight, I've not seen one like this on a S&W before. Is it a S&W unique piece of gear or an add on?

What do others feel about this particular revolver in general? Is it a worthwhile gun to acquire for target work at the range. I'd like a K38, they're just a little rare in Canada right now.

Thanks,

Crusader
[IMG]<a href="http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p84/Crusader105/?action=view&current=SW586Combat4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p84/Crusader105/SW586Combat4.jpg" border="0" alt="Front Sight"></a>[/IMG]http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...586Combat1.jpg

It was a standard production of them with that front sight, made to shoot the little metal deer and pigs with LOL. They are a nice gun, so what is the asking price? I would go for it myself, you can set it up for four different yardage.

S&W recalled the 586 and 586-1, you can Google it and get the info. I would definitely check to see if the repair work was done (the gun will be marked) before I made that purchase. You may also be able to get the details by doing a search on this forum.

I have an 586 in the same configuration with the adjustable front sight. I've been told that the 586's with the 6" barrel/adjustable sight combination were made in fewer numbers that the longer barrel version, since it was intended for silhouette shooting.

They are accurate guns, and well suited (albeit a bit muzzle heavy for some people) for range target work.

The recall for the 586/686's in my opinion has been blown out of proportion over the years. There were limited reports of primer flow taking place where it would go into the firing pin hole and prevent the the cylinder from rotating, effectively locking up the gun.

The condition was limited to a specific brand of ammo and bullet weight loading.

You must remember, that when this occurred in the early 80's when the L-Frame's first came out, S&W was fighting to hold on to their lucrative law enforcement sales under siege by the 9mm semi-auto's, so the last thing they needed was bad press about some cop being shot after his revolver locked up, or a big lawsuit over product liability.

I suspect they decided to do the recall to error on the conservative side.

I have two 586's and one 686, all "no dash" early models included in the recall. Only the 686 has the mod, the two 586's I bought years later do not have it, and I have never experienced a bit of trouble with them.

If it doesn't have the "M' stamp indicating it has had the recall modification performed, I wouldn't let that discourage you from buying it as there are countless others in use that do not. You can always send it to S&W as I think they are still doing the mod, but if they aren't, don't sweat it.

The Combat Masterpiece it the 4" version of the K-38 (Model 15), the 586 is known as the "Distinguished Combat Magnum".

Not much to add to the other replies, except the BFR prefix puts the ship date in late 1990, so it's almost 20 years old.

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll probably buy it.

First post. As to the 586, I carried one on duty back in the day with two different Sheriff depts. and got great service from it,and it got a lot of magnum rounds thru it. Mine was slicked up for duty,narrowed trigger,action polish,and fitted grips. I had forgotten about the old recall,but I never had one problem with mine and still remains one of my favorite all time revolvers.I don't see how you could go wrong with a 586.
I wish I had another one.

To the best of my knowledge (and I've worked in numerous gun shops as well as owned a number of S&W's over the years) neither the 586 or 686 was called the "Combat Masterpiece". As far as I can tell only the 15 and 67 were called by that name

The S&W 586 L-frame and 686 L-frame are both called the 'Distinguished Combat Magnum'.
586L-Frame

DLC’s 586 L-Frame 4”
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...Frame4inch.jpg

DLC’s S&W 686 L-Frame – Polished.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...686L-Frame.jpg

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