I used to have the misconception that revolvers were practically infallible, but the issues that I have with my new 686+ that has convinced me otherwise. While scanning the internet for my issue(s) I see that there are a lot of things that can actually go wrong with a revolver.

I picked up my new 686+ a few days ago, cleaned the barrel, and took it to the range. I fired 100 magnum rounds, mustly single action.

The cylinder does not always rotate when the hammer is pulled back. The first time this happened I thought that I had a misfire, then my son pointed out that the cylinder had not turned. This happened several more times

The other issue that I had was that the trigger occasionally fails to return forward, and requires a little coaxing before it snaps forward.

I haven't found any posts about my cylinder issue, but do see that someone had the trigger issue. Hopefully S&W will satisfy my curiosity and provide an explanation when they return my revolver.

Randy

If this is a used gun remove the side plate and clean out the lock work. If it is new send it back to S&W.

I have never experienced that problem. SW will make it right, and you will enjoy the rest of your life with it.

My brother had the same exact issue with his 629. He had to send it back to S&W to have it repaired..

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NRA Benefactor

Don't feel too bad...this seems to be one of the more common misconceptions amongst gun owners.

I've seen plenty of threads in which folk prattle on about the revolver's superior reliability, oftentimes stating that the revolver has "fewer moving parts"! What bilge water! Anyone who's ever even glanced at the internals of a revolver, or who has taken the time to ponder how a revolver actually works...thumbing the hammer (or pulling the trigger, in a DA revolver), which rotates the cylinder, locking into position precisely in alignment with the bore...must be aware of the many mechanical parts & springs and such involved. Of course, in your case, it sounds as though some of those intricate parts are not quite "meshing" as they should!

Not to ruffle feathers...I'm not discounting the revolvers reliability. Generally speaking, a revolver likely will be more reliable than a semi-auto...the revolver certainly doesn't have to cope with rounds not properly "motivating" the action so as to fully extract, eject, and chamber the next round. Nor does the revolver care about the bullet profile, eliminating feed ramp issues, and the like. But, many semi-auto malfunctions can be remedied in a moment or two with a simple "tap-rack-bang" drill...if you have a revolver malfunction on you, you're probably looking at a matter of minutes to bring it back into action.

So...it's a trade-off. Revolvers *generally* malfunction less frequently, but when they do, it can be a real nightmare!

Best of luck with your 686. Hopefully S&W will fix 'er up nice & slick, and you'll have a great revolver from then on.

Tim

Sometimes it seems like the gun manufacturers have started having the consumer do the final quality check.

JHB51 hit the nail on the head. You're on the right track by sending the revolver back to Smith. The problems could be caused by a number of things from the hand, the cylinder stop, the rebound spring or just crud. You seem to indicate that it's a new revolver so you can probably forget the crud. Anyway, I know that Smith will take care of the problem and if they replace any parts, they normally send the bad parts back with the revolver. That will give you an indication of what the problem(s) were.

Shouldn't be crud - these were the first 100 rounds to be put through this revolver :-). I waited like a kid for waits for Christmas to get the layaway paid off... guess I can wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, my casting pot is heating up 20 lbs of alloy that I will cast into about 600 230gr RN .45 cal bullets. Those should help pass the time while I wait for my S&W to get back.

My 686+ had to be sent back due to a timing issue. (Cylinder ratchets)
Ive heard many say the "achilles heel" is the cylinder or ratchets, something involving such.(differen parts)
You arent alone. But my 686 is perfect now.

There was a thread recently on how reliable revolvers are in comparison to semi autos. I didnt count them, but it seemed there were more than a dozen reasons why a revolver would fail. I think i contributed 3-4 of my own.....

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Ive never heard anyone that knew what they were talking about claim that revolvers dont fail. But I think stats DO show that revolvers are still more reliable than semi auto if not for light strikes or misfires alone. Its pretty hard to get a revolver to misfire using modern ammunition, not THAT hard with a semi auto.

So would I say that revolvers are more reliable in a general sense? Yes I would, but infallable? Never.

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Smith all the things

If you get in a hurry in single action you may find yourself cocking the gun while the trigger is still back or nearly all the way back, especially if you cock the gun with your support hand. When you do that the cylinder will not advance. This happens a lot with folks who "ride the reset" with semi-auto pistols. Just doesn't work with revolvers.

S&W should fix you right up with your 686+. I too am interested in whether it is new or just new-to-the-owner. Something isn't right and needs to be repaired or smoothed out.

My relatively new 686+ went back to S&W this past week -- FCU (Failure to Carry Up) on two charge holes. That is, the cylinder rotates but not quite far enough for the cylinder stop to click into the slot for it. With or without brass in the charge holes. This is a fairly common problem, with any revolver. I shoot this revolver about once a month, about 50 rounds at a time, mostly .38 Specials but some hotter .357 magnum rounds (e.g., Blackhills 125 grain, 1500 fps rounds).

Still love the revolver, and anxious for it to come back home. In general, revolvers do function more reliably and are simpler to operate than pistols. But my small "collection" of semi-autos rarely have problems either (P239, 3913, 915, 5906) because I shoot them a lot.

I think wringing out a handgun on the range, with the same ammo you expect to depend on, is a great way to detect problems that can be fixed and to develop confidence in a handgun. Any handgun around here, pistol or revolver, that isn't reliable or fixable to make it reliable -- is going to be sold.

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S&W Rover

I would suspect long ratchets are the issue causing the trigger not to return properly. I'm not sure about the pproblem with the hand not picking or indexing the cylinder properly, but this may also be due to the ratchets not being properly fit.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

I've owned near 200 revolvers over the years. Some new, some well used. It's been my experience that when a revolver does "fail", it's usually when it's brand new on first use. This is usually due to manufacturing defects and/or Quality Control issues vs something breaking (unless we are talking discount brands.) . Your 686 is a quality and robustly built revolver by design. Once it's fixed right, it should run a lifetime or two without further incidence.

p.s. I do feel your pain though, I recently bought a new 986 with timing issues that had to go back before I ever got it to the range. Took about a month but it runs like a Swiss watch now.

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Dave

We get the quality that we are willing to pay for. It is more efficient to allow for the possibility of some out of spec product on the market and fix it later than to make sure only operating forearms are sold. They did not decide this - we did with our buying patterns.

I often hear from guys who carry semi-auto's that if it misfires, jams etc that "all you have to do is rerack the slide and she's ready to go". I always ask them to show me how they do that while using their other hand to ward off blows from a hammer or a knife. So far nobody has been able to show me. Any mechanical device can fail. But even assuming everything is functioning correctly semi's can still fail to feed, fail to fire, or fail to eject. Very easily corrected given time and two hands. Not so easy to correct if your on the ground warding off blows or getting kicked. Stuff can come at you out of the clear blue. And usually does.