Well I've owned a lot of guns but the 3" 686 plus is my hands down favorite gun to shoot. I cannot explain how much I love this gun. The action out of the box is already good but I want it as best as it can be. Who would be the best person or company to send it to, to where I'll get it back in the condition it's in now but an amazing trigger and action?

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Frank Glenn, Arizona

Will do master level work, at decent prices with excellent turn around. One of the few greats still left.

I understand the factory does a good job.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Keep in mind that there are basically two ways to go here. The absolute smoothest and lightest action job will be one that is set up for competition shooting. With this type, you'll need to stick with Federal (or Winchester) ammo only or risk failures to fire.
The next level up, would give you a heaver pull but allow you 100% ignition with any ammo.
I do most of mine myself but also own one done as a Competition job by Clark Custom which is ultra slick.

p.s. The 3" 686's are sweet. I have a 3" 686+ Talo version myself.

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Dave

I recommend Denny Reichard @ the Sand Burr Gun Ranch. He does work on revolvers from all over the U.S. I've had him do three Smiths for me. All are 10 lbs./or less trigger pull using 'stock springs". They are also super smooth. Give him a call at 574-223-3316. You won't be disappointed.

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To say his prices are reasonable is an understatement! Very nice guy to talk to as well and didn't try to over sell me. He just suggested the Duty job and some chamber chamfers if I wanted.

From my experience, I would wait until you have put about 500 rounds through it and then decide if you need to do an action job on it at all.

Bob

It doesn't take much to smooth an S&W. I have two 686+ 3". Stripped them down, polished a couple areas and added a spring kit. Very smooth and the spring kit lightened things up. Unless you are looking for a competition type action job, this simple DIY will suffice for 85% of what the gun was mostly intended to do.

Put some rounds through it to smooth it up. That's why they call it breaking it in!

Denny Reichard at Sand Burr.

He is a Legend.

What springs did you go with? Also proud owner of the 3".

I'll check.. One definitely has a Miculek and believe the other has a Wolff..

Preference? Stock strength? Both springs?

Don't hold out on me, man!

In Louisiana Clark Custom Guns .
The target trigger and reliability package they did on my gun puts a smile on my face just thinking about it.
My spring replacement jobs do not come remotely close to the magic they work. Worth every penny !
Gary

TK Custom. Thom is a retired Illinois State Trooper and has extensive master revolver expertise.

TK Custom has done two PC 627 UDR's for me, a 586 L-comp, a TRR8, and I'm about to send him an M&P R8.

I get the defensive action job each time, and competition work is also available. The only way to get better revolver action is to buy a Korth Mongoose :-).

There's only one mainspring in either kit. Can't remember if the Miculek came with different rebound springs. The other kit did. Both mine have a double action pull of ~9-10lbs, single action ~3-4lbs. You can't go wrong with any of the major brand spring kits and they're not expensive.

When I get a new S&W,I first shoot 500 to 1000rds through it.I then disasemble it and polish any burr if any;I then clip off 1 1/2 to 2 coils from the trigger return spring(start by clipping 1 then try it.You don't want sluggish return of the trigger).I then use my dremel to polish the sides of the leafspring.
I then proceed after cleaning and a light lubrification to dryshoot the thing as much as I can.With some guns that come out of the factory pretty nice,these change will only smooth things out a little.But on some others,it is a WOW operation.I once bought a model 28 that was a real dog.Doing this changed it to a definite ''not for sale anymore''.
Remember,don't overdo it.BTW,this recipe is from Skeeter Skelton so it must be good!
Qc