Swapping Cylinders on a 686

[GTBL]

I have three 686-8's, all three are the 7-shot. Since they are all the same, can I swap the cylinders? Does it matter?

Reason, one of them is a TALO 5" with the smooth cylinder. Thinking of putting that cylinder on my 3".

[k22fan]

Even between revolvers with consecutive serial numbers cylinders are not intended to be interchangeable. During assembly the yoke length is adjusted to hold the cylinder very close to the recoil shield. The back of the barrel and its shoulder are shortened so that it turns in straight up with the correct torque and flash gap. Also the ratchet teeth are filed to create correct carry up. You can get lucky but at best you'll likely make close tolerances worse. Often a random cylinder will not work without a trip to the gunsmith.

[OldChief]

k22fan is correct, you can't just swap out parts on S&W revolvers. Most parts have to be fit to that particular firearm. In the case of the cylinder there are tolerances that must be maintained between the front of the cylinder and the forcing cone of the barrel as well as the back of the cylinder and the frame (headspace). The ratchets and the hand must be fit. Also, the cylinder stop must be fit to the individual cylinder. I don't want to be redundant to what k22fan said but, it's so important that people understand what a precision piece of equipment the revolver is.

[GTBL]

Thank you for the comments! I will not mess with it then.

[S&WIowegan]

Everything k22fan and Old Chief said is correct.

In spite of that, you won't do any harm if you sit down and swap them out. First, compare the stop notches on the cylinders. If they are not the same, the swap won't work. Measure the cylinder gap of the revolvers before the swap and after(use classic feeler gauges). Cycle the actions and see if they function as they did before the swap. If you're really brave, fire some mild rounds and see what happens. You will NOT blow the guns up, but they may not function as well as they previously did.

I have made successful swaps myself. I checked with my revolversmith first and he gave the green light.

Your decision.

[OldChief]

What I like about the previous post is the statement, "I checked with my revolversmith first and he gave the green light."

[BLUEDOT37]

Originally Posted by GTBL

... can I swap the cylinders?
...one of them is a TALO 5" with the smooth cylinder. Thinking of putting that cylinder on my 3".

I have a 5" 629-6 Classic with a fluted cylinder & wanted it to look like my 686 TALO 5" with unfluted cylinder

I ordered an unfluted cylinder for the 629 from Midway along with all the related parts to be able to swap between cylinders at will.

The short story, I decided it was easiest (read less hassle/work for me) to just use the new unfluted cylinder with all it's other related original 629 hardware (extractor, extractor rod, extractor rod collar, center pin, center pin spring, & yoke), as one unit, and save the new parts for spares.

Reusing the original extractor/ratchet & center pin saved fitting. Everything worked fine. The only problem that needed correcting was that the new combo had more endshake than the original combo so I installed some bearing/shims, which I had on-hand, to correct it.

It shoots fine & now they have the similar look I wanted.

I say go ahead & make the corresponding parts swap & see how they work together. If you're unsure about the final results have it checked by a gunsmith. Or just have him do the whole parts swap & tweek anything that needs it.

.

629-6 Classic 5", with unfluted cylinder installed

(-01b)

.

686-6+ TALO, 5"

(-01)

.

[H Richard]

I had previously had a Pre-Victory model in 38 S&W, and successfully fit a 38 special cylinder to it (using the original ejector, ejector rod, and yoke, center pin, etc.). This worked just fine, I could swap back & forth.

[TAROMAN]

Tried it once on my 681. Extra cylinder from eBay I wanted for moon clip cutting.
Dropped in, fit and timed perfectly B/C gap .005".
Must have been pure luck.