One of the lady shooters at my club is our only revolver IPSC shooter at present. She usually shoots a 6" .357 686-4 AFS (identical to my own), but for some time now has been thinking about changing to a 9mm revolver for the additional 2 round capacity and quicker moon clip reloading..
This morning she came to the range with a brand new Jerry Miculek 929 PC revolver, which had everyone drooling and lining up to try it out.
At first sight I thought it both attractive and a little strange. Attractive because although I like shiny things, the subdued brushed SS finish looked nice to me. As a carry gun it not would not stand out in low light. (I once had uniform items shining like a beacon when walking across a paddock in moonlight to where a mentally disturbed person had secured himself in a house with a gun, so I tend to notice things like this.)
But the underlug profile just did not look "right" until I realised it was a shroud and not a fully machined barrel profile.
The owner mentioned that the trigger felt a lot heavier than her usual gun, and when I tried it I had to agree. My own 686 is stock except for a Wolff standard power ribbed mainspring and a #12 trigger return spring. Now it just so happened I had my 686 at the range this morning and in the lid of the box is a small bag holding two spare Wolff mainsprings and the remainder of the 5 reduced power trigger return springs I bought a few years ago. Without asking permission I removed the grips and found something unfamiliar with the internals.
Okay I know that since my -4 was made there have been a lot of upgrades to S&W revolvers, with MIM manufactured hammers and other parts being used. But still, not having those pinned in place add on parts to the hammer was a bit disconcerting.
I was surprised to find a ribbed mainspring already installed. I'm not sure if it is a Wolff spring or a S&W copy, but I left it alone. I did however replace the trigger return spring with the #14 Wolff one I had on hand (the #13 is in my Victory model at present). Somehow during this procedure the link at the base of the hammer that the mainspring locks into dropped loose and it took me a bit of time to realise that it slots into the hammer from a high swinging position not low. Once reassembled the trigger was definitely much lighter and easier to work in double action.
If I was shooting in Revolver Division I would be tempted to buy one just like it.