Looking for a 686 plus Deluxe 3" barrel but all I can find locally is a 4" barrel. I don't plan on carrying it so the 4" may work for me. The shop that has is not real close by but I have bought from them before. I asked the sales person if it was round or square butt but he didn't know and didn't seem real interested in removing a screw to visually check. Maybe he was too busy. So, before I make the drive I was wondering if any body on the Forum knows for sure if it is a round butt or square butt. One of the reasons I like the 3" is because it is round butt and gives me a few options for different grips that I like. Thanks to all!

All current production 686s are round butts.

I doubt S&W made the 686+ in a square butt. You can obtain square butt grips for it (the round butt fits into the grip inside) but that's as close as you're going to get.

Yeah around the time S&W started offering the 7 shot cylinder they also converted all frames to round butts regardless of barrel length

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-Matt

1995/96 forward all revolvers are round butts......... historically post WWII "most" guns with barrels 3 inches or less were round butt.

FWIW I round butted a 4" 686-ND and a 617 no dash back in the 80s..... easy to do as long as it doesn't impact the serial #

Don’t know about the grips on the Deluxe but the grips on the standard version are a little different on the three inch. Both are round butt. Both are fun to shoot! Good luck!
Hugh


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I do believe there are a few 686 + models floating around that were -4 guns. Without cracking my book, I think the -4s were the last square butts.

My early production 686-4 ( ca. 1994) is round butt

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John

686's, Round & Square

Correct. Should have cracked the book.

686-4, 1993, change rear sight leaf, drill and tap frame, change extractor, Hogue grips the -4 eliminated the square grip frame on 4" and longer models.

If it's factory all the way it will very likely look like this:



For field use a 4" on a belt holster will be perfect. But the 3" is easier to conceal.

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Come and take it!!