I had this post in the Gunsmithing section - another member suggested that this might be a more appropriate forum.

I need some guidance about bead blasting my 686 no dash.

I like the look of a bead blasted pistol, and I have access to a bead blasting setup to use. I've blasted a couple of older semi autos and I was happy with the results, but my 686 is a significant step up in gun cost and quality as a bead blasting candidate. The gun is completely disassembled right now - as far as prep for the bead blasting, I know I'd need to:

1. plug both ends of the barrel
2. mask off each end of the cylinder including the extractor and extractor rod
3. mask off any areas of the yoke that contact any part of the frame
4. mask any logos and the serial number and other markings I'd wanna preserve
5. the forcing cone

What other areas would need to be prepped and\or masked off ?

Do I need to avoid bead blasting the inside of the frame around the cylinder?

Thanks in advance for any guidance

One of the finest revolvers ever made....

It's hand applied brushed/satin finish is easy to carefully restore to as good as new if you google how to do it and go slowly and lightly.

Don't just blast over it only because you have access to such machinery. You'll regret it and the value of the gun will be reduced by $600 in a matter of 5 minutes.

I'm leaning towards having it done by someone who knows what they're doing - S&W does it, and I'm also looking for someone who does it near me.

The hand applied satin finish on the early smith stainless revolvers to me is the most beautiful and not being done anymore now and ever in the future. It's been replaced by a shoddy rig mounted media tumble (cheap in cost and cheap in looks) I rest my case and as the wife would say: You do what you want (all caps).

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"It's been replaced by a shoddy rig mounted media tumble" - S&W quotes their bead blasting service on the web site, but they don't specify how it's done - are ya saying that it's actually "glass beaded" in a tumbler, versus a traditional approach with a compressor and bead blasting gun? Some of the pictures I've seen of their bead blasted guns with a satin finish look good to me.

Oh, no bead blasting is fine, it is what bead blasting is. I meant the other standard finish the stainless guns. Not quite polished, not quite satin. That is done (at least at Colt) on a rig similar to a commercial washing machine where the gun rotates around in the media with the barrel on a fixture. That is how Colt screwed up their target crowns on the 2020 Python...

In any event, I have a soft spot for early 686s (and their original finish). And I would not consider sending that into S&W to mess with one way or another.

"I would not consider sending that into S&W to mess with one way or another." - my 686 isn't a collector item, at least for me - LOL, more of an impulse buy. It's a shooter, but I like it to look good - the polished finish has what, to me, look like a normal amount of scratches and rubs for a gun this old - the gun works fine, and while I have some highly polished (mirror finish) guns, I'd like this one to be a satin, bead blasted finish. If not to S&W, who \ where would ya send the gun to be bead blasted?