I don't have a camera capable enough to take a photo of what I am trying to describe so hopefully I can explain my concern adequately.
In July I acquired a 686-6 Talo seven shot with 6" barrel. This thing has had a bunch of issues. Right off the bat, the laquer finish started flaking off the wood grips. I contacted S&W and they sent me out some replacement grip panels. Then I started having issues with light strikes and binding in double action.
I sent it back to the factory and also asked them to check the forcing cone. It had heavy machining burs around the inner circumference. I should have asked them to check the odd rifling too, but I did not.
S&W replaced the hand and firing pin to correct the double action function issues. They also recut the forcing cone to eliminate the burs.
Everything is fine now functionally, but I still have some... odd looking rifling. Doesn't look like I think it should with sharp lands and grooves. The rifling appears very shallow and smooth. It looks a lot like Glock's polygonal rifling but even more rounded and faint.
To you other current production 686 owners, does this sound right? Does S&W used a different type of rifling in these barrels? It doesn't look like any other revolver rifling I've seen, but I'm not sure it's not supposed to be this way.
To those wondering, accuracy at 25 yards with jacketed bullets is adequate. I managed a five shot 3" group tonight from a rest. With lead bullets, groups really start to open up. Let's just say, I was getting better hits with my SP101 snub than I was with this 6" L frame.
Should I be concerned about the riflings appearance or just let it be?