I had the good fortune to pick this 686P up last month. It was used but in very good shape with one exception. The cylinder locks up fine, B/C gap is good and carry-up is good on six chambers. But, and this will sound prolly foolishly anal, three of the seven stop notches are very noticeably peened. I apologize for the quality of the photo - it doesn't show peening well at all. So... has anyone had a 686 cylinder replaced in the last year or so? I am wondering what they would charge to replace and fit a new cylinder? I plan to keep the older cylinder. It is otherwise such a great revolver but the peening is bothering me ... .



Please be gentle with your comments!!

I would guess the new cylinder plus installation would cost between 150 and 200 dollars. Give Customer Service a call, they may be able to give you a ball park figure over the phone. 1-800-0852

The other option would be to purchase the new cylinder and have it installed by your local, trusted gunsmith, if you you have one.

Midway has the unfluted and the fluted cylinders in stock right now. If you can fit the cylinder yourself you can do it for around 130 bucks.

Smith & Wesson Cylinder Assembly S&W L-Frame Model - MPN: 412130000

Smith & Wesson Cylinder Assembly S&W L-Frame Model - MPN: 412120000

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

If it shoots fine then they probably wont warranty it, but they might if it is an obvious factory defect that could cause a malfunction.

How's it shoot?

You can use a hammer and flat ended punch to put the peened material back where it came from for about 15 minutes time and no money.

My 686 4in no dash was 188.00 dollars for new cylinder from s w in 2014.

This is common on stainless guns with fast DA shooting mileage on them.

Stainless is relatively soft. As Toolguy suggested, just "upset" the peening back to where it belongs for a whole bunch less hassle and expense.

But I would not use a punch, it's too easy to get a lot of little ding marks w/o experience. I would suggest a very smooth flat piece of hard steel a little wider than the notch is long. Make sure it has round edges so you don't get dings from sharp edges. Gently tap on the plate until peening is flat. The edges of the notches will get some "work hardening" which will mitigate peening again. Maybe 10 minutes work once you gather the tools.

If you have a gunsmith you trust, get his opinion.

If not comfortable with that, call Smith first and check if they'll warranty the repair including a paid return shipping label. Figure on the gun being gone about two months give or take.

Note: I have replaced a couple of Smith cyls with new ones. In both cases, they were a drop in and didn't even need the cyl hand fitted. No guarantee that'll happen every time, but Smith is making an effort for their parts tolerances to be more consistent than in the past.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Gents - as always here on SWF - Thank-you for the great info! I searched both Midway and B'nells last night for a flat punch to no avail. Jim - that's where your recommendation hits the spot! I had thought about trying to correct them myself - but hadn't thunked about using a flat piece of steel. The only trick now is to find a flat piece of steel; I'm not very mechanically inclined but I think I can handle that one. My original thoughts were to have S&W do it - then turn around and recover half of my cost by selling the 7-shot cylinder either here or on the flea site. I did that with the 3-inch bbl for my Model 64 - and cut the cost of the barrel itself to just shy of $100.

If you buy a new cylinder, & do it yourself, plan on reusing the old cylinder's extractor as the new one's not likely to be timed/cut right for your revolver. Assuming there's nothing wrong with the original it'll save a lot of work reusing it.

.

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Waiting for the break of day