I got a new to me 686 a couple weeks ago that had a clocked barrel. I contacted S&W and they told me to send it to them for repair. They did the prepaid shipping label and everything for me, so far so good, happy camper.
I read a post today on facebook from a S&W Revolver group where the person said that he had sent a revolver into S&W on July 1st for service and after they got it he learned that it would take 6 weeks. Apparently they're moving their service center out of Springfield. I was advised by them in an email 2 to 4 weeks initially.
I called S&W Customer Service today to see if this was true or just another internet rumor. Well, unfortunately it's true. In fact it's even worse for me. I was told it's an 8 week turnaround. They checked and said my 686 had been received and was in their system to have the work done. Normally it's been running 6 weeks but apparently they're either in the middle of or just starting/ending their 2 week annual shutdown. So, hopefully I'll be seeing my gun in September...or maybe October....or maybe November.
Just figured I'd give everyone a heads up in case you were contemplating sending a gun to them for non-warranty work. Mine is being done under warranty so I didn't have a choice. I just wish they had told me up front that it would be that long..wouldn't have made a difference but at least I would have known.