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.

Thanks for the heads up concerning turn around time. Your comments may help someone here make a more informed decision. I hope your model 686 comes back fit as a fiddle and without any collateral damage.

Thankfully, turn around time is not on my list of worries. After a couple of recent experiences, I won't ever be considering sending any of my old, out of warranty firearms (or my "new" ones) back to the factory "repair center" to be tended to under any circumstances, or at any time in the future.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

There are no good gunsmiths around me and seeing I just bought the gun - off of Gunbroker, so don't know if I'll be doing that again - live and learn - I figured the factory with the no cost warranty work was the way to go. If it was a Glock I would have been all set as I was a Glock armorer before I retired!