Recently I came across a used 3” M686-6 Plus Deluxe at a fair price, so I bought it. I had
been considering purchasing a new one but none of the local stores had any and it was a
gun I wanted to have a chance to handle before buying. It was in great condition with
perfect timing and lockup, great bore, no dings, etc. The plugged “Hillary Hole” however,
told me the gun had been subjected to at least some modification; I was hoping that
whoever did it wasn’t named Bubba.
The DA pull was light, so light I suspected it wouldn’t reliably set off primers. I also
suspected the strain screw had been backed out. But everything else was mechanically
good so I figured I could remedy its issues without too much trouble/expense, so I plunked
down my money and took it home. Sure enough, the strain screw was not only backed out
a fair amount, it had also been shortened so that even screwed in all the way, it was still not
100% on primer ignition. The main spring was a Wilson replacement, probably the rebound
slide spring was as well, although I didn’t remove it initially. The internal safety lock had
been removed and plugged with an aftermarket kit, so that was ok. So, an extended strain
screw and extended firing pin were ordered and installed. I kept the Wilson main spring
and rebound slide spring as once the new screw and firing pin were in place, the gun
became 100% reliable with all primers and still had a nice DA pull. My final change was to
replace the factory stocks with similar wood from FYFIXN off of Amazon. The difference is
that they cover the backstrap which to me anyway, makes the gun more comfortable to
shoot and the finger grooves fit my hand a little better. All in all, I’m happy with the way my
little project 686 turned out.
been considering purchasing a new one but none of the local stores had any and it was a
gun I wanted to have a chance to handle before buying. It was in great condition with
perfect timing and lockup, great bore, no dings, etc. The plugged “Hillary Hole” however,
told me the gun had been subjected to at least some modification; I was hoping that
whoever did it wasn’t named Bubba.
The DA pull was light, so light I suspected it wouldn’t reliably set off primers. I also
suspected the strain screw had been backed out. But everything else was mechanically
good so I figured I could remedy its issues without too much trouble/expense, so I plunked
down my money and took it home. Sure enough, the strain screw was not only backed out
a fair amount, it had also been shortened so that even screwed in all the way, it was still not
100% on primer ignition. The main spring was a Wilson replacement, probably the rebound
slide spring was as well, although I didn’t remove it initially. The internal safety lock had
been removed and plugged with an aftermarket kit, so that was ok. So, an extended strain
screw and extended firing pin were ordered and installed. I kept the Wilson main spring
and rebound slide spring as once the new screw and firing pin were in place, the gun
became 100% reliable with all primers and still had a nice DA pull. My final change was to
replace the factory stocks with similar wood from FYFIXN off of Amazon. The difference is
that they cover the backstrap which to me anyway, makes the gun more comfortable to
shoot and the finger grooves fit my hand a little better. All in all, I’m happy with the way my
little project 686 turned out.
