686 SSR yoke falls off during speed reloads

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Geeko

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I have a 686 SSR that at some point the yoke comes loose upon speed reloading. The yoke almost falls off the frame. I have talked to few other 686 owners and they say the same thing that during matches (IDPA/USPSA) the yoke has come flying off during a speed reload.

I have been told the point of the yoke spring retention screw cut a groove on the end of the yoke and ends up allowing the yoke to finally come off or loose upon speed reloading. It was also said that the 686 would have to be returned to the factory for a new yoke.

It was mentioned that the yoke is only good for about 1500 speed reloads before the yoke needs to be replaced.

My M15 has had more speed reloads over its life than the 686 SSR and the yoke is still on.

What gives with this type of design?

Is there a 686 that pre dates this type of design, something like the older fitted screw stud?
 
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Geeko said:
I have a 686 SSR that at some point the yoke comes loose upon speed reloading. The yoke almost falls off the frame. I have talked to few other 686 owners and they say the same thing that during matches (IDPA/USPSA) the yoke has come flying off during a speed reload.

I have been told the point of the yoke spring retention screw cut a groove on the end of the yoke and ends up allowing the yoke to finally come off or loose upon speed reloading. It was also said that the 686 would have to be returned to the factory for a new yoke.

It was mentioned that the yoke is only good for about 1500 speed reloads before the yoke needs to be replaced.

My M15 has had more speed reloads over its life than the 686 SSR and the yoke is still on.

What gives with this type of design?

Is there a 686 that pre dates this type of design, something like the older fitted screw stud?
Click to expand...

Please clarify on who told you this. I would really like to know from what source you heard this information.
 
I'd like to hear more about this issue. The older 686's had just a simple screw to hold the yoke on. I had not heard anything negative about the new yoke screw failing. The older screw could develop yoke endshake that the new system does not seem to do under normal use.
 
Replace the screw that holds the yoke on. Get one without the spring and you will be fine. Even with the springed screw, install it tightly and use some blue loctite to insure it doesn't come loose during a shoot.

Before you go to the match check to make sure the screw is tight. It should not just come loose during a match and a fast, heavy reload.
 
The yoke has a 'V' cut groove instead of the older channel cut. Thus the old screw style [ will not fit into the < groove of the yoke. It appears the problem is the spring point somehow cuts into the outer edge of the 'V' groove on the yoke creating a notch cut allowing the yoke to be pressed past the spring screw's point.

When using the CompIII speed loaders, during the speed reload to hit the back of the speedloader to pop the reloads into the chambers of the cylinder.

On mine, the screw was still tight, loctite and all. And when I unscrewed the screw and took out the yoke I found the damage on the yoke. The screw was fine. The issue is not with the screw being loose, but with the yoke being soft to be so easily damaged/cut by the screw. And for the new 686 "SSR" Pro Series model I would have thought this would not have been issue.

Was it the dash 3 model when the screw got changed? What older dash has the old screw style? I would think it be better to have the screw break and be able to replace the screw at a championship than the yoke being damaged that no replacement screw would fix.
 
I have a 686 no dash and it is the old style flat bottom solid screw. I think a fix could be to have a local gunsmith turn the "V" channel in the yoke to a flat bottom cut as the old ones were, and replace the retention screw with the old style. The old style worked for about 100 years why not go back to it.
 
Geeko said:
When using the CompIII speed loaders, during the speed reload to hit the back of the speedloader to pop the reloads into the chambers of the cylinder.
Click to expand...

Is there something wrong with your CompIIIs? I have K frame CompIIIs and never have to hit anything to get them to release.
 
H Richard said:
I have a 686 no dash and it is the old style flat bottom solid screw. I think a fix could be to have a local gunsmith turn the "V" channel in the yoke to a flat bottom cut as the old ones were, and replace the retention screw with the old style. The old style worked for about 100 years why not go back to it.
Click to expand...

Does somebody make a flat bottom screw in the larger size? Or is this something a gunsmith or machinist will need to turn?
 
The screw body on the spring loaded yoke screw is much larger than the old style yoke screw, so an old one will not work. You would have to find an aftermarket screw of the appropriate threads and head size to work properly and hand fit to the yoke. I would think you would be able to taper the tip of the screw to fit your existing yoke, with some trial and error.
 
A local IDPA shooter was having the same problem with his SSR. S&W has replaced the yoke several times. The screw literally churned through the button that retains the yoke. Crazy stuff.
 
I had exactly the same thing happen with a brand new 67-5 I bought earlier this year. I was using Comp IIIs and practicing reloads. I had not even fired it yet. Literally after about 40 reloads the yoke and cylinder came off in my hand. I was trying different methods to get the rounds into the cylinder holes faster so for most of the reloads I was "popping" the back of the Comp III with the palm of my hand just like the someone mentioned earlier. No problem with the Comp IIIs, this was just one way I was doing it at the time.

The yoke screw never came loose. I called S&W and while on the phone with someone removed the yoke screw. The S&W support person thought that spring might have been missing from the assembly but it was intact.

I received a FedEx label and sent it in. About a week later it was back with a note that read "replaced yoke." From this I can only assume that the yoke was out of spec or something.

I believe there is a video on YouTube showing someone experiencing the same failure using a 625 at an indoor match.
 
I had exactly the same thing happen with a Taurus Model 85 and discovered that the channel (or groove) on the yoke did not go all the way around. How such a machining error could have occurred I have no idea. At any rate, the Taurus now has a new home.
 
I think if you spend alot of time banging on the back of the open cylinder, its going to get loose on you. New style or old style.

I've shot thousands of rounds through revolvers using speedloaders, but, I always used the HKS speedloaders.
 
I don't know what I was thinking, I just looked and it does have the three piece screw-thanks!
 
I have a 686 that I use for IDPA and with practice at the range, matches and dry fire and reloading drills in the garage, I do a lot of speed reloads.
I had the yoke screw back out once (before I started using Loctite) and the yoke came out in my hand during a reload. Lesson learned there.

I have never heard of the yoke wearing before.
 
IMO what gives with this design is that it was never intended to withstand being hammered on. The simple truth is that these are handguns designed for Defense, not Race Guns designed for high intensity competition. I hate to say it but you may have to resign yourself to having the yoke replaced every 1000 reloads or so. If it proves to be a continuing issue with the 686 SSR, which is billed as a competition gun, perhaps S&W will come out with an "endurance" yoke for the gun that can stand up to the pounding you're putting on it. Until that happens, I would suggest that you take advantage of the lifetime warranty and return it as soon as you see the stud getting chewed up enough that it may cause it to fail. Sooner or later they'll get tired of the cost and go back to the older style design using the present 4mm screw thread, which BTW is larger than the # 5 screws used on the older guns so a slight change would net a stronger system than either old style or present.
 
Perhaps this latest run of 686's have yokes that are not properly hardened. One would think that the screw tip would be not as hard as the surface of the yoke. I seem to recall that part of the "endurance package" upgrade to the older 29/629's was a hardened yolk/frame. I'm sure Smith will keep an eye on this, if enough get returned for warranty work. I guess it would be a good idea to pull the cylinder and check for wear in that area on a regular basis if you own one of these SSR's. It's gotta be a pisser when your cylinder falls off while trying to reload.
 
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