A Little Disappointed - New 686 357 7" Barrel 1st Range Targets

Since you have a red ramp front sight, I assume you also have the white outline rear site. IMHO, the RR/WO sights are awful for target work.

I would suggest replacing them with a black patridge front sight and plain black rear sight.
 
Glad to hear the 686 is starting to show its true potential! Some nice targets you posted. The six inch 686 I own is a real fine shooter. I think once you have the trigger to your liking you will shoot as well , or better , as you do your 44 mag. Thanks for a interesting and informative post.
 
Update and even more disappointed now on S&W 686 Custom .357 after returned to dealer and sending back for a replacement gun or at least a new barrel. We determined with assistance of 2 different professional gunsmiths why this brand new 686 Custom will never shoot straight. It appears this was an early Monday morning build or maybe the last one on Friday night and the guy at the S&W plant responsible for crowning the barrels apparently had a headache or just one of those days he did not care about the quality of his workmanship. In any case the crown is cut at an angle and on one part of the barrel there is a large beveled edge while on the other side there is none. In fact it appears there is an edge protruding into the barrel when you look closely with a 10 power eyepiece. Gunsmith said "there is no way this gun shot straight at the factory and it should have never passed Quality inspector.

This is my first S&W and may be my last. We will see what they do to correct the problem but when you spend the kind of money on a custom limited production gun I think we would all expect a little more care in what the plant is putting out - - - or is this just another example of how American workmanship is going down the drain at many of our companies due to cost cutting by THE BEAN COUNTERS?


SW686BadCrown1.jpg


SW686BadCrown2.jpg


SW686BadCrown3.jpg


SW686BadCrown4.jpg


As a retired engineer who spent 40 years in manufacturing ensuring quality manufacturing processes it pains me greatly when I see something like this gorgeous gun sent out to a consumer with such lack of pride in the product.

GB45
 
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It isn't necessarily the cause but it certainly isn't right. I only say it isn't necessarily the cause because your groups were certainly shrinking.

Crowns are often overlooked when troubleshooting. I'd be tempted to cut one locally.
 
Will be interesting to see what they find out at S&W but one of the gunsmiths said the groups may have been getting better from the bullets smoothing out some of the ridge. It is hard to say since I did not take detail pictures at the beginning when I first received the gun and the initial groups were awful.

I know they will handle the problem for me as I have heard S&W customer service is great. In either case my dealer has said it will get resolved at no cost to me. We will see how long the turnaround takes and looking forward to shooting a good gun like so many S&W owners have bragged about. My big beef is what is happening to quality in US manufactured products in general.

GB45
 
Well folks- - I don't know how many times I have bragged about my local gunshop but here is what happened today!

I took my troubled S&W 686 Custom to the shop yesterday and they agreed with the BAD CROWN issue but they did not know yet how it would be fixed - although they said "DON'T WORRY - IT WILL GET FIXED"

So I called back today and asked the owner if he had seen the gun yet and did he know what they were going to do?

He said, "I ORDERED YOU A REPLACEMENT GUN YESTERDAY AND WHEN IT ARRIVES WE WILL TRADE THEM AND SHIP THE BAD ONE BACK THAT WILL BE THE QUICKEST TURN AROUND FOR YOU."

So I said THANKS and hung up.

Thirty minutes later he calls me back, "YOUR NEW GUN IS HERE, COME-N-GET-IT"

So it takes me thirty minutes to get there and lo and behold there is a brand new gun.

Clay said, "I TOLD THEM THE CROWN LOOKED LIKE IT HAD BEEN CUT BY A BEAVER SO THEY OVERNIGHTED THE THING."

Did the paperwork to swap serial numbers and here she is before and after SCOPING............

SW686New1.jpg


SW686New2.jpg


SW686New3.jpg


SW686New4.jpg


- - - -and here is the best part -- this thing has the SWEETEST TRIGGER!! Got to be at least HALF the weight of the first gun. I can't wait to get it to the range and make some holy paper.

THE BEST GUN SHOP - or in fact - THE BEST BUSINESS PLACE I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH - truly friendly and 100% honest people.

Only bad thing is we may never know what they did to that Bad Crown S&W but I am sure they will get it fixed, just don't know how that would be sold.


GB45
 
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686 7" bbl

Thanks for initiating and carrying through on this informative thread. I would have redone the crown myself with a round head brass bolt and fine valve grinding paste.

BUT your way was far superior! Not to mention the fastest dealer/S&W turnaround in history!

If available in your market, you might try the MagTech 158 gr and Sellier & Bellot 158 gr .357s, both jacketed soft points. They shoot well for me.

Regards and keep us posted on new 686, please.

Dyson
 
No Longer Dissapointed

Got out to the indoor range today with the replacement .357 S&W 686 - - :D :D :D :D Even a bad day at the range is better than a good day at work ::)

However - the new Revolver shot way past my expectations considering it is brand new and not broken in yet. I mentioned earlier that the new gun had a far better trigger pull - - all I can say now is "SWEET!"

So here is the sequence of what I shot - - - target at 20 yards - the carrier did not want to go out to the full 25 yards and the other 5 lanes were in use.
Ignore the big holes in 1, 2, and 3 - those are my .44 Magnum Ruger after the .357 - it wanted to clear its throat a little today.

Total .357 shots a little over 100 - had two boxes and a few stragglers in the bag.
SWNew357Target.jpg

Two Hand Grip - no support. Shot the large 4 inch circles first - 1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5 ,6 in order.

Then shot the black two inch circles. I expanded and increased contrast to try and highlight the holes.
SWNew357Target2.jpg


Then I put one shot in each of the 6 2 inch orange circles using my best concentration and hold on each.

Lastly 1 bullet at each of the 1 inch orange targets - I sat on the stool and still used two hand grip but my elbows were resting on the bench. As you can see in the expanded picture I hit two centers and just off on of the 3rd. On a standard 25 yard target all 3 of those shots would be 10's. Ain't nuttin' wrong with this gun!

All in all I am very pleased with this new gun and this is what I expected of the first one. Hopefully S&W they will get that one fixed so someone else can enjoy a great gun.

I expect the shooting results to only get better as the gun and trigger break in.

Need to change the title of this thread to NO LONGER DISAPPOINTED!!! - and maybe this will not be my one and only S&W after all...........

GB45
 
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