M686-4 With 4 And 1/8 Inch Barrel

DocB

DocB

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I've finished the restoration. It is unaltered and unmessed with; but, it has a 4 and 1/8 inch barrel. Measured several times with different measurement devices. Is this typical? It's a 1994 gun. . .newer than I usually purchase. Maybe Smith was letting up with exacting measurements.
 

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If it is unaltered & un-messed with, it must be 100% original. So why and how did you restore it?

My guess is that the 4 1/8" barrel is that it would be legal to sold in our wonderful neighbor to the north, Canada.. I've been told that pistol barrels must be over 4" to be able to owned by most new purchasers in Canada... & that shorter barrels on handguns are subject to only being owned/possessed by folks who had them registered years ago.

So S&W chose to only make handguns with 4 1/8" barrels so that any of those (& handguns with longer barrels) could be exported to our good neighbor, rather than to have 4" barrels on some & slightly longer barrels on others...which would be a great burden to see which was legal & which was not to be exported.

It's a shame that Canada is burdened by the same type of silly/non-logical firearms laws that some of our US states & cities have.
 
I sure didn't know that. Thanks for the information. The restoration of this particular gun consisted of major cleaning, in opposition to parts replacement which I often have to do. The gun was full of black filth that had crept in from under the original rubber grips and other places over the past 22 years. When I clean a gun like this, I lift the side plate and remove everything. Each part is then restored to original like-new condition before re-assembly. With a SS gun, I then polish (by hand) the rest of the gun using Flitz or a more abrasive polish if needed. Then Ren Wax. The fact that this gun was unmessed with was good but was also the problem. It is now almost a like-new gun. The picture above was taken one day into the project. The gun looks much better now.
 
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da gimp said:
If it is unaltered & un-messed with, it must be 100% original. So why and how did you restore it?

My guess is that the 4 1/8" barrel is that it would be legal to sold in our wonderful neighbor to the north, Canada.. I've been told that pistol barrels must be over 4" to be able to owned by most new purchasers in Canada... & that shorter barrels on handguns are subject to only being owned/possessed by folks who had them registered years ago.

So S&W chose to only make handguns with 4 1/8" barrels so that any of those (& handguns with longer barrels) could be exported to our good neighbor, rather than to have 4" barrels on some & slightly longer barrels on others...which would be a great burden to see which was legal & which was not to be exported.

It's a shame that Canada is burdened by the same type of silly/non-logical firearms laws that some of our US states & cities have.
Click to expand...

The Canadian Firearms Act which regulated barrel lengths of 4" and less (and other inane regulations) came into effect in 1998, 4 years after the O.P.'s revolver was produced.
 
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824tsv said:
The Canadian Firearms Act which regulated barrel lengths of 4" and less (and other inane regulations) came into effect in 1998, 4 years after the O.P.'s revolver was produced.
Click to expand...

Canada is not the only country that Smith exports to with a minimum barrel length requirement. Quite a few South American countries as well European countries also require barrels over four inches. They usually specify equal to or greater than 105 mm (appx 4.125"). Gun may have been made for export and then sold domestically.

Adios,

Pizza Bob
 
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The 4.25-inch M686-6 Canadian Edition is an actual factory variation, it's even has it's own unique Product Code.... 164107. It's been in production since at least 2010.

If anyone has one, I'd like to see a picture of the factory label. I've never seen one in the box. The OP's gun must be something else, since it's a pre-lock.
DocB said:
....I then polish (by hand) the rest of the gun using Flitz or a more abrasive polish if needed.....
Click to expand...
By polishing it in this fashion you destroy the original "brushed" finish. It might look nice, but some say it lowers the resale value.
 
This may not be directly related to the OP's revolver but I've
found that over the years Smith barrels can vary a tiny bit
from run to run and who/how they were screwed into the frame.

I have a house gun right in front of me, a Model 67-1 from 1980 production that has a 4 and an eighth inches long.

A second house gun, another 67 but no dash from 1972/73 that
measures 3 7/8 inches.

I noticed this kind of variance in Smiths more than 25 or 30 years ago. Blued guns, stainless guns.

This might not be true for the 8 3/8ths barrels since that
is an old NRA requirement as to barrel/sight radius.
 
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I've got maybe ten SS Smiths. The finish is extremely variable. My M64 was bought new in box by me in 1980. . .I still have it. The finish was never brushed at all. Same is true for a M60 I bought new back then. It's always been a shiny gun. By 1990 I'm seeing one with a matt SS finish, one with a brushed finish, and a 629 that is for the most part a mirror. This 686-4. . .who knows. Since I bought it very used and it was covered in black grunge, it could have been almost anything when new. When I detect a factory surface variation, I do not polish. . .just clean. Except for the top strap and grip frame straps, this one didn't show those variations. It's done now. Altamont grips were the most suitable for handling and appearance. It's nice and shiny. . .maybe too shiny. Only got a little over four bills in it.
 

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Hey Kernel shoot me a message i have one of the canadian 686 i just bought it last week
 
I have a 19-3 that's got a 4 1/8" barrel. There was a time that the quality control wasn't up to par, so there were variances. Some of those are coveted here in Canada because of our stupid barrel length rule.
 
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