686 Plus 4" Square or Round butt

mgriffin · Sep 12, 2020

Looking for a 686 plus Deluxe 3" barrel but all I can find locally is a 4" barrel. I don't plan on carrying it so the 4" may work for me. The shop that has is not real close by but I have bought from them before. I asked the sales person if it was round or square butt but he didn't know and didn't seem real interested in removing a screw to visually check. Maybe he was too busy. So, before I make the drive I was wondering if any body on the Forum knows for sure if it is a round butt or square butt. One of the reasons I like the 3" is because it is round butt and gives me a few options for different grips that I like. Thanks to all!

uncleted327 · Sep 12, 2020

All current production 686s are round butts.

ImDrRich · Sep 12, 2020

I doubt S&W made the 686+ in a square butt. You can obtain square butt grips for it (the round butt fits into the grip inside) but that's as close as you're going to get.

Dieseltech56 · Sep 12, 2020

Yeah around the time S&W started offering the 7 shot cylinder they also converted all frames to round butts regardless of barrel length

BAM-BAM · Sep 12, 2020

1995/96 forward all revolvers are round butts......... historically post WWII "most" guns with barrels 3 inches or less were round butt.

FWIW I round butted a 4" 686-ND and a 617 no dash back in the 80s..... easy to do as long as it doesn't impact the serial #

HughD1 · Sep 12, 2020

Don’t know about the grips on the Deluxe but the grips on the standard version are a little different on the three inch. Both are round butt. Both are fun to shoot! Good luck!
Hugh

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Jason Demond · Sep 12, 2020

ImDrRichard said:
I doubt S&W made the 686+ in a square butt. You can obtain square butt grips for it (the round butt fits into the grip inside) but that's as close as you're going to get.

I do believe there are a few 686 + models floating around that were -4 guns. Without cracking my book, I think the -4s were the last square butts.

OLDSTER · Sep 13, 2020

My early production 686-4 ( ca. 1994) is round butt

1911-10MM · Sep 13, 2020

686's, Round & Square

Jason Demond · Sep 13, 2020

OLDSTER said:
My early production 686-4 ( ca. 1994) is round butt

Correct. Should have cracked the book.

686-4, 1993, change rear sight leaf, drill and tap frame, change extractor, Hogue grips the -4 eliminated the square grip frame on 4" and longer models.

ISCS Yoda · Sep 14, 2020

If it's factory all the way it will very likely look like this:

iscs-yoda-albums-s-and-w-revolvers-picture15726-686-6-a.jpg

For field use a 4" on a belt holster will be perfect. But the 3" is easier to conceal.

686 Plus 4" Square or Round butt

mgriffin

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uncleted327

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ImDrRich

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Dieseltech56

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BAM-BAM

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HughD1

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Jason Demond

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OLDSTER

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1911-10MM

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Jason Demond

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ISCS Yoda

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