I am thinking I'd like to make it my dedicated night stand gun, and think a tactical light would be a big help. Would it be a simple job for a 'smith to affix a mount under the barrel? Brands?

PS It's an M586 (pre-lock) Performance Center gun with a Birdsong Black T finish. Very sweet double and single actions. I intend to get more substantial grips for it to serve in this role.

I've often wondered if Crimson Trace wasn't missing a bet not going with a high intensity LED emitter feature for their laser grips? You can find the rails and kit's in the Brownell's catalog.

I've had the same thought about Crimson Trace. Maybe we should let them know there's interest in this.

Thanks for the info about Brownell's.

Instead of modifying the revolver, why not try the Clint Smith Streamlight Thunder Ranch flashlight. It has a tiger ring and a DVD demonstrating how to use it. After I got mine, I decided that, for the most part, rails are just not necessary on pistols or revolvers.

Thanks. I will look into that.

+1 on any handheld flashlight. You don't always want to point a gun at things you want to illuminate, and being able to illuminate something from arms length rather than your center of mass might be an advantage at times, also.

Gorgeous revolver, BTW. Whatever you decide to do, don't drill any holes in it, please!

Ok, you guys have convinced me not to alter it.

Story behind this gun is that I was working in a gun shop about ten years ago and another employee was selling off most of his gun collection to fund a two week African hunting safari. He had two revolvers for sale. One was this one, and the other was an S&W Model 610 (N-Frame 10 mm revolver). They were both essentially new guns, fired very little if at all. He was asking bargain prices for both of them because he was eager to raise the funds fast. I bought the Performance Center 586. Very happy with it, but in hind sight I might have done better had I bought the 610, as I understand their prices are going through the roof these days in the used gun market.

Great story! Don't feel bad though, because if you had gotten the 610, you might have been tempted to sell it instead of shoot it. Then you'd just have some cruddy green paper instead of a totally awesome revolver. And don't be so quick to sell the value of this one short. I don't have my SCSW handy, but it's a pretty rare bird, too, if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks Charles. What's an SCSW?

You're welcome!

SCSW is the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson. It has production numbers and values of all the Smiths.

I loaned mine to a friend and need to get it back.

Have a Look at this Link for the SCSW fairly cheap..
Amazon.com: standard catalog of smith wesson

Don't laugh, but you could always use electrical tape and tape the light underneath. I'd wrap it like a kids bicycle handle bars. Get a small surefire light or something similar.

If you like the feel of it, then you could look for a mount for it. but the tape would work and not alter the gun....

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NRA Benefactor Member

Oh, I have a copy of that book right next to me on my desk. I tried finding this exact Performance Center gun in there, but could not. Maybe you will have better luck finding it in there.

Not a bad idea. I think Clint Smith does this sort of thing using strong rubber bands.

Thinking out loud here. How about installing a off the shelf top mounted dot/scope mount/rail, then clamping a light/laser combo to that. I'm thinking it should all go right on, require no smithing and is 100% reversable.

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Dave

Or, if you like the feel of it, you could leave it on the gun. Then, some day, if the tape got bedraggled and you didn't want to keep trimming the tape, you could retape it. You could even, years later, remove the light altogether and still have an undamaged gun.

Personally, I prefer a SureFire in my left hand, but you probably ought to try out a light and some tape - you might prefer it.

A cut section of bicycle inner tube works great for this.

That makes sense.

Commercial electricians use a heat shrink tubing that's large enough to put the barrel and flashlight into, heat with a hair dryer or heat gun. Semi permanent, very strong, but removable.

Not a single mention of DUCT TAPE!!! Are you guys not thinking clearly?

You could also use tye-raps.

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...it's all just stuff.

Real Hawkeye,
Your gun is not a Performance Center gun, but it is from a Special Production run in 1989. These were made in both 4" and 6" barrel lengths. The unique part (at that time) was that these were made with the RB gripframe. The matte finish was also different from standard production guns of the time.
If you have the Standard Catalog 3rd edition, this gun is mentioned on the upper left side of page 250, product code 103591, 2500 were made in the 4" barrel length.

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.............SmithNut

The guy told me it was a Performance Center Gun with a Black T finish. Looks and feels like a Black T type finish to me, and the action is flawless. If it wasn't offered by the Performance Center, I think he must have sent it to the Performance Center for after-market custom work. He wasn't a lying type of person. Ex Marine, stand up sort of fellow.

So, maybe I should have asked what model it is, my assumption is that it was a M586. If it is, the PC never made one, to my knowledge, without a power port compensator. I could be very wrong, but if that is a M586 with a serial prefix BDT/BDY range, it's probably one of the 1989 models.

Can you provide more info? Model number, serial prefix, etc. It's a nice looking gun, but again if it's a M686 that's been Black T'd then I can't tell you anything about it. I'm not aware of any PC M686's with 4" barrel that didn't have a comp of some sort except some of the more recent slender slab models, but I don't think those are PC either.

Here is one of the M586 Special Production guns from 1989, looks a lot like yours....


Neat gun.....

Updated - I see you mention M586, does it have a dash number after the Model number? The Special run guns were no dash from my recollection and notes. Also, if the serial number prefix is as noted above, it very well might be the Special production gun mentioned. If I'm not mistaken, these may have been shown in the 1989 S&W annual product catalog, there were a lot of special guns made that year, including a M686 that was blackened.....

One last comment, if you call the factory (800-331-0852) and ask for Customer Service (select #7), they can tell you the product code for your revolver if you provide the serial number. With the product code, we can match with the SCSW list.

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.............SmithNut

Good spot, Smithnut. You may be on to something?

I don't know why this gun intrigues me so, but it does. When my friend's wifed returned my SCSW to me today, it was the first thing I tried to find.

Just looking at it, it looks almost like blackened stainless, but that may be the silver lettering that's making me think that. Are you sure that little stamp says 5 and not 6? There was a run of 1559 4" black stainless 686's in 1988, as per p. 271, product code104250.

Smithnut, yep, that sure looks just like it. Boy, if it doesn't have a Black T finish, I've sure been careless with it all these years. Not a speck of oil, or any other preservative, to prevent rust after handling. Didn't figure it needed it, thinking it had the Black T finish on. Not a speck of rust, so I guess I've been extremely lucky all these years.

They've had it suggested to them.....

It would be a simple matter to install one of the newer LED's instead of the laser emitter. It might not be as bright as some of the newer tac lights for autos, but it would work for home defense. It would make a clean install of a light for revolvers. I've been thinking of trying to get someone to do a custom modification.