686+ disappointment (update)

[Mehutch]

Nix45, sorry for your problems with what is a great classic hand gun. I have several 686's and a few 586's. I love them and they shoot as advertised. My newest 686-6 with 4 inch barrel did shoot to the left two inches. But with a few clicks it was spot on. I did however change the main leaf spring which made a big difference in pull. The more you shoot it the more it will smoothen out. Nothing will make it feel like a older gun like a 'no dash' to a -4. Smith & Wesson is a fine company and the CS has always been an 'A+' with me. Always go to them first, if not satisfied there are other routes.

 

[bountyhunter]

A couple months ago I posted about buying a new 3" 686+ and having it misfire because of light primer strikes.

The local gunsmith took a look at it and ended up replacing and tightening the strain screw. This had the desired effect of getting 100% reliable strikes with good primer detonation. Unfortunately, the trigger pull went from 10# to 12# or more, but I figured I'd give it a little time to wear in before messing with springs and such.

A few forum members suggested I try an over-sized firing pin, which I ordered but have not installed yet, since it has been firing reliably.

So now I've fired the 686 a few times, mostly focusing on reliability, but found the accuracy to be wanting. I consider myself to be a fairly average shot and I thought that I just needed to get the sights dialed in and learn to shoot this particular DA revolver a little better.

But the accuracy thing started to bother me, so today I went to the range with factory ammo (HPR 125 JHP) and a sandbag. I ended up cranking the rear sight all the way to the right. At the end of the day, I got two 4-round groups at a little over 10 yards that looked like this:

As you can see, the groups have some vertical stringing that I'm probably responsible for, but overall there is still a left shift. (And this was with the sights cranked all the way to the right.)

So I took the 686 back to the dealer and talked to the in-house gunsmith. He seems to feel that there is a couple degrees of barrel cant and will try to reseat the barrel. He warned me that he may need to shave to barrel shoulders to get it to seat right, and that we could end up doing a lot of work to ensure that the forcing cone and cylinder gap specs are maintained.

He also said he'd do an action job and see if he could improve the trigger pull. (He didn't feel an oversized firing pin would be useful in doing this.)

I'm developing a love/hate relationship with this gun.

1) Don't waste your money on "extended" firing pins. The only thing they do well is break.

2) If you have a canted barrel moving your POI, it's easier to shave the edge of the rear sight a bit and the same with the front sight to center it up. SW front sights always look too wide to me and I have shaved quite a few to compensate for a canted barrel.

 

[Nix45]

Thanks. I'd agree that the sights are a bit bulky.

 

[Nix45]

Update to the Update

I got the 686+ back from my local gunsmith on Saturday. Good gravy, what a difference!



Trigger is smoothed out and the DA pull dropped from 12# to an honest 9#. In SA the pull is a light 3#--perhaps a bit lighter than I need. He was able to take out the cant without any significant machining.

Took the revolver to the range today and it was brilliant. First shot, off-hand, SA @ 10 yards:



Naturally the group opened up after that, but it felt like the sights were on at that point. I was bangin' steel out to 50 yards with ease.

With the improved trigger and the fixed cant, this revolver has become an instant favorite. No more disappointment.

 

[one eye joe]

If it were mine it would be going back to S&W well no it would have already been sent back. No point in letting a gunsmith work on a new warranty gun.

I GOTTA ROLL WITH TWODOG====THERE IS NO REASON WHY YOU SHOULD BE SPENDING MONEY ON A WARRANTED GUN. IF YOUR GUNSMITH CRACKS YOUR FRAME, OR DOES OTHER IRREPARABLE DAMAGE--IS HE GOING TO BUY YOU A NEW 686 ? ? ? YOU SHOULD HAVE SENT THE GUN BACK TO S&W RIGHT FROM THE GITGO. CALL THEM, AND THEY WILL SEND YOU A SHIPPING LABEL. SEND THAT TARGET WITH IT, AND ALL OF THE INFO THAT YOU POSTED HERE. YOUR TURNAROUND TIME MAY EVEN BE SHORTER. GOOD LUCK.....

 

[Nix45]

Gracias. I hear ya. But I went with my local gunsmith and am happy with the results.

Yes, I ended up spending a bit of extra money to get a badly made revolver up to acceptable standards, but I now have a pistol I really like.

Perhaps I should have sent it back to S&W. I don't think S&W really cares about their quality anymore. I don't think they'd 'learn' anything new. I suspect they know that some revolvers will be returned and some that should be, won't, and have a business model to account for that. I trust my local smith and he did a great job. That's how things go in Montana. YMMV.

 

[TAC]

Have you tried different ammo? Maybe let someone else shoot it, to confirm, they have similar results, before making any serious changes/adjustments.

 

[BruceM]

Gracias. I hear ya. But I went with my local gunsmith and am happy with the results.

It's really good that you're happy with the local smith because all warranty service from Smith & Wesson just ended.

Bruce

 

[Redlegvzv]

It's really good that you're happy with the local smith because all warranty service from Smith & Wesson just ended.

Bruce

How would S&W even know, if he ever were to send it in?

 

[Big Cholla]

Experience Counts!

How would S&W even know, if he ever were to send it in?

After getting acquainted with any brand revolver, I can almost always tell if someone had been inside it and following up on that I could tell what they had done. I'm sure the S&W CS Pistolsmiths are far better at that than I have ever been.

I really 'knew' the Colt M 1911 backwards and forwards. I also knew what my work looked like. I did a trigger job and action smooth-up for a certain (bad word) customer. He was a beginning IPSC competitor. He brought it back after about three weeks and cursed me and my job out. He said the gun was no longer reliable and was now 'doubling'. I had heard from a friend that this guy was bad mouthing my abilities as a pistolsmith. I had him wait in the front of my shop and I took the gun to my bench. I was furious, but slowly did a part by part inspection. I took his gun back to him in all the pieces and showed him four parts that HE HAD MODIFIED after my tuneup. I told him to get out of my shop and if I ever heard of him bad mouthing me again, he would answer to me. He quit IPSC shortly after that and sold the Colt. It was brought back to me to be restored which I did for only the cost of the replacement parts. .......

 

[gwpercle]

That target in your post #24 , made whatever you paid your local smith worth every penny ! Confidence and accuracy like that are invaluable !
Gary