Advice needed on what might be my first Smith, 686+ 3" ...

[Marshal Tom]

Or you could own a 3" 686 CS-1 as I do!

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I might not like the IL for various reasons but none of them were sufficiently substantive to stop me from owning this 3" 686+, or its 4" cousin. That's a lot of years of satisfied ownership while you've been sitting around pining for something that doesn't exist. Jus' sayin'.... and the posts above say it even better.

 

[413Maxwedge]

Why not buy a pre-lock model? My 686 no dash had hardly been fired when I bought it. They didn't start putting locks on them until the -5 models.

Actually the -5 introduced MIM action parts and the -6 introduced the IL. I have both a -5 (6") and a -6 (3"). Both great guns, but I sought out the -5 because A) no IL and B) pinned front sight.