Cylinder Lockup Question on used 686

[John G C 1]

HI
I was looking at a used 686 on Gunbroker. The gun is described as awesome but the only photos were of the outside of the gun. No photos of the cylinder opened etc....

So I wrote the guy and asked about the bore and cylinder and such. He politely wrote back and said the bore was clean but the cylinder had slight wiggle.

So my question here is how much cylinder wiggle is acceptable on a 686?


I have wiggled a few revolver cylinders at the gun shop and most seem to have a tiny amount of play, even cocked. I mean just the slightest movement rather than being rigidly locked up.

So am I correct to assume that is normal and no gun will lock up rigid? Any general idea of how much play is too much or what to ask when asking questions?

 

[Chrisj357]

HI
I was looking at a used 686 on Gunbroker. The gun is described as awesome but the only photos were of the outside of the gun. No photos of the cylinder opened etc....

So I wrote the guy and asked about the bore and cylinder and such. He politely wrote back and said the bore was clean but the cylinder had slight wiggle.

So my question here is how much cylinder wiggle is acceptable on a 686?


I have wiggled a few revolver cylinders at the gun shop and most seem to have a tiny amount of play, even cocked. I mean just the slightest movement rather than being rigidly locked up.

So am I correct to assume that is normal and no gun will lock up rigid? Any general idea of how much play is too much or what to ask when asking questions?

I think one would have to take into consideration the mans familiaraity with Smith & Wesson revolvers. The fact that he said "but" would indicate more of a problem if you were sure he was very familiar with S&W guns. If you dont trust him as knowledgable than "slight wiggle" sounds reasonable.

Either way if the outside of the gun isint beat up, play in the cylinder isint hard to fix.

Use it as a barganing tool, give less for it in case "it needs work"

 

[snubbiefan]

Ask the seller what the end-shake is (measured) and see what he says. Like mentioned above....a little "wiggle" is normal. I think end-shake will tell you a lot more about the gun than a little wiggle in the cylinder.

It's very likely there is nothing at all wrong with the gun, but you could have some fun with him anyway.

I asked a seller once for the serial number on the gun to determine if it fell under a recall and to find-out the birthday. He told me I could see the serial number when I bought the gun. Of course, he told me what I had to know about his attitude and i did not buy that gun.

 

[Pisgah]

Probably what wiggle is present is perfectly normal. But situations like this are the reason I always want an inspection period with any Internet gun transaction. A three-second hands-on inspection would tell me what I want to know.

 

[John G C 1]

Thanks. I wrote back and he told me he would not take the gun back if I judged it too loose and so maybe this is not the gun for me. I appreciate the help.

 

[mzack66]

I have a 686 no dash 6" and it has some wiggle side to side, none front to back. It has more side to side than I'd expect, but its the same cocked or not. It shoots as straight as an arrow and no lead shaving or anything like that. It seems pretty normal for the Smith's. That said, if the guy won't stand behind the gun, I'd walk away.