First Smith & Wesson - 686

[DrDyno]

Hi All,

Just purchased my first S&W firearm. I've always liked the 357 Magnum and have had a Dan Wesson and a Taurus Tracker. I was too young and ignorant to keep the Dan Wesson and the Tracker had D/A FTF problems that Taurus had not fixed on warranty.

So, fell in love with a 4" 686 and decided it was time to try out a Smith. What a GREAT shooting gun this is!

Serial # is AEZ9378. How can I find out when it was manufactured?

Regards,

John G.
St. Petersburg, FL

 

[kdailey]

Hello John, Welcome to this Forum, and I promise if you have an interest in Smith & Wesson firearms, you are at the correct place, and you will love it. It appears your 686 would be late 1984. The 686 is a wonderful revolver, and you will never wear it out. But you can try.........keith

 

[GJHIII]

Welcome to "The Forum" of all things Smith & Wesson. I'am afraid that if you don't have the disease yet, you soon will. I hope your 686 gives you as much pleasure as my 586 does for me. Since joining here and pursuing S&W revolvers, their quality never ceases to amaze me. And I'am sure make us all much better shooters. Enjoy.

 

[Hillbilly77]

According to the book, your 686 was shipped in November 1984.
S/N range AEV - AFJ were included in Nov. '84.
Hope that helps you.

 

[iwanna]

Hey, you started out with one of the S&W classics. I have one, too. Don't know your date, but somebody will chime in on that.

To my understanding, if you have an early 686 no-dash you should look for an M mark on your crane above the model number. Apparently all the early ones went (or should have went) back to the factory to fix problems and were then stamped.

You might want to think about finding a rear sight for the sake of being complete and original.

 

[fyimo]

Hey, you started out with one of the S&W classics. I have one, too. Don't know your date, but somebody will chime in on that.

To my understanding, if you have an early 686 no-dash you should look for an M mark on your crane above the model number. Apparently all the early ones went (or should have went) back to the factory to fix problems and were then stamped.

You might want to think about finding a rear sight for the sake of being complete and original.

There is a recall on the no dash 686's but very few even needed the recall work done. S&W will still do the recall for free but I would shoot the revolver first to see if it really needs to be sent back. The problem with the ones that failed is the primers would flow back into the firing pin hole locking up the revolver. Some say it was because some ammo makers were using soft primers and others said it was the revolver. Anyway S&W modied the revolver and the problem went aeway.

Congtratulations on the purchase as the 686 is an awesome revolver and be careful as S&W revolvers become addictive and there is no known cure. Especially if you visit this website a lot because we are enablers and you won't get much help in not buying more S&W revolvers up here.

 

[VaRecon]

My first S&W was a 681, the same gun but with integral rear sights.
I fell in love right away. Later replaced it with a model 66, which I just have a preference for.
You have an L-frame revolver built for long term magnum use.
Like Keith said, it won't wear out on you.
I love the K/L frame revolver because with a little elbow grease they have the smoothest triggers in the world IMO.
You couldn't have picked a better place to start.

 

[DrDyno]

Thanks for the Welcome!

Thanks to all of you for your welcome, your addiction warnings, and the information. I cannot believe this revolver is 28 years old! I can't think of anything I have that is as old and as pristine as that gun! My marriage is that old but even that has suffered a change in POI!

There is no "M" on the crane so I'll assume it was not modified. Coming from the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" point-of-view, I think I'll leave well enough alone. Oh, and yes, I will be looking for an original rear sight assembly.

My first serious hand gun was 1973 Colt Cobra in .38 Special, which I bought new in '74 and still have. Like most of you I have a couple of the popular semi-autos but wheel guns have always been more appealing to me. And, probably like most of you, I am adamant with new shooters that a revolver should be their first home defense gun.

Again, thanks for the welcome! I'm already dreaming about TRR8's, Talo+ 3-inchers, etc.....

Regards,

John
St. Petersburg, FL

 

[iwanna]

Your Cobra doesn't happen to have the hammer shroud, does it? Oooh, I like those.

 

[DrDyno]

Your Cobra doesn't happen to have the hammer shroud, does it? Oooh, I like those.

No, no hammer shroud and, no ejection rod shroud, either.

Regards,

John
St. Petersburg, FL