How does the Smith & Wesson 686 compare to the Dan Wesson 715?

[Walky Talki]

Anyone have any experience with both? I see that CZ-USA is now making Dan Wesson

How do they compare/contrast?

 

[silentflyer]

I own both 686's and older DW model 15's, both are fine handguns.
Thousands of rounds run through them no problems .
No experience with the new CZ 715's, but if they are like the older DW .357's they will have and edge in SA trigger smoothness and accuracy.
DW's accuracy edge comes from the front latch, ability to set cylinder gap, the barrel being held in "tension" at the muzzle end, and the ability to fine tune the grouping by adjusting the tension on the barrel nut at the muzzle. Back in the day DW's ruled the metal silhouette classes.

 

[Walky Talki]

I own both 686's and older DW model 15's, both are fine handguns.
Thousands of rounds run through them no problems .
No experience with the new CZ 715's, but if they are like the older DW .357's they will have and edge in SA trigger smoothness and accuracy.
DW's accuracy edge comes from the front latch, ability to set cylinder gap, the barrel being held in "tension" at the muzzle end, and the ability to fine tune the grouping by adjusting the tension on the barrel nut at the muzzle. Back in the day DW's ruled the metal silhouette classes.

How do they compare in double action?

 

[silentflyer]

Don't shoot much double action, most of mine is SA at slow fire targets at 25 yards and steel gongs out at 50,100 yards etc. SA work I would rate DW's with a bit of work with a diamond hone right there with Colt Pythons.
What little I have done 686's and DW's I would rate about the same doing double action work.

 

[scooter123]

The Dan Wesson revolver uses a Coil Mainspring and basically is NOT tuneable. I have a 15-2 that was purchased used with a Wolff mainspring that produced a 11.5 lbs DA trigger pull. It also misfired 33% of the time with standard pressure primers and 5 out of 6 times with Magnum primers. Installing a new "factory" mainspring from Numrich's solved the misfire issues but the DA trigger pull is now more than my Lyman digital can read. probably somewhere around 14 lbs. Fortunately it's a very smooth 14 lbs. and a quick steady trigger pull all the way through the break makes it seem lighter. However, if you try to stage this trigger you'll end up with your hand shaking.

Contrast that with a 686 where installing an extended travel firing pin from Cylinder & Slide, a 14 lbs rebound spring, and file fitting the strain screw can result in a reliable 8 lbs DA trigger.

As for the Single action trigger on either, I would evaluate them as equal in both feel and weight per my Lyman gage. Both break at 3 lbs. with less than 0.018 inch of Sear Creep using digital calipers to measure the Sear Creep.

Finally, love tensioned barrels. Which is why my version of the 686 is the somewhat obscure and rare model 620. Off a sandbag using a 2X handgun scope I've managed 7/8 inch groups at 50 yards with my 620. One day I'll get a Vent Rib barrel for the DW and try it out with a scope, with iron sights all I can do at 50 yards is around 5-6 inches. At 60 I just don't see as well as I could when I was 40 so 5-6 inches is good for me.

 

[glenwolde]

How do they compare in double action?

The Dan Wesson has a much shorter hammer travel than any other revolver, in both single and double action. It's not so noticeable in single action but anybody who's done a reasonable amount of shooting DA with any other brand would notice it immediately.

Trigger pull varies too much gun to gun within a brand to pass judgement on which is better. Dan Wesson often feel a bit lighter, if only because of the short hammer travel.

I never found the interchangeable barrel all that useful. As posters above have said; you can monkey around with the gap and barrel tension and kind of tune your groups. Once that's done, if you remove the barrel you have to go through the process all over again.

It's not like you put the 6" tube on for a day at the range, then come home and swap to the 2 1/2" and some compact grips for concealed carry, then swap back to the 6" again a week later to go back to the range. You'll spend all your range time monkeying with adjusting your barrel.

I'd say they are pretty equal guns. I'd say the fit and finish was better on the S&W, and give accuracy to the Dan Wesson. But accuracy can vary gun to gun. I'm comparing a 80's Dan Wesson to a 686 of the same vintage. My experience is entirely with older guns. You canlt go wrong with either.

 

[diyj98]

I don't have any experience with the new Dan Wessons, but the old ones were noted for varying widely as far as quality control. Resale value suffered for a number of years due to the problems. The 44, and 357 I had were both tack drivers and shot with any revolver I've ever owned. The 22LR shaved lead and shot terribly. Hopefully the new CZ produced guns will have better quality control.

 

[stu1ritter]

When you talk about tuning the barrel for group size are you talking about the cylinder/barrel gap, the tension of the nut or both? I'm getting my first DW, a 15-2 with a couple of barrels next week.
thanks.

 

[glenwolde]

When you talk about tuning the barrel for group size are you talking about the cylinder/barrel gap, the tension of the nut or both? I'm getting my first DW, a 15-2 with a couple of barrels next week.
thanks.

Both, but primarily barrel tension. As I recall the procedure is something like: swap out the barrel parts and tighten firmly. Shoot it, check tightness, shoot it, check tightness. From there you can try tightening it more in an attempt to improve accuracy. To really do it right, and as some of the IHMSA guys used to do, you need to figure out a way to incorporate a torque wrench into the process. But that's a bit of overkill for most. But regardless you need to tighten it consistently.

The problem I had with it was trying to set the gap took a bit of fiddling. As you tighten down on the nut it seemed like the gap would close a bit. I would set the gap a tad wider than I wanted. You can use any feeler gauge you want.

I make it sound more difficult that it really is, it just depends on how anal you want to get about it. For the most part the two I've owned shot really well without a lot of difficulty. I'd swap the barrel and check the nut for tightness every 20 rounds or so until it stopped tightening. Some of that is because the barrel heats up as you shoot it I think and as it heats up it expands a little.

But if you like to fiddle with things a Dan Wesson will give you plenty to work with but only if you want too. I just did the basics and it would shoot with my Pythons all day long.

 

[stu1ritter]

Interesting. I don't think it would be too hard to integrate a square drive into the barrel wrench and use a torque wrench. This might be fun for an olde retired Mercedes mechanic.
thanks,

 

[Officerblue]

I love them both! I have an older model 715 and a new model 715 love 'em.... my 686 is also a lovely firing revolver... you can't go wrong with either one. I do like my older 715 dan Wesson a little bit better because I have the option of four different barrel lengths. My 2¢

 

[glenwolde]

Interesting. I don't think it would be too hard to integrate a square drive into the barrel wrench and use a torque wrench. This might be fun for an olde retired Mercedes mechanic.
thanks,

Yeah, you would probably dig it. There's a lot you can do with them if you want too. The IHMSA guys had it down to a science back in the day. They were testing all sorts of barrel torque settings with different gaps. You could go on forever.

 

[silentflyer]

Most of the quality control problems were the guns that were not made in Monson Mass., the Norwich NY. and Palmer Mass. guns tend to be spotty on the QC side.
All mine are from Monson and the only issue I ever had was a crack in the grips on a 744 years ago, which the factory promptly sent a replacement set at no charge.
EWK Arms is making barrels,shrouds,sights,parts,tools etc. for them.

 

[jtcarm]

They're back? Cool!