I got one of the revolvers I never wanted to receive. (Pic added)

7

71vette

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Messages
440
Reaction score
1,325
December 12th of 1992 my father bought a new Smith 686-3 6 inch. The revolver was on dad's hip quite a bit around the property.

Unfortunately my father passed on Tuesday evening. Cancer is an insidious disease. Watching someone I care about slowly die is one of the most difficult things I've ever had to deal with.

My mother gave me dad's revolver last evening. Still had the box, paperwork, and the receipt. Dad had kept it pretty clean but I don't think he'd done anything to it since the last time he'd fired it. I gave it a good once over last evening with a cloth and bore snake. I noticed the cylinder was dragging when I had it open. Honestly with all the lead rounds we ran through it in my "punk teenager" days, I'm not surprised.

Being that I couldn't sleep well this morning, I decided to brake it down and give it a proper cleaning. I'm pretty sure the side plate hadn't been off since the factory. I removed the crane and cylinder. I removed a decent amount of grime and oiled everything up nicely. The cylinder spins smoothly now, like it should. I remembered that I had a Wolff spring kit in the parts stash. It's now equipped with a "Power Rib" reduced power mainspring and a 14lb rebound. Everything looked really good on the inside. Surprisingly lacking in grime, and the side plate was very tight. All back together now. I'll probably Murphys and lemon oil the factory Targets this weekend. I've got to go to the funeral home later this morning.

I'll take and add some pictures this evening when there's better light and I've got more time.

ETA - quick pic added.

PQcfQnU.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Dad was regular Army and Air National Guard. Worked for Magnavox on some "interesting" things during Vietnam and shortly after. Dad was part of the "Igloo White" team. He designed some of the sensors for the Ho Chi Minh trail monitoring. He also worked on sonobuoy signal processing for the Navy. Same basic gear. Spent a decent amount of time at Elgin working on the radar and gun integration for the F-4E.

After that he continued with electronics engineering and repair. Was an entrepreneur for most of his career. Mostly thought, he's been a good dad and has taught me a lot. Still is, even at this point. He's teaching me to stop trying to control things I cannot.

He and mom were married for 59 years. Didn't quite make it to 60.

I'm going to miss him a lot.
 
Always hard to lose your father, unless you are one of the unfortunates who did not have a good relationship with him. It's only human to be depressed about the loss and you have my total sympathy. Been there and done that. I hope you get to the rejoicing stage as soon as possible. (Rejoicing that you had your father for many good years, many good times, and many good memories.)
 
My condolences to you and your family. Like many of us, my dad is the most influential mortal man in my life and he's dealing with similar late in life health issues. Any firearms inherited will be bitter sweet. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the memories of your dad every time you handle that great revolver.
 
I really envy guys who had that kind of relationship with their Dad.

Sorry he's gone. But think how fortunate you were to have him as long as you did.

Those old 686s are fabulous guns. And if you get a good one (spotty QC) the new ones can be just as good.
 

Attachments

  • image.webp
    image.webp
    1.3 MB · Views: 3
Last edited:
Very sorry to hear! My father passed in 2008 and I know what you're dealing with. He too was an engineer, though for Boeing, and mostly worked on composite materials and adhesives. Nothing quite as interesting as Cold War military sensors.

Glad you're keeping that 686 in the family and in tip top shape.
 
I join those who have already expressed sympathies to you. I went through the same thing about 30 years ago when my father-in-law died in his farmhouse living room from colon cancer. Additionally, on June 16th, we had to put our 17-year-old dog to sleep due to cancer. It makes you wonder how such a disease can go unchecked given the advancements the world has made in medicine. My parents passed away in 1990 and 1995 so I've been there too.

But on to happier things, your new-to-you Model 686-3. I think that is the best generation of that model because it has a square butt and was the last generation to use them. I once traded a like-new 686-4 for a 686-3 just to get a square butt. I'm a sucker for nice wood and while laminated stocks can look nice, there's nothing like the wood on your gun. I have a collection of highly-figured checkered target stocks and rotate them around on my S&W revolvers like the one in my avatar photo.

Ed
 
Retired W4 said:
I'm so sorry for your loss.

Some Vietnam era sensors.
View attachment 792442View attachment 792443
Click to expand...

So, that's pretty much exactly what dad worked on. Audible sensors tuned to truck noise as well as ignition system detectors. He spent a considerable amount of time at Eglin on the test range. He didn't start talking about most of this until about 10 years ago.

Funny story: Magnavox had to get some new test samples down to Florida and they sent dad down. They told him to take mom and put the equipment in the trunk of his '65 Dodge Polara convertible. Dad was concerned that it would be a security issue. The response was, why would the Soviets think that "secret squirrel" stuff would be in a car driven by a man going on vacation with his wife? They did hand him a 1911 though....
 
I'm sorry about your father. Cancer is a cruel, vile enemy. It takes too many away from us.

A gun that he held, carried and used is a treasure. One Christmas I gave Dad a Model 70 Featherweight. He used it and I never thought about the day he wouldn't. On our last trip to the gun range, he shot it a bit and asked me to take it home and clean it. When I said I'd get it back to him shortly, he just said hang on to it for a while. It was his way of giving it back to me knowing he'd not need it again. I have some of Dad's and Mom's guns, and Grandpa's. They will never leave my custody while I'm here.

Your treasure will remind you of your Dad in ways you probably haven't yet experienced.
 
As another who lost his father due to cancer, allow me to pass along my sincere condolences as well. My father had a variety of firearms that I have, and they go to the range from time to time, and the memories that kicks off is great. That said, I also have a "church key" that he gave me towards the end, and for some reason, it means as much, if not more. I use it to crack open a cold beer "with him" from time to time.

Keep your memories and share those stories with your family. He stays alive through those tellings.
 
Thanks everyone. Your support really does help. Good people here.

Back to the revolver. I was testing trigger pull and hammer tension this evening. I was getting about a 2.5 lb single action and a touch over 7 lbs double. Smooth as silk, but my hammer pressure was only about 2.5 pounds. I suspected that the mainspring was not giving enough force to reliably set off primers. The whole Power Rib/tension screw issue. I had a bag of 30-06 I was decapping to wet tumble so I grabbed a spent primer. After removing the anvil and cleaning it up I popped it between the tension screw and the mainspring. DA is now 9.8lbs and hammer "pull" is now a little over 5lbs. Smith says a hammer of a 357 needs to be able to lift a 3l5lb weight without moving. I think I'm there. SA is now 2.8lbs.

I'm planning on taking it to the range this weekend as we are having some beautiful "early fall" weather. Fall was dad's favorite time of the year. Mine too. A relative has a "soup over the fire" cookout coming up that dad always loved to go to. It'll be a little different this year.
 
71vette said:
December 12th of 1992 my father bought a new Smith 686-3 6 inch. The revolver was on dad's hip quite a bit around the property.

Unfortunately my father passed on Tuesday evening. Cancer is an insidious disease. Watching someone I care about slowly die is one of the most difficult things I've ever had to deal with.

My mother gave me dad's revolver last evening. Still had the box, paperwork, and the receipt. Dad had kept it pretty clean but I don't think he'd done anything to it since the last time he'd fired it. I gave it a good once over last evening with a cloth and bore snake. I noticed the cylinder was dragging when I had it open. Honestly with all the lead rounds we ran through it in my "punk teenager" days, I'm not surprised.

Being that I couldn't sleep well this morning, I decided to brake it down and give it a proper cleaning. I'm pretty sure the side plate hadn't been off since the factory. I removed the crane and cylinder. I removed a decent amount of grime and oiled everything up nicely. The cylinder spins smoothly now, like it should. I remembered that I had a Wolff spring kit in the parts stash. It's now equipped with a "Power Rib" reduced power mainspring and a 14lb rebound. Everything looked really good on the inside. Surprisingly lacking in grime, and the side plate was very tight. All back together now. I'll probably Murphys and lemon oil the factory Targets this weekend. I've got to go to the funeral home later this morning.

I'll take and add some pictures this evening when there's better light and I've got more time.

ETA - quick pic added.
Click to expand...
Sorry for your loss, my Dad was my best friend, and we were always close - he didn't have many guns but he always encouraged my shooting and he was a fine shot with rifle and pistol.

I have his 1911a1 which I will cherish 'til the day I die, also his M1 Garand which we qualified for and bought from the DCM (not the CMP).

Riposte
 
Krogen said:
I'm sorry about your father. Cancer is a cruel, vile enemy. It takes too many away from us.

A gun that he held, carried and used is a treasure. One Christmas I gave Dad a Model 70 Featherweight. He used it and I never thought about the day he wouldn't. On our last trip to the gun range, he shot it a bit and asked me to take it home and clean it. When I said I'd get it back to him shortly, he just said hang on to it for a while. It was his way of giving it back to me knowing he'd not need it again. I have some of Dad's and Mom's guns, and Grandpa's. They will never leave my custody while I'm here.

Your treasure will remind you of your Dad in ways you probably haven't yet experienced.
Click to expand...
As I always say keep all of your guns in your families if possible. I have 6 grandsons aged from 18 to 17 months old. I'm 76 now and will never see the youngest grow up but I'll leave 8 revolvers 2 semiautos and at least 10 semiauto rifles and 1 shotgun. How they divide them will be a mess but at least they stay in their families. We had two daughters and only one granddaughter so they get my wife's jewelry. Also have about 300 knives to divide among them. My condolences for everyone's losses of loved ones. Thanks S&W forum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

CajunBass
I got a DENIED the other day...
2 3 4
Replies
101
Views
5K
1961MJS
1
chief38
The most rusted stainless steel gun I have ever seen in person - a PSA!
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
desi2358
D
Arkfarmer
Need help with 2 old family revolvers
Replies
11
Views
1K
Shibadog
S
S
I let one get away yesterday…
Replies
12
Views
962
Major 2
Major 2
chief38
So the tiny screw finally loosened on one of my revolvers - no biggie, overdue for a detailed strip/clean anyway
Replies
14
Views
985
schutz5
S

Latest posts

Back
Top