New Gun Day: 686 SSR

[2lmaker]

My first big caliber revolver was a stainless Ruger police service six, and since I sold it some 25 years back the hole where a 4" stainless revolver should be has gone unfilled.
Until now.
This SSR is my first L frame, my first with the lock, heck, my first NEW handgun in a very long while (model 19 back in '92 I think).
Impressions:
1) What a great lock up, this thing is timed perfectly and is close to my old colts for being a solid cylinder at trigger break.
2)Is that really a forged hammer and trigger? Smith doesn't advertise it as so and it looks cast to me, I thouight I read reviews that said I was getting the best they still made......Anyone? I am betting that there was a change in spec.
3)The cylinder openings are chamfered allright, but either not with my ejector in place or mine was changed during assembly for some reason. The star is untouched. I can fix that myself.
4) The gap is at .004 all around, pretty happy with that.
5)The wooden grips are great looking but I don't like the high hold or the slipperiness, my carry K frames have pachmayr compacs and this one is getting some soon. Might have to see about cutting in some grooves on that strap.
6)Accuracy is pretty darn good, I will know more after I shoot it off a rest but I was able to put 3 cylinders of 158 grain handloads into a 6 inch square at 15 yards, more highs and lows than side to side, pretty typical for me with double action standing up.
7)Now the hunt for a good holster. Fobus is on the way for IDPA, an uncle mikes slide that fits a K frame holds it well and a triple K shoulder rig I had sitting around is just about perfect. It was loose on my K's so I carry them in a Bianchi rig, it was just waiting for a gun that fit I guess. There doesn't seem to be alot of choices for L framed 4 inch IWB, why the manufacturers think a 4" is harder to IWB than a 2" is beyond me, and the small difference between a K and an L IWB is probably made up by skipping the beer and going to a gym a few times.
8) I have to rant about that cylinder release just a little....If it was good enough on the target masterpices way back in the day, did they really think a change was necessary? NOS release on the way, ebay 20 bucks.
9) I was really hoping I would get a new sight adjustment tool like they used to ship. If anyone wants to trade the bicycle lock and wind up keys I got instead for one I would be happy to.

Happy buyer, I would recommend this gun.

 

[Bill In Texas]

Congratulations!

 

[75Vette]

Congrats and good write up. The only thing missing is a pic or two of the gun.

 

[gnystrom]

Nice choice. I have had one for years and like you, I found the gun to be great but the factory wood grips not so much. Mine came with a second set of rubber grips that improved the shootability of that gun immensely.

 

[Oaky]

Congrats!!!! What about de pics?

 

[kaaskop49]

My 686SSR is perhaps my finest revolver. I also changed out the grips for Pachs. You may want to ascertain that the mainspring screw is tight. Although several posters told me I was mistaken, that screw on my SSR would work loose, causing light hits and FTFs. A dab of the proper color Loc-tite by my gunsmith fixed that issue.

While I understand that this gun is set up for a certain type of match, I find it to be a great all-around revolver with tremendous pride of ownership. The vaguely equivalent Ruger Match Champion is a pale equivalent of the SSR, despite it's great press. Ask me how I know. Enjoy your new gun!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[Nightowl]

Beveling the extractor prongs will increase the possibility of an empty case slipping under it during extraction. The empty case is a pain to remove at that point. I have a couple of 627s that have the extractor beveled from the factory and they seem to work fine, though. But I extract with the gun facing straight up, which helps keep empties from slipping off of the extractor.

 

[jmr986]

Congrats! The SSR was also my reentry in to the gun hobby. I also found the grips nice looking but slippery just put the rubber grips on it. The wood also had a bit of a bite on the thumb webbing.

 

[2lmaker]

here is a picture with my favorite but very simple mods, Pachmayr compac shortened just a bit to expose some hard surface on the butt, black front site and a thumb latch more like what I have used a million times and not a new style that I find frustrating. If it was going to be daily carry it would get a solid rear site replacement. Still very happy with this gun, happier now that it feels right in my hands and looks right to my eye.

 

[sdb321]

Good choice and congrats. I bought one in January. I put a set of Ahrends on it and when my 640 pro comes back I'm going to send the SSR to have a action job done on it.

 

[2lmaker]

2000 rounds and counting, just shot a cylinder full into 1.5 inches, most touching, off a rest at 10 yards. That was just to be sure I had it sited in right, I was practicing double action draw and fire for IDPA and everything was sliding off the plate to the right......as usual it was me and not the gun.

I tore this gun down the other day and couldn't get a fine arkansas stone to bite in on any real trouble maker high spots inside at all, very smooth and slick all over. the cylinder gap remains at .004 and it has performed flawlessly. I could probably get a better pull by lightening some springs, but again, the gun is doing fine, if I want a better pull I need to practice mine with another 2000 rounds.

besides the grip mods and the swap to an old style ejector button, brushing out the bores and puting some silicone inside has been the total attention this gun has needed.

 

[2lmaker]

OP here

Several thousand rounds through this gun now and I am experiencing some issues.
At about 5000 rounds it started to occasionally give me a dead pull, where the trigger would come back to what felt like a hard stop and not break the sear. Unfortunately, it happened during competition and I just pulled again and got another round to fire immediately after the failure. It was never really diagnosed but after a few incidences of this I tore the gun down again and looked it all over good, no indications of trouble and timing is still good, there is enough overtravel to allow some filth without FTF so i never really figured out why it happened.
My ancient gun case was suffering foam degredation so I blame it on particles of foam rubber getting in the works (?). A good cleaning and a new bag and no more hard triggers.
I am also getting FTF by way of light hits now, and am looking at the wolf mainspring as the culprit. I have ordered a new stock set of springs for it from wolf and hope to eliminate the soft hammer. I know I could go to a specialized round with the federal primers for competition but I want reliability because I may carry this one for defense sometimes and I don't carry reloads for legal reasons.
Although this gun carries the name "stock", it is a bit of a race gun after all. If you buy one you can probably expect it to be a little finicky but hopefully happy with whatever you feed it. Like anything else, it was probably operator error, I should have cleaned it more regularly and when I read that I was getting a reduced pull mainspring I should have expected a reduced strike hammer to go with it. You don't get something for nothing and a few FTF's are the price I paid.

 

[kaaskop49]

attn 2lmaker

Check to see that the strain screw is tight. that on my SSR backed out 2x until my 'smith Loc-tited it in place. The FTFs and light hits stopped immediately.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[2lmaker]

thanks, I did that myself although I never found it loose once. Again it could be a build up of crud somewhere in the "power train" between the hammer and the primer. I want total reliability and have never had a problem with any of my older pin nosed hammer k frames running stock springs. This is my first lock gun, my first L frame and my only centerfire smith with a transfer pin in the frame. I do have an old 5 screw pre model 17 that uses a transfer pin and it used to misfire on occasion until I cleaned it out in there and lubed it with fresh (this century) oil. If the stock spring isn't the fix, that transfer pin may be.

edit- I do have a J frame with a transfer pin that has never needed anything and has fired everything, but thats a different circus with different monkeys.

 

[kaaskop49]

attn 2lmaker

Several thousand rounds... I'd have a 'smith inspect and service it for your peace of mind, and the gun's! It's a very fine revolver that has served you well. Please let us know what the verdict is.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[2lmaker]

I put in the wolf "stock" spring today and it is definitely a harder pull but I can't back that up with numbers yet, forgot to bring home my scale from work. I was supposed to compete today but an inch of rain and a wife that wanted to go shopping convinced me to skip the shoot.
I will post the comparison between what wolf calls a stock (although it is bossed) main and other K's I have owned for years without a single FTF among them, when i have my scale at home instead of sitting in my work tool box (forehead slap).

 

[2lmaker]

OP here,
I shot 200 rounds with it today and all is good again, no FTF. The "stock" wolf spring is bossed just like the "stock" SSR spring but side by side they are noticeably different, the Smith and Wesson SSR spring that came with it being kind of "pre-bowed" in comparison to the straighter wolf stocker. With the new mainspring in place I am getting a 12 lb. pull. That is more or less equal to several other K frames including 2 model 19's, a pre 14 and a pre 17. The pre 14 masterpiece pulls at about 11 lb. and one of the 19's pulls at a high 12 but it has a target trigger and feels lighter.

Oh my god, I have created a stock service revolver! No more fancy light trigger pulls and the accompanying light hammer strikes!

I have to admit something a bit strange here, I like the SSR with a harder pull BETTER now than I did before. Muscle memory? I don't know, I was doing fine with just about any of my K frames any day I took them out and then I went fancy with the PRO SERIES L frame and everything started to go kerblooey. With the higher pull weight I am hitting targets just fine and my confidence in the gun is just that much better, far less to think about when I should be thinking only about "take up, front sight, hold it, squeeze".

This is probably my last post in this thread. In summary, this is a fine gun that I would buy again. In fact, if I ever see a used one I would be very tempted to have a back up for matches. It gets a lot of attention from the 9mm guys at the IDPA competitions, especially when it is barking out .357 158 grain lead at high power factor loadings. It is well made, in and out, and the one thing that I HAD to do to keep it reliable was easy and inexpensive. It is accurate enough to be pretty sure that if I miss it is because I missed. With the grips I like and the red ramp front sight blacked out with a felt pen, the mainspring replaced with a "stock" spring and the cylinder release replaced with one from the old school, I am a happy owner. After 5000+ plus rounds, total maintenance and upgrade cost is 62 bucks. The next 5000 will be more fun and less expensive. Not bad.