Questionable quality in my opinion. .

W

WithoutWarning

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After seing a picture or two of the S&W 686 plus with 5" barrel and
unfluted cylinder, I had to have one. It's my first revolver, but damn
I couldn't pass one of these by.

So I received it a couple days ago and noticed a few things;
If you look directly down the barrel from the muzzle end and the
cylinder open for light, I can clearly see that the rifling is grooved/cut
deeper on the top of the barrel than on the bottom. Not that the
location matters but the grooves aren't cut even, is the point I'm
wanting to make here. I never noticed this on ANY of my other guns.
Am I concerned about nothing here. . . ?

The other thing I discovered is that the little 'locking' bar/pin on
the bottom of the frame above the trigger which fits into the locking
notches on the cylinder, doesn't do that properly. The mechanism's
will index the cylinder fine, but stop ever so shy of that pin jumping into
place. A little rotational 'tweak' and you can hear and see, the pin engage.
I know this isn't normal and maybe it's just something that needs
breaking in, I don't know. But I shouln't think so ?

And the rear site came broken, but that is minor and isn't a fault of
S&W.

Would appreciate any feedback from those Smith lovers out there,
and anyone that may shed some light. Thx.
 
I'm the farthest thing from an expert, but I can tell you that mine cycles perfectly. The pin engages with a very satisfactory "click" right before the hammer drops...

And I can't say about the rifling. In a certain angle, it seemed some were deeper than others, but not always... Nothing that would have me worried.
 
Did you pick it up, or was it shipped to you? Can you take it back to the dealer and have him take a look?

If you can't, I'd try calling the dealer and seeing what his reaction is to your observations. If it doesn't sound like he's going to go to bat for you, try calling S&W directly.

It does sound like you have some quality issues with that piece. I would definitely characterize what you describe as "defects in materials or workmanship". They should either replace it, or make it right.
 
I bought one of these from TSE a few months back, and its top quality.

You can't get a good look at the lands & grooves without a borescope/endoscope. But if you feel its a problem, take it back/to a gunsmith.

I know that the "pin" on mine did take a bit to break in. I never had a big problem CLOSING mine... But quite a few times I had to give it a good push to OPEN. But that resolved itself after ~200 rounds and a good cleaning.

There's no excuse for a broken sight.


Bottom line is you feel like there's an issue, don't hesitate to contact the dealer and see what they say. Good luck, and don't let it get to you. It's an amazing firearm. :D
 
sogetthis said:
Bottom line is you feel like there's an issue, don't hesitate to contact the dealer and see what they say. Good luck, and don't let it get to you. It's an amazing firearm. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I spoke with the dealer and they are diligently finding
me a new sight, they were very good about it.

I agree with needing a borescope/microscope to truely view
the rifling accurately, but the reason I come up with my
concern is that it looked a little bit off at first. Then I felt
the gooves with a dentist pick and you could tell that some of
them were cut deeper than others.
I mean, the pick 'jumped' over some and kinda just 'smoothed'
over the others if you get what I mean.
Not a sure fire way of telling I know, but does cause one
to wonder.

Does anyone know how to contact S&W directly or maybe a
dealer here in Can. that supports their products ?
 
Official factory service in my own backyard:

WORTNER GUN WORKS INC. 433 QUEEN STREET BOX 411 CHATHAM ONTARIO, CANADA N7M 5K5
Phone: 519-352-0924
 
Actually I find that the 686 is an impecible revolver and very well made. Fit and finish is usually 100%. I guess it is possible that a slight imperfection fell though the cracks. But a broken rear sight? Are you sure you didn't drop it when you pulled it out of the box?
 
Jon_M said:
Actually I find that the 686 is an impecible revolver and very well made. Fit and finish is usually 100%. I guess it is possible that a slight imperfection fell though the cracks. But a broken rear sight? Are you sure you didn't drop it when you pulled it out of the box?
Click to expand...

Yes I agree! Every 686 I've held in the past has been an
impecible revolver. Thats why I was surprised to find these
lil glitches.
Haha yeah. Now that I think about it, I probably droped it
about 8 or 9 times. Maybe that explains the bent barrel,
but that should straight'n out over time. . . . .

Thx. for the reply's guys. I de-burred the sharp edges of the
locking notches on the cylinder and that helped a wee bit.
If I #### the hammer to fire single action it engages every time,
however if I pull the trigger in a controlled manner to fire double
action, the pin only engages maybe 5 out of the 7. I have a feeling
this will work in the I use it. But the rifling still bugs me.
 
We have seen a couple lemon S&Ws pop up recently. We received excellent service from MD Charlton in resolving the problems. Murray actually did some free custom work for one of my customers.
 
WithoutWarning said:
But the rifling still bugs me.
Click to expand...

I have heard of a process called "gain-twisting" and I do know that SW uses this type of rifling in SOME of their revolvers.

Apparently, to the Layman - I.E. ME - the rifling twist rate slowly gets faster as it nears the end of the barrel. Not sure if this is part of the reason why your rifling looks off, but it would be my best guess.
 
WithoutWarning said:
After seing a picture or two of the S&W 686 plus with 5" barrel and
unfluted cylinder, I had to have one. It's my first revolver, but damn
I couldn't pass one of these by.

So I received it a couple days ago and noticed a few things;
If you look directly down the barrel from the muzzle end and the
cylinder open for light, I can clearly see that the rifling is grooved/cut
deeper on the top of the barrel than on the bottom. Not that the
location matters but the grooves aren't cut even, is the point I'm
wanting to make here. I never noticed this on ANY of my other guns.
Am I concerned about nothing here. . . ?

The other thing I discovered is that the little 'locking' bar/pin on
the bottom of the frame above the trigger which fits into the locking
notches on the cylinder, doesn't do that properly. The mechanism's
will index the cylinder fine, but stop ever so shy of that pin jumping into
place. A little rotational 'tweak' and you can hear and see, the pin engage.
I know this isn't normal and maybe it's just something that needs
breaking in, I don't know. But I shouln't think so ?

And the rear site came broken, but that is minor and isn't a fault of
S&W.

Would appreciate any feedback from those Smith lovers out there,
and anyone that may shed some light. Thx.
Click to expand...
From my experience, the S&W quality is not always perfect. My brand new 686 also had a couple o defects right out of the box (angled front sight, hammer touching the frame). It is actually being repaired by Wortner right now.

Your second problem sounds like a timing issue and that can be fixed. The first issue may or may not be a problem depending on whether S&W determines the barrel to be within specs. I've seen lots of guns with uneven rifling (i.e. Kimber, Colt), so that's not exactly unusual. Fortunately, S&W has lifetime warranty and two repair facilities in Canada, both of them quite good in my understanding, so I would recommend sending your gun in for repairs. That is, of course, if you can't simply return it for a refund/exchange to the place where you got it from.
 
How would one determine if the uneven rifling is an issue without actually sending it in? Would it be obvious right away because less accurate...?
 
Cerdan said:
How would one determine if the uneven rifling is an issue without actually sending it in? Would it be obvious right away because less accurate...?
Click to expand...

If I'm understanding you correctly the bore diameter is not concentric with the groove diameter, in other words the goove centerline is not located on the bore centerline. if this is the case I believe that this is a manufacturing defect most likely caused by a bad set-up or in otherworlds alignment of the barrel prior to machining/broaching the grooves.

I would imagine that the accuracy would be effected greatly, it may also take more pressure to push the bullet through the barrel for the first rotation, then on the second rotation the seal between the bullet and barrel would be lost as the deepest groove impression in the bullet pass over the shallow side of the barrel in rotation.

I don’t know If I have explained this clearly enough but in order to understand you must imagine in your minds eye what the projectile will be subject to as it passes through a barrel that literally has 2 offset diameters.

If this is the condition you are describing I'd definitely send it back.
 
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