A couple of years ago I owned a 5" 686+ (7-shot) that I bought used. It appeared to have low round count, but had a slight failure to carry up on two of the seven cylinders which I had fixed. The trigger was the typical Smith short stroke, but was mediocre for weight and smoothness. It was a sample of one gun, and was second hand so I'm not painting the model with a big brush, just my very limited experience. The fit and finish overall was quite nice, and I loved the proportions of the 5" barrel, but didn't love the gun enough to keep it. I think I paid $750, and sold it for $750 with a few bux lost on the tune up. I recently bought a brand new 4.2" stainless GP100 on sale from one of the vendors here for $649 plus one tax and shipping, about $705 to my door. I admit I have always liked the "you could club a zombie to death with this" look of the Rugers. The finishing on this gun was a bit rough all over with some sharp edges to be found. Also for some reason the trigger return spring was a bit rusty(?). With one of my wife's emery boards (please don't say anything) I cleaned up the sharp edges, and gave the gun an initial clean polish with some Flitz, and it looks and feels good. The trigger as stock was quite heavy, but reasonably smooth. I bought a Wolff reduced power spring pack for about $12 and installed the 10# hammer spring and 10# return. Reliability was 100% with CCI primers. Lighter springs made the pull feel a bit gritty. Following some online tutorials I gave the trigger a very decent (IMO) home trigger job, without touching the sear(s). I went another step with the springs to the lightest hammer and return springs and thus far reliability is perfect with CCI primers and the trigger feels very good to me, quite light and very smooth (don't own a pull gauge sorry). The reset is a little soft but it doesn't bother me. Compared to a Smith the pull is very long though, and if you are used to a Smith revolver I think that would take some getting used to. I agree with other posters that the price difference between the two revolvers would quickly fade from sight, but still it's between $2-300 from what I've seen. Resale I think is a wash because proportionally I feel the two guns sell at similar reductions from new price. I don't know anything about the home gunsmithing potential on the Smith revolvers if you get one you'd like to tune a bit, but the Rugers (at least my example) are simple and inexpensive to get to a very good state. My .02...
Comparing S&W 686 to GP100 help
- Thread starter Troy1760
- Start date
Thanks for the review on the Ruger.
I like the looks of the Match Champion (if not the billboard marking of same on the barrel). I might have to keep eyes open for a deal on one. I bought a used Blackhawk convertible in the meantime and its a good little gun with a far better trigger than I thought one could have with a transfer bar system.
I like the looks of the Match Champion (if not the billboard marking of same on the barrel). I might have to keep eyes open for a deal on one. I bought a used Blackhawk convertible in the meantime and its a good little gun with a far better trigger than I thought one could have with a transfer bar system.
