S&W 686 maintenance

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Dsiwy

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Hi guys,

I am fairly new to revolvers and Looking into buying a S&W 686, just wondering how often do you have to send them in for maintenance? I only plan to fire factory 357mag in it, so am thinking it should last at least 50k before something wears out? Is that unrealistic?
 
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I sold my "no dash" 686 a few years ago after about 15,000 rounds of .38 Spl and 1000 rounds of .357 Magnum and it was just starting to loosen up a bit in the cylinder lockup. If I was going to keep it I probably would have sent it in. I'm thinking it was the act of firing itself (i.e. the rotation of the cylinder) that caused the wear, so I don't know if more magnums in the mix would have accelerated this or not.
 
I'm not sure what "sending them in for maintenance" means but 50k rounds is a lot for any gun and if you are new to revolvers you'll soon realise how much slower you mow through the ammo compared to semi-auto. 50k through a revolver would take some doing! I have a 686 and it is pretty solid. I likely have 2000 + or so through it, not one concern so far. I reload and I can tell you that 38spl + p is a great load to run throught this gun and I just started loading 357 mag and with a sligthly lighter load than factory I like this round too. Revolvers are a tonne of fun. Enjoy.
 
This should give ya an idea. Its a 40 year old model 29 with over 75 000 rounds or something. Thats .44 mag.

[youtube]k70dXXzD4ng&list=UUvB3solmhqtgDeLpD-yTtfg[/youtube]
 
Assuming $25.00 per box of 50, at least, that would amount to $25000 spent on ammo. The revolver only cost a measly $1000 or so? Throw it away, get a new one.
 
When I first started metallic silhouette shooting I used a 686 no dash and between matches and practice would shoot around 180-200 rounds a week of full house .357 lead bullet reloads from may to September and then around 100 rounds a month in between seasons for around 4 years. Never had any need to send it in for maintenance or rebuilds. YMMV. 44Bore.
 
I'm at ~4000-5000 of .38 and .357 (Between a 60/40 and 50/50 mix of each) through my 686 that I bought used (Unknown round count before, but it had to be low due to the lack of 'ring's in the cylinder) and it's just starting to go out of time. There's some noticeable wear on the cylinder notches (which is apparently normal, but still strikes me as something that could be a problem in the long run). As well as wear on the extractor assembly where the hand engages the assembly and rotates the cylinder, which seems to be part of the problem for my timing issue. Everything is still tight and the cylinder lockup is (almost always) good, but timing issues are starting to crop up. A few weeks ago I had a nice copper shaving from a jacketed round stuck to the forcing cone on the barrel that gave me my first indication that something was amiss. When I compared it with my 617 I noticed the wear on the extractor assembly. Now I'm stuck debating whether to try my luck with a warranty claim/sending it in for service, or just replacing the part(s) myself (Currently out of stock, but listed for $34 on Brownells).
 
I'm partial to S&W revolvers and am interested in the "cycles to failure" under normal use. I understand that rapid cycling will prematurely pein the cylinder notches which cocks up alignment to the bore; heavy loads impose chronic stress/fatigue on the crane etc. but without repair, the actual working life of a revolver would be interesting to learn.
 
ryan said:
Assuming $25.00 per box of 50, at least, that would amount to $25000 spent on ammo. The revolver only cost a measly $1000 or so? Throw it away, get a new one.
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That's not really accurate ryan. In the video he says at least once that 99.9% of the time his ammo was his own handloads.

I suggest it's a very rare shooter indeed that builds any kind of shooting skills with a magnum handgun using store bought magnum factory ammunition.
 
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Brutus said:
That's not really accurate ryan. In the video he says at least once that 99.9% of the time his ammo was his own handloads.

I suggest it's a very rare shooter indeed that builds any kind of shooting skills with a magnum handgun using store bought magnum factory ammunition.
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And even if it was factory ammo at 25/box it would be 35k by my math. Reloading is the only way imo unless you only shoot 1 box a month kinda thing. I've shot over 1400 rounds of 500mag which would be $4900 in factory ammo (a thousand less if you sell the brass).

More fun math, 70k of factory 500mag would be $245,000! Nuts.
 
Well I think whats worrying me is the endless S&W QC threads and knock peeing issues with the 686s. Seems odd that lots of DA shooting would damage a revolver designed to shoot DA
 
In my experience, it is long and extended periods (months/years) of rapid dry firing in DA mode + speed load practice with hand loaded dummy rounds which causes the cylinder notches to peen over faster than normal and wears out the cylinder stop.
Both are not the end of the world as a cylinder stop is easy to fit and is also cheap, plus any peened cylinder notches can be rolled back over.
 
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Brutus said:
True, they exist. However this is options. How about an N frame in this cartridge?

The 627s look pretty darn good.
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They are awesome, I could shoot full .357 mag rounds double action and it felt like .38 special +P. I sold mine and regret it, have been looking for another ever since. DOH!

Plus the gold bead sight is so awesome, really stands out.
 
So shooting my 686 and my 617 in double action wears the revolvers more than if I shoot them in single action? Is that true?

Gilbert
 
Spawn-Inc said:
And even if it was factory ammo at 25/box it would be 35k by my math. Reloading is the only way imo unless you only shoot 1 box a month kinda thing. I've shot over 1400 rounds of 500mag which would be $4900 in factory ammo (a thousand less if you sell the brass).

More fun math, 70k of factory 500mag would be $245,000! Nuts.
Click to expand...

Your math is probably fine but it might be time to get your glasses changed. The OP posted "it should last at least 50k before something wears out".
 
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