Smith 686 barrel bulge
- Thread starter TTB4570
- Start date
Why would you think that, as long as you don't change the class of gun, ie cutting to 3 or 4 inch , it is not a problem.
The cert. should be changed, but you have 30 days to do that.
Guntech makes a good point about the counter bore, you could even get silly and port it at the same time.
A 686 barrel will not " blow up" with a little bulge at the outer end .
If you had a problem with the cylinder or timing, that is a different matter.
Had one that the follow double charged a 357mag load and blew the cylinder out, stretched the top strap, , but the barrel was still fine,
forcing cone still good and that would be the first thing that would go with a overcharge, after the cylinder, which is the weakest spot in a revolver.
I shoot a 357m all the time , but use light 38 sp loads as I have lots of 38's and its easier on me and cheaper. usally with a 4 in S-W
Yeah, I do load but last squib I had was during load development for vectan a1, that got stuck right at the forcing cone and was tapped out immediately. before that according my notes, was an h110 load that didn’t ignite properly and was also stuck at the forcing cone about a year and a half ago.
Also worth noting I bought this used sometime around 2020.
Thanks for the advice- I’m waiting for my preferred gunsmith in BC to clear his backlog and will probably go this route at some point. Got a ton of milsurp rifles with a counterbore and hadn’t even considered that a pistol could have that done.
As much nonsense it may sound, There is a huge difference from legal prospective if you cut existing barrel below 18” or refit with another barrel below 18”. In former case you ended up with prohib device no matter what. In latter case you need to update registration with different length if it remains of restricted length. That is - cut the barrel from 6” to 5” is Nono. Unscrew 6” and put 5” is ok.
Strange that guntech with claimed 53 years of experience did not explain that. No any reputable gunsmith will cutoff restricted barrels further down. Only replace them with another one.
I also did not believe it until my gunsmith explained it. NFA site has an article on that too.
Buy a new barrel from Numrich whatever size you like and move on.
Hope it helps.
I personally havent ever experienced a "squib"
I've loaded a lot of pistol rounds... havent ever had one fail to go bang with authority...even a 2.7gr bullseye 148gr WC 38spl has "authority". My understanding is a squib is a pop and not a bang. If I ever experienced a 'pop' and not a 'bang', I'd stop and evaluate.
Is it actually possible to have an authoritative bang AND stick the bullet?
I've loaded a lot of pistol rounds... havent ever had one fail to go bang with authority...even a 2.7gr bullseye 148gr WC 38spl has "authority". My understanding is a squib is a pop and not a bang. If I ever experienced a 'pop' and not a 'bang', I'd stop and evaluate.
Is it actually possible to have an authoritative bang AND stick the bullet?
Authoritative? Probably not, depending on your definition. Usually a squib happens because there's no powder, very very very little powder, or powder that, for one reason or another, doesn't ignite properly. Length of barrel comes into play, but for pistols this usually isn't a major factor. A poof is probably how I would describe the loudest squib, lol. I've loaded as little as 1.5gr of medium-fast powder just to see if I could get the bullet stuck in a semi-automatic pistol, but it was still able to clear the barrel. I can't cover every possible scenario, but that about sums it up.
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Normally, an overpressure load will result in case failure, primer flattening, excessive recoil, or even catastrophic failure at the weakest point—usually the cylinder in a revolver like the 686. However, in rare cases, it could cause a bulge in the barrel, but only under specific conditions.
For a barrel bulge to occur without an obstruction, the pressure spike from an overcharged round would have to be extreme, and even then, it’s more likely to cause cracking or catastrophic rupture rather than a smooth bulge. The reason bulging happens with an obstruction is that the gas behind the bullet rapidly compresses as it slams into the blockage, creating a localized pressure spike that expands the steel outward.
That kind of localized pressure buildup is much harder to achieve with just an overcharged round because the expanding gases have an open path forward. Instead of getting trapped, the excess pressure typically results in cylinder damage, blown primers, or excessive forcing cone wear rather than a barrel bulge.
If a bulge is found near the muzzle, an unnoticed squib or some sort of bore obstruction is almost always the culprit. Even something as seemingly harmless as oil or cleaning solvent in the barrel can cause minor pressure irregularities, but a full-blown bulge strongly suggests a solid obstruction at some point in time.
So, while a massively overcharged round could hypothetically contribute to a bulge under the right (or rather, wrong) conditions, it’s far more common for an obstruction to be the real cause.
Would be interesting to hear what a smith finds when they inspect the barrel
I have done a lot of load development for PPC, light 38sp target loads. I did ring a barrel early on - found out Titegroup and Fiochi primers on a cold day was not a good combination. I found with the long contact surface of 148gr HBWC's, I still grouped ~5" at 50m using my ransom rest. Doing load development with short 100gr SWC's though was like a shutgun & open choke. I was grouping 12-16" with the occasional flyer off paper. I had that gun rebarreled, and with the right load, it's now grouping ~2-3" at 50m using my ransom rest. I did shoot that ring'd barrel for 3-4 years with medium load 148gr HBWC's though.
Yes.
A few years back the powder checker on my Dillon 650 came loose and I ended up loading 4 squib loads in one loading session. The first one showed up at a club IPSC match and the gun (Grand Power 9mm) stopped shooting. It turned out that it was a squib load that fired the primer, sent the bullet out into the chamber, but not far enough to clear the chamber. I tried loading a second round and it would not feed due to the stuck round. Thank God! I did not notice any difference in the sound of the shot and the RO said the same. He is a man with a lot of shooting experience, so it wasn't just me.
I keep a record of all my reloads and 3 more squibs showed up, thankfully, it was a small batch. I segregated that batch and used the rounds for practice only. Not one of the squib loads sounded any different from a fully charged round. It scared the hell out of me and I have been more careful since.
I find this hard to believe. Could you possibly have had a different kind of issue that was causing the problem? What was the load? Upon investigation, how much powder was actually in the cases of those faulty loads?
If shooters couldn't audibly hear squibs loads guns would be exploding all over the place! lol.
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S&W use barrel liners on some of thier models 686 Competior and 627 8 shot are two of them. I have those models and they group well. I have friend that just bought a Model 19 that was squibbed he had the barrel drilled and installed a liner. Easy lath work for a skilled gunsmith not to pricey and you keep the gun original. No refinishing and if done properly will shoot great groups.
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Believe what you like. I have no idea if there was any powder in the cases, or just a little. I suspect no powder. The primer had just enough power to push the bullet out of the casing and prevent the next round from chambering. If the bullet had gone farther down the barrel bad things would have happened.
Then how did you "not notice any difference in the sound"? Cases loaded without powder don't sound normal, period. What you're saying doesn't make any sense. I believe your primer only round caused a squib. What I don't believe is that it wouldn't have been audibly noticeable to any shooter, especially "a man with a lot of shooting experience".
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KotKotofeich
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Handguns are absolutely ok to cut the barrel on. Just stay 4 1/4 or above to not go into prohibited category. It's only shotguns and rifles that go prohibited if you cut the barrel under 18".
Can even do it for a prohibited. I did that a few times, just can't go from restricted to prohibited length as they can't add a 12.6 designation any more...
Front sight can just be soldered into a slot in the rib. Mind the engraving - if cutting too far something will need to be done there.
Barrel can be replaced too or counterbored.
Here's a Fitz-like setup I did... Was a prohibited gun to begin with though, certificate was updated with the new barrel length.
Can even do it for a prohibited. I did that a few times, just can't go from restricted to prohibited length as they can't add a 12.6 designation any more...
Front sight can just be soldered into a slot in the rib. Mind the engraving - if cutting too far something will need to be done there.
Barrel can be replaced too or counterbored.
Here's a Fitz-like setup I did... Was a prohibited gun to begin with though, certificate was updated with the new barrel length.
