Smith and Wesson L frame?

Farlsincharge

Farlsincharge

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Okay, a little background first. When I was a kid my dad had a S&W .357 magnum. It was a beautiful gun and I was rarely allowed to see it. When the firearms laws tightened my dad decided it was too much hassle and he sold most of his collection off.

Fast forward some years and I would like to have the same revolver basically out of nostalgia. Unfortunantly my dad does not remember the model of this pistol (I know, I can't believe it either). He does however remember that it was an L frame.

My question is this. How many L frames were there and is there any place to get some information and possibly pictures. All I can find are popular L models and I am leaning towards the 586 and I am pretty sure that is what it was.

Can anybody help me out on this? Also keep in mind that my dad was very frugal (cheap) and also that he bought it new so I am imagining that it was a cheaper model available in the early 80's


Thanks guys
 
I'll be checking into this thread as people contribute to it, since I'd like to know as well.

As far as I know (and that isn't much), the L frame revolver was introduced as an alternative to K and N frame .357Mag revolvers, more resilient than the former, less bulky than the latter.

I thought only the 586 and 686 were built on the L frame, but according to Wikipedia, there were also the model 619 and 620 built on that frame, both 7-shot .357 revolvers. Both of these are probably SS, so if your dad's wheelgun was blue, I'm pretty sure it had to be a 586.
 
The L Frame was introduced in the '80's because the K Frame was shooting out too quickly when used with .357's full time.The .357 L frame models were the 581, 586, 681 and 686. The models ending in '1' are fixed sight, the '6's are adjustable. The initial number indicates the metal used '5' is blued steel and the '6' is stainless. Being a stick in the mud I refuse to believe that anyone would attempt to do anything as dumb as making a seven shot revolver. It's hard to overstate how good these revolvers are, rugged, reliable and capable of incredible accuracy and at the same time very affordable. One of the all time best buys in a firearm.
 
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Model 619 and Model 620 came out in the 21st century. The only L-frames available in prior to that were the 586 and 686. If your dad's revolver was blued, it was a 586. If it was stainless steel, it was a 686. As others pointed out, the 581/681 was a fixed sights version of the 586/686.
 
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Here's a picture of my mid-eighties 686. If your father's was a six inch Model 586 it probably looked like a blued version of this.
686lb.jpg
 
L frames came about because Police Departments in North America were finding that K frame S&W revolvers did not stand up to full strength 125 gr magnum loads very well. The N frame is too large for some people, so they wanted a revolver that was as strong (and shaped like, marketing plays in here as well) as the Python, but still retained the K frame butt size, so that various sized police officers could handle it well (remember, this is before all the Police Departments decided they were going into combat and need 15-17-19 shots to stop a suspect). They were quite successful, the L frame became a very popular revolver. If your father bought in the 80s, and was as frugal as you mentioned, then it was likely a 581 or 586. They have been available with 2.5", 3", 4", 5", 6", 8" and 10" barrels at various times and from various sources, however, 4" and 6" were the most common. FWIW - dan
 
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