[SpecialEd]

Does anyone have any feedback or recommendations on the S&W 686 (6-shot) vs. the 686P (7-shot)?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Charlie Petty]

Is there a question in there somewhere? Does one more round solve any problems?

I don't think there is a mechanical difference, but I suspect you'll pay for that extra hole...

 

[SpecialEd]

Is there a question in there somewhere? Does one more round solve any problems?

I don't think there is a mechanical difference, but I suspect you'll pay for that extra hole...

I guess what I was asking was is there a strength issue with that extra hole?

Ed

 

[Charlie Petty]

Not really. I don't think it would be a good tool to try to outdo Elmoer Keith, but there's plenty there for normal ammo.

 

[SpecialEd]

Believe me I have no intention of outdoing Elmer! I've been shooting nothing but .22 and 9mm and I want to work my way up to .357. Besides the .357 is just to practical and versatile not to have one. What with the range of loads it offers. It would be my first revolver too.

Thanks for the input,

Ed

 

[csmkersh]

Well, Charlie, if he's planning on out-doing Elmer, maybe he ought to try and find a cylinder that only holds five beans to the wheel. The extra metal is why Elmer switched to .44 Specials after blowing up a number of .45 Colt SAAs.

 

[JRWnTN]

Does it make any practical difference that the cut in the cylinder for the cylinder stop is between the chambers on the 7-shot, rather than into the chamber wall on the 6-shot?

 

[Tim Burke]

I'd think it would be stronger, but if it makes a practical difference, I'd think you are loading your ammo hotter than I'd like.

 

[SpecialEd]

I'm just looking for a nice .357. I have no intentions of pushing the envelope either. Actually I will probably be looking at used models so the 686 model would be less likely.

Don't want to start a war but what do you guys think of Taurus revolvers?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[csmkersh]

Ed, since you're just looking for a nice .357 and considering a used one, shop for either a M19 or M13 S&W. I no longer have my 2½ or 4 inch M19s but they were nice and the adjustable sight is a plus.

 

[SpecialEd]

Ed, since you're just looking for a nice .357 and considering a used one, shop for either a M19 or M13 S&W. I no longer have my 2½ or 4 inch M19s but they were nice and the adjustable sight is a plus.

Thanks Sam, a 4" barrel is what I had in mind. Too bad the days of police trade ins for revolvers are long gone.

Ed

 

[Charlie Petty]

Actually there are two very good points here and now that we know more about what you want this may help...

The location of the stop notch can be an issue and on a 6 shot S&W it is the thinnest part and where a failure would initiate if a real overload hit it.

For a "first" revolver that extra shot is irrelevant but I am not a big fan of shooting very many full charge magnum loads in a K frame- such as the Model 19.

To me the "L" frame is a great compromise for it will take all the magnum loads you're likely to want to shoot and is only slightly heavier. Take a look at a Model 686. I used two of them in PPC for years and they are nicely accurate and fun to shoot with .38s.

 

[JRWnTN]

I am not a big fan of shooting very many full charge magnum loads in a K frame- such as the Model 19.

I've read articles that claim the 125gr .357 Magnum loads are harder on the K-frame revolvers that factory loads using heavier bullets. Is there any difference?

 

[Dean Speir]

I've read articles that claim the 125gr .357 Magnum loads are harder on the K-frame revolvers that factory loads using heavier bullets. Is there any difference?

Not sure quite what you're asking here, but if you want to know if 125-grain .357 Magnum factory loads are harder on K-frame S&Ws chambered in .357 Magnum, than, arguendo, 158-grain .357 Magnum factory loads, if you "do the numbers," ME is derived by a math formula which favors velocity (since it is squared) over mass (the projectile's actual weight)… and that may be deceiving.

For my part, the only K-frame I've ever admired… and this is more a fact of my relative late introduction to S&W wheelguns (we were first and foremost a Colt family)… was the 3-inch Model 65. I'm an L-frame kinda guy, and a proud possessor for the past 22 years of a 6-inch L-frame through which I've fired some of the most horrendous factory loads, the ne plus ultra of which would be the IMI (Samson) 170-grain SJHP whick positively destroys bowling pins to the extent that I've been told to not use those for pin matches by two different Match Directors.

That Model 686 has stood up to everything I've fed it very most admirably, even those IMI loads, two cylinders of which shot the L-frame right out of it's brand-new Hogue Monogrips (causing Aaron Hogue to re-engineer the mounting "saddle") and sheered the (brand-new) Jarvis underlug's two mounting screws, causing Mr. Jarvis to go to a heavier screw!

(That was quite an afternoon... six rounds, a fast reload, another six rounds, and there I was, my lower lip quivering like a kid who'd just lost the top of his chocolate fudge ice cream cone in the sand, the L-frame pivoted out of the Monogips and the underlug hanging off the end of the barrel.)

I've never quite seen the requirement for a seven-shot revolver, although Taurus seems to have been in some sort of bragging rights capacity competition with S&W on this issue, and a little-known recent Val Kilmer/Vincent D'Onferio flick made the seven rounds a subtle plot point that not one viewer in a thousand would have picked up on… I may have been one of three in the universe since very few movie goers ever even saw The Salton Sea.

 

[csmkersh]

Not sure quite what you're asking here, but if you want to know if 125-grain .357 Magnum factory loads are harder on K-frame S&Ws chambered in .357 Magnum, than, arguendo, 158-grain .357 Magnum factory loads,

I'm going to hazzard a guess that JR was talking about the pssibility of the top strap being eroded by the gases and the gun shooting loose.

And Dean reminded me about the 3" Lady Smiths with round butts. I like that one also, but here again, it's a K-frame and may not take a steady diet of 158 grain full house stuff, but I never fed mine that way anyway.

 

[SpecialEd]

Ruger & Tarus

I'm going to look at the GP-100's and the Tarus line too but what will probably happen is that I will snatch-up the best used deal that comes my way.

Ed

 

[SpecialEd]

Ruger & Tarus

I'm going to look at the GP-100's and the Tarus line too but what will probably happen is that I will snatch-up the best used deal that comes my way.

Ed

 

[Tim Burke]

a little-known recent Val Kilmer/Vincent D'Onferio flick made the seven rounds a subtle plot point that not one viewer in a thousand would have picked up on… I may have been one of three in the universe since very few movie goers ever even saw The Salton Sea.

Could very well have been, as I've never even heard of the film... although I can count to 6.
One of the teen slasher movies was on cable a year or so ago and I caught the climactic scene while channel surfing. I think it was Scream XXXIV. The heroine had a J-frame, a Centennial, IIRC. The boogey man comes out, and she pops him...bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. "Wow," I think, "the prop guy knows his guns." She stands there for a couple minutes talking to the people she's just saved, when, of course, the boogey man gets up again. So she shoots him again. :roll: Oh, well.
Must've been a 32.

 

[JRWnTN]

The problem I've read about is that Magnum loads in a K-Frame may crack the forcing cone, the bottom of which is reduced in thickness to allow the crane to clear.

A gunsmith pointed out to me the difference between the forcing cones in K- and L-Frame revolvers, that latter is full diameter. I'd owned, shot and cleaned both, but never noticed the difference before.

What I was getting at was whether the higher speed 125gr bullet is more damaging to the forcing cone than a slightly slower, but heavier, 158gr bullet.

 

[Charlie Petty]

While that is a theoretical thing it doesn't really happen often. The real problem is that they get out of time easily- which could hurt the forcing cone and are generally less durable. A S&W guy once told me that you should have the timing checked regularly (once a year) in any "K" frame magnum.

Generally pressures seem to be a bit higher with the 125s but I'm not sure that would be an issue.