New 686-6 light strikes

[swampcrawler]

Scratching my head here guys.

Had light strikes (like 1 per per cylinder) right out of the box along with a severely jacked up bore.

Sent it back to S&W. Took 4 months and got shipped back to the wrong address but it did eventually come back. New barrel which looks great and new firing pin.

Still got light strikes.

Bought the Jerry miculek DVD and some stones, stoned and polished per the DVD and installed a Power Custom extended firing pin.

Still getting light strikes.

It’s happened with CCI and Winchester primed
Handloads as well as a couple different factory loads. Strain screw is tight.

Thought it was headspace but that comes in at .063. Sami spec is .06-.074. So that’s good!

Now this is a “pro series” gun. The mainspring is ribbed. Is are all the new SW mainsprings the ribbed style of is this possibly one of the lighter wolf springs in the “pro series” gun?

I know most highly tuned competition revolvers are federal primer only guns, but this is a defensive/Woods gun. I don’t want to play the primer game. Thoughts?

 

[Riomouse911]

I had that issue with a Redhawk .41.

Reading this was an issue with the RH, I lightly filed the tip of the nose of the hammer (just above where the transfer bar slides up). I will guess this allows a bit more forward movement to the hammer, applying a bit more oomph to the firing pin as it is struck by the transfer bar.

It worked for that gun, no more light strikes.

It may work for your 686.

Stay safe!

 

[blue32]

My 686-6 is a regular production circa 2012 make and it has the flat mainspring. Considering what you've said it seems like it could be a mainspring issue. What exactly is your model, SSR?

When my frame mounted firing pin broke off I replace it with a cylinder and slide brand extra long pin and its been great though I can manage to get a light strike every once in a blue moon.

 

[swampcrawler]

My 686-6 is a regular production circa 2012 make and it has the flat mainspring. Considering what you've said it seems like it could be a mainspring issue. What exactly is your model, SSR?

When my frame mounted firing pin broke off I replace it with a cylinder and slide brand extra long pin and its been great though I can manage to get a light strike every once in a blue moon.

It’s just listed as 686 plus pro series. It’s not the SSR. Here be a link.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/performance-center-pro-series-model-686-plus

I did the ole primer cup shin under the strain screw last night. I’m going to go shoot a handful of CCI Magnum primed ammo at lunch today. If it pops those it will pop anything.

 

[blue32]

If that doesnt work pop off the side plate and make sure the firing pin has free movement with the firing pin retaining pin engaged

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Now this is a “pro series” gun. The mainspring is ribbed. Is are all the new SW mainsprings the ribbed style of is this possibly one of the lighter wolf springs in the “pro series” gun?

My PC 686 has the ribbed spring. Sweat trigger pull, but I was getting light strikes in double action. Sent it back and their fix was to install a longer firing pin.

 

[340PD]

A buddy bought a new Mod 66 that sprayed lead (forcing cone issues). Sent it to S&W and included an extra $170 or so for a master action job. Six months and 10 days later he got his gun back. First full cylinder produced two light strikes. We all handed him a variety of other ammo. Still having the problem. He called S&W and to avoid another long wait S&W offered to send him a few strain screws to try in the hope that would solve his problems. That was too weeks ago and we await their arrival for testing.
No offense to a long standing company with a good reputation, stories like this are why my last two revolver purchases were a Ruger and a Kimber K6s.

 

[golden]

I had a light strike problem on my S&W 681. It turned out to be the mainspring. Have a gunsmith tighten the screw that holds it. It worked on my gun, it may on yours.

Jim

 

[Confederate]

Light strikes are one thing, but are you getting any failures to ignite? If you number your chambers, are you getting light strikes on the same chamber/s? And finally, examine the mainspring retention screw. If it's too short, you can have it screwed all the way in and you'll still get light strikes. I've seen variations in screw length, and that can screw things up.

The 686 is a great gun. Sounds like everything else is in spec. If you can post a photo of the screw, I can post a photo of mine and maybe a few others can do the same. S&W has been making some boneheaded decisions lately and whoever decided to make the new Combat Masterpiece a two tone job with black screws, black cylinder release and black trigger/hammer should be fired. Presently, I know of no decent 6-inch .357 suitable for hunting. They've all got these heavy underlugs. Boneheaded.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[AZAndy]

I've had the same problem with a ribbed spring on a 325. The indentation on the spring makes it so that the strain screw isn't quite long enough. I fixed the trouble with a longer strain screw. I got a 10-pack of these screws from McMaster, since I know I'll run into this again, for $4.32. If you want to get a screw somewhere else, they're 8-32x1/2.

 

[tbob38]

A buddy bought a new Mod 66 that sprayed lead (forcing cone issues). Sent it to S&W and included an extra $170 or so for a master action job. Six months and 10 days later he got his gun back. First full cylinder produced two light strikes. We all handed him a variety of other ammo. Still having the problem. He called S&W and to avoid another long wait S&W offered to send him a few strain screws to try in the hope that would solve his problems. That was too weeks ago and we await their arrival for testing.
No offense to a long standing company with a good reputation, stories like this are why my last two revolver purchases were a Ruger and a Kimber K6s.

Not a new problem. In the 1970's I bought a new model 25, and the front sight was canted. Sent it back to the factory. I thought they would re orientate the barrel, but what they did was to bend the front sight! Sold it.

 

[340PD]

A buddy bought a new Mod 66 that sprayed lead (forcing cone issues). Sent it to S&W and included an extra $170 or so for a master action job. Six months and 10 days later he got his gun back. First full cylinder produced two light strikes. We all handed him a variety of other ammo. Still having the problem. He called S&W and to avoid another long wait S&W offered to send him a few strain screws to try in the hope that would solve his problems. That was too weeks ago and we await their arrival for testing.
No offense to a long standing company with a good reputation, stories like this are why my last two revolver purchases were a Ruger and a Kimber K6s.

UPDATE. The strain screw S&W sent was the exact same size as the one in the gun so another call to them resulted in them suggesting a new mainspring which came after only one week. The problem with that was it was a stock flat mainspring not the ribbed spring they installed during their $170 master action job.
My suggestion was the old gunsmith fix of removing the anvil in a spent primer and placing the cup under the strain screw and locktite in place.
Not a failure to ignite any brand of ammo regardless of primer hardness since that install.