I noticed on EBay that you can buy barrels for the 686. Mine is a 2.5 inch and I would love to have a 4 inch. How hard is it to swap barrels on these guns? Is it generally frowned upon?
There is nothing good or bad about swapping barrels after all, the revolvers aren't different, only the barrel length. I would highly recommend having the barrel changes but a Gun Smith since there are setting that must be correct for the revolver to be safe and for it to fire correctly without losing bullet speed.
If you do make the change and decide to sell the 2.5" barrel please let me know...
DO NOT attempt to change a revolver barrel at home. Send it to S&W or another good qualified pistolsmith.
Barrels require special tooling to change without damaging the frame, and there are a number of adjustments that have to be done to get it fitted properly.
Local gunsmiths seldom have the right tooling.
Also note: Often the barrels being sold on eBay are defective.
They were often removed because something was wrong with them, or they were damaged when unqualified people removed them from the original gun.
You cannot always see the problems until the gunsmith attempts to fit it to a gun.
I didn't think of that but dfariswheel is probably on the money, Ebay barrels are probably not a good idea. Take his advice and contact S&W. You know their barrels aren't defective and the work will be done correctly.
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