S&W 686 vs 686P

[DHart]

I've got both 6 and 7 shooter 686's and love them both. I agree that for a defense gun the extra round is great to have. As regards timing... should a timing issue develop on either, S&W will take care of it pronto at no charge, so I have no worries there. As I've said, of my couple dozen 6-shot S&W's, I have minor timing issues on about three of them... so it happens with them all, but it isn't a big deal at all either.

As regards cylinder wall thickness, the walls on the 7-shot cylinder are as thick or thicker than on many other 6-shot .357's (thicker in fact than the external walls on a 6-shot GP-100 cylinder, which also has the cylinder stop slot cut into the chamber wall. S&W 7-shot .11" forged steel, GP-100 6-shot .095 cast steel). The design is perfectly safe and plenty beefy enough for any factory .357 loading. I never shoot extra hot .357 loads anyway, in fact, I prefer somewhat watered-down .357 loads for practice and defense carry.

In a defense gun or for any other use, I can easily recommend both the 6-shot and the 7-shot versions... pick whichever appeals to you more (I can't see how having an extra round is ever an undesireable thing) and remember that you can have timing issues on any 6-shot or 7-shot S&W revos and if you do, S&W will fix you up for free, including shipping! No worries here, go forth with confidence.

 

[Arch]

DHart,
Cheers for that. I will probably go with the 6 shot first off, as from what I am hearing the trigger doesn't change much, and I just don't need the extra round....plus I would have to order the 686+ as noone here carries them...lol. It's good to hear that S&W will back their product, as for a while there they really let customer service slip.....I guess now they have caved into the ani-gunners, and agreed to manufacture fewer arms, they have more free time on their hands.....lol.

Also thanks for all the cool pictures thoughout this post, feel free to put any more you may have up here. Any pics of revolvers with custom barrel shrouds?

Cheers.