Reviews Smith Wesson Model 686 Plus Deluxe 3 Inch Barrel

The double/single action revolver has been around long enough for the design to seem somewhat timeless. At that place have been very few innovations in the design that are truly considered news worthy, but that doesn't mean nosotros can't spill some ink in praise of a new take on an old archetype, and Smith & Wesson's revolvers take long set the standard for cycle-gun classics. From their five shot Scandium J frames, to their .460 S&W tank-busters, Smith & Wesson continue to exist the standard on which all other revolvers are judged. Today we're going to look at a midsized revolver, a.357 686, a gun that can practice just virtually everything.

Smith 686

The longer 686 can get heavy. After an afternoon of shooting, I get a bit shaky trying to hold on target.

Spec Sheet

Model: 686 Plus
Quotient: .357 Magnum®
.38 S&Due west Special +P
Capacity: 7 Rounds
Barrel Length: half-dozen″ / 15.two cm
Front end Sight: Cerise Ramp
Rear Sight: Adjustable White Outline
Grip: Synthetic
Action: Single/Double Action
Frame Size: Medium – Exposed Hammer
End: Satin Stainless
Overall Length: xi.94″ / 30.3 cm
Material: Stainless Steel Frame
Stainless Steel Cylinder
Weight Empty: 43.9 oz / 1,244.6 m
Purpose: Recreational Shooting, Home Protection, Handgun Hunting

Smith 686

The cylinder of this model holds 7 shots.

Smith's homepage cites the intended purposes of their guns, and they say the 686 with its 6 inch butt is skillful for recreational shooting, home protection, and handgun hunting. I tend to agree. While it wouldn't be my get-go pick for duck hunting, information technology can do simply near everything else. If I could but own ane gun (God forbid), my choice would be easy: I'd take this 686.

Part if my deep respect of the 686 comes from the functioning of the long butt. If y'all expect at the tables on Ballistics past the Inch, yous'll see some of what I mean. Nether controlled conditions (pregnant no loss of pressure from cylinder gap), the .357 puts out muzzle velocities somewhere around 1,600 fps. Revolvers push button out some gas earlier the bullet leaves the barrel, so they drib 100 to 200 fps, only information technology however a sizable bullet traveling at devastating speeds.

Smith 686

I still shoot the 686 better in single action mode. This is seven shot string.

And shooting the 686 couldn't be any easier. The double activity pull is heavy, off of the calibration I use to approximate pull. This is typical. My scale stops at 10 pounds, and it is close to that. Even so the pull is even and predictable, and you can hold it at any stage without a lot of effort. My groups with the double activity pull are still wider than I'd like. I'g not good at the motion. I was training with revolver guru Bob Lawman, in Farmville, Va. He could blindside out nighttime tight groups with a double action pull.

The trick to it, I'k told, is to use the trigger pull to assistance stabilize the gun. Where nigh single activity pulls use only three fingers and one pollex for a grip, the double action revolver grip adds in the actress finger that would normally be used to tweak a touchy trigger. You lot pull back every bit y'all are refining your aim, and and so rocket through with a consistent move. The result should be a more stable platform for the shot, and a more accurate shot.

Smith 686

The 686 is dead on accurate, fifty-fifty in double activeness. This is my all-time group from 25 yards.

As I said, I'thou not good at it. I still prefer the single activeness way. I have a hard plenty time getting downwards the support hand cocking motion. I fall back on those bad habits I learned at the paw of my begetter, who taught me to shoot with an old Iver Johnson snubbie. We couldn't striking much with that gun, and then actual skills were an afterthought. The 686 is incredibly authentic. And with a 3.v pound single action pull, information technology is in credibly consistent.

The long sight radius helps with the accuracy. The front mail is nigh 8 inches from the rear, which makes it announced smaller. The visible space on the sides allows for greater precision. If you are shooting single activity or double, these sights are platonic. The back sight is a flat black with horizontal ridges. At the cut out, a white U provides just plenty of a quick reference signal for actual defensive sight acquisition. The front postal service is mostly black, though in that location is an orangish insert that is piece of cake to see. The mix of sight styles is kind of a compromise between truthful target sights and sights meant for defensive shooting. You lot can find them fast, or take that actress time to really dial them in.

Smith 686

The sight picture is very easy to see, and the radius makes the front sight more constructive.

If there is 1 attribute of the longer 686s that is a detriment for self-defense, it is the length. These guns don't come up out of holsters as fast equally their snub-nosed brethren. You lot accept to haul information technology out its holster. It must exist like cartoon a sword from a sheath. It requires an exaggerated movement that feels unnatural to me, every bit I'1000 habituated to cartoon a GLOCK 19. I wear this gun a lot, but merely when I'm non concerned with the extra time required for a describe. Information technology is ideal for stomping around in the woods. I wear it often when I'thousand at the range. I even deport it hunting. Information technology has everything I want for rural OWB acquit.

The 686 Plus has the advantage of one actress circular. Reloads happen as apace equally you tin can reload a revolver, merely vii round relaoders aren't as common as six rounders, and so you'll probable be doing it the one-time fashioned way. As this is a .357, you have an wide variety of armament to chose from. From .38 shotshells on the depression end, to fat 158 grain .357 JHPs, this revolver will handle information technology all. And point of impact isn't going to shift much between .357s and .38s, at least not as reasonably shut distances. I regularly shoot at a 100 yard range that has 12 inch steel plates. Once I find the hold-over for whatever circular I'm using (peradventure an inch for .38s, most none for a .357), I can striking those plates about ninety% of the time.

Smith 686

A loaded cylinder is clearly visible, though you may not exist able to tell if the rounds are loaded as easily.

And that would make the 686 Plus a viable candidate for handgun hunting, especially for smaller game at closer ranges. The .357 has been a popular cartridge for ranch rifles for years for this very reason. It has enough kick to take a deer, or to put down a moo-cow, or to punch through the skull of a hog. While folks who live in big behave country notwithstanding favor larger rounds, at that place's an statement to exist made for a gun you can control (which is the but kind of gun control I'll endorse). I'll have the speed and precision of this Fifty framed revolver. I can control information technology, rocket out shots into a 2 inch square at 25 yards, no problem. I've tried my hand with the .44 Magnum, and larger revolvers, and the time betwixt shots increases, and I tend to flinch like a madman. Adrenaline might mitigate that beliefs, but it might non.

I'thousand an L framed shooter. Who am I kidding? I'thousand really an 10 frame on the Due south&W scale. But this gun fits my hand perfectly, and fits me too. I tend to wear it in a cantankerous-draw holster at my waist. In this position, I can sit, stand, run, and fifty-fifty encompass it up with the tail of a field coat. As long equally I go on the bottom two or three buttons on my Carhartt buttoned, I tin adequately cover the gun.

Smith 686

Wooden grips can exist thinner and smoother, but the condom feels great in the manus.

If you're not graced with extra girth, cross-draw carry may make you look like a wanna-be ceremonious war general. Traditional potent-side acquit is a viable option, and shoulder holsters are plentiful. It is a versatile gun, for sure, and whether you carry information technology on your hip, or in a toolbox, or keep information technology tucked nether the seat of your truck when you're out on the back xl, the 686 will get the job washed. Pull the trigger and it will hit what it is pointed at.

It is this last characteristic that makes the gun that much more valuable for me. I acquit when I'm at home. I have family members, though, that don't shoot hundreds of rounds every week. They don't nourish training classes, despite my constant prodding. Yet they know in that location's a go-to gun that will always work. While I don't leave a loaded gun out where anyone can pick it up, it is attainable to those I trust. And they know how to utilise it. And I don't have to worry almost them remembering to rack the slide, or drop the prophylactic, or dial up a red dot. It is gear up to roll with frangible .38s, at merely a touch.

Smith 686

The barrel is cut from a fat slab of steel, which adds to the guns weight.

The revolver as a genre doesn't go the respect it deserves. The .357 is really i of the most accommodating versatile guns I own. In that location are few task specific jobs that 6 inch barreled 686 does better than guns designed for more singular purposes. It isn't the best pick for concealed conduct. It may be also big for some people'southward daily comport preferences. It isn't low-cal enough to exist a pack gun. It isn't equally large as some shooters would similar for actually big game like behave or moose, and it isn't as small as some might desire for plinking, but it can practise all of these things.

The MSRP on the 686 Plus is $849. I've seen various 686 models similar to this, most of which were vi shots, anywhere from $550 to $900 used. They hold their value a hell-of-a-lot improve than nearly automatics. And they're harder to spiral up. While you lot tin mar the sights bay banging them around, or wreck the trigger attempting to lighten the double-activity pull, near the only other thing y'all tin do to one of these is bend the center pin rod by slamming the cylinder home like some Hollywood gumshoe. The 686 offers tremendous accurateness in a gun that will never fail, and there'due south something timeless about that.

Smith 686