Setting the barrel back on my S&W Mod 686

[Dale53]

A few months ago, I picked up a used but like new S&W 686 with 6" barrel. I had long owned a CS-1 (4" round butt 686 - Treasury Dept over run) and have been MORE than satisfied with it.

The six inch worked well but I occasionally got a bit of spitting from the barrel/cylinder gap. I measured it and it was entirely too large in my opinion (.011"-.012"). The obvious cure is to set the barrel back a thread and reduce the barrel cylinder gap to .003"-.004". You CAN get that gap too close and then you can have the cylinder dragging on the end of the barrel. My preference is on the tight side of the equation. You can add a bit of velocity and end spitting by setting the barrel back, eliminating any end shake, and recutting the barrel throat.

All of this is fine but it CAN be rather expensive.

I have been extremely fortunate, having a high grade pistolsmith, locally, that does exceptional work for very modest prices. I'm not going to tell you how little it cost, but I AM going to tell you how to reach him if he is also close to you. You can discuss his charges when you contact him:

Jack Basham, Blue Ash, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati).
His phone number is 513-793-2134.
Email address is: jrbasham@fuse.net

At any rate, I picked up my revolver today. He set the barrel back (it is now .003"), removed any endshake, recut the forcing cone, and checked the timing. Everything is NOW exactly as how it should be. I feel fortunate.

If the weather ever breaks around here I will put it to the test (we just set a record that has stood since the 1800's for the most consecutive days of over ninety degree temperatures and I do NOT shoot at these elevated levels. Even I have my limits (at least THESE days:mrgreen:).

If you have any pistol or revolver problems, give Jack a call. You will NOT be sorry.

I recently watched him replace a barrel on a bulged barrel Model 25 S&W and do a complete tune up. That revolver (belongs to my neighbor and fellow gun club member) is now shooting groups at 50 yards that are to be envied. Also, a buddy from Virginia left a wide bodied Para-Ordnance 1911 with me with severe feeding problems that he "made right". I believe it would now feed empty cases. My buddy has a smile on his face...

FWIW
Dale53

[sffar]

Thanks, Dale. It's good to know of a reliable smith to do business with. I wish he was closer to my neck of the woods, but reasonable prices and good work would likely make shipping costs a little easier to take.
Sam

[pdawg_shooter]

QUOTE; If the weather ever breaks around here I will put it to the test (we just set a record that has stood since the 1800's for the most consecutive days of over ninety degree temperatures and I do NOT shoot at these elevated levels. Even I have my limits (at least THESE days).

Come visit us in Dodge City, yesterday was our 37th day over 100º this summer !

[Dale53]

pdwag shooter;
You can HAVE those 100 degree temps! I don't want or need them:veryconfu.

Tomorrow looks passable. I just may get to the range and "pop a few caps"...

Dale53

[StrawHat]

dale53,

Thanks for the info on Mr Basham. Even up North we have heard of him.

[AZ Pete]

Or, you could come down to Arizona....and add 10 degrees or so to the Dodge City temp. 90 would be real nice to me. Just go out in the morning, and come home when it get's too hot to suit you.



QUOTE; If the weather ever breaks around here I will put it to the test (we just set a record that has stood since the 1800's for the most consecutive days of over ninety degree temperatures and I do NOT shoot at these elevated levels. Even I have my limits (at least THESE days).

Come visit us in Dodge City, yesterday was our 37th day over 100º this summer !

[MtGun44]

Dale,

What dash number is the 686? The early ones up to somewhere around 3 or 4 (I forget) were
made of fairly soft stainless and the endshake would beat out with hot rounds about every
2-3000 rounds. Later models are harder and last much better. You can stretch the crane
about 3-4, maybe more times to fix this, but the early guns should be mostly be shot with .38 Spl +P
pressure for really long life of the crane. Of course, they are perfectly safe with hot .357
loads, it just tends to pound out the thin crane snout that goes up inside the cylinder and
controls the end shake. A swaging type of crane stretcher will fix this quickly, but you eventually
run out of places to stretch.

Bill

[uscra112]

Or you can install endshake shims from Brownells'.

[Dale53]

MtGun44;
I mostly shoot target loads in my 686 (6"). Of course, I don't know what was done with it before I got it, but it sure doesn't look like it has been shot much.

I believe that the excessive clearance between barrel and cylinder was the way it came. Now, it is like it should be. See the smile on my face?:mrgreen:

Thanks for the info, tho'. It's always appreciated...

Dale53

[calaloo]

Thanks Dale. About a week ago my neighbor asked if I could recommend a S&W smith. Now I can.

[Dale53]

calaloo;
Always happy to help out.:drinks:

Dale53

[MtGun44]

The end shake was the only thing I was talking about, completely independent of the cyl
to barrel clearance. I'm sure you are right that it came out of the factory that way. How's
the threaded area of the barrel? Any constriction?

Oh, yeah - 586s never had this problem, being carbon steel, which S&W had a ton more
experience with so didn't mess up selecting the alloy and heat treat for the crane like they
did with the SS 686.

Bill

[Von Dingo]

Thanks for the heads up Dale and MtGun44.

I have one of the 686's in that group.

[MtGun44]

Von Dingo,

Don't sweat it too much, just that a continuous diet of max loads will mean a trip to the
S&W doctor to tighten the end shake every few thousand of them. With .38 Spl and +P
class loads, life should be very long. Not a safety issue at all, just a bit of earlier than
expected routine maintenance required on the ones less than something like -4 or so.

Bill

[Von Dingo]

I'm really not sweating it, the most used loads are in the 1,200 fps range. It was purchased off of a Deputy Sheriff in Missouri, and is still pretty good. I've put an estimated 1,500-2,000 rounds through it, and had it out last week testing eight loads I put together with the Lee 125 RNFP. It still shoots. I'm past running red-line loads for fun. Maybe 100 loads with 296 since I've owned it. It's not as tight as I'd like, but it's not loose.