Pistol World Forums banner

S&W 6" inch stainless 686

7359 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  UncleFudd
S&W 6" inch stainless 686 Is this a decent pistol for a rookie to take to the range and compete as a beginer ?
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
As long as the others are shooting 6 guns--it will serve you well--Just what are you getting into as far as competition??
I realy am unsure its an outdoor range I no they shoot pistol comp. trap and .22 silhouette. I know its not like the combat comp. that they have there. I would be new to all of it as I'm a trap shooter.I am looking for something we can do as a family that we all can enjoy and I thought that pistols .22's or archery would be good choices for it
I think it's a very good gun to start with - I'm a big fan of the S&W revolvers and the 686 is chambered in .357 mag and you can shoot .38 spl in it as well ( cheaper and less recoil ). The S&W's revolvers have great triggers on them and they are easy to become proficient with. I especially like the 6" version - for accuracy in this caliber.

Have fun with it - and I think it's a gun you'll keep a long time ( like a good trap gun, don't ever let it go ) even if you add something else down the road. I have an old Browning BT-100 12ga trap gun that I don't shoot too often - but I still love. Can't get rid of it - regardless of what else moves into the safe. Same with my old revolvers ( I have a variety of mod 27's, 29's, 686's etc and I like them all ).
See less See more
S&W 686's are good, but I would recommend the Ruger Security Six. They are discontinued now, but you can pick them up for a good price and they are very reliable.
My grandpa has a 586 with a 6" barrel and is polished stainless. That thing soots like a rifle! It is one of the most accurate pistols I've ever seen. I love it, he keeps it in the car, I don't understand why someone wouldn't consider this for a combat situation...I'd sure hate to be shot at with it, cuz it'd be hard to miss.

Matt
The 686 is fantastic. The Hogue grips soak up recoil beautifully, even with full-house .357s, and the trigger is excellent...even the double-action is very smooth. 6" is a good range-sized gun - less muzzle flip, more weight, longer sight radius. Not to mention that wheelguns are much simpler to deal with than an autoloader - you can check whether it's loaded much faster, takedown and cleaning is faster, and feed reliability is about as close to 100% as you're going to get (magazines seem to be the biggest problem with most semis).

Not sure what kind of competition per se, but it's a great target gun, and IPSC has a revolver class if you ever want to get into action-type shooting.

Go for it!
I can't think of a finer .357 magnum on the market than the 686!
Glad and good to hear some of you have had good luck with your S&W wheel guns.
I have had just the opposite and even though I hate to bad-mouth, I think it is fair to give the "other side of the story".

I had so much trouble with the third generation S&W handguns that I quit using them in my range rental program.

I still have some of the older models like the mod 19 57 60s etc but very few of the newer ones.
I had to stop using all of the autos period as I couldn't keep them in the range. They were constantly back at S&W being repaired and that cost me money.

The best built revolvers on the market today by far and they never fail are the Ruger series, either SP for the 5 shot and the GP for the 6 shot. They are just the strongest of them all and will outlast or they have in our rental counter gun for gun anything you put up to compare.

Just some other food for thought.

UncleFudd
See less See more
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top