Smith and Wesson 686 Plus 7 Inch Review

The double/single activity revolver has been around long enough for the design to seem somewhat timeless. There have been very few innovations in the design that are truly considered news worthy, but that doesn't mean we can't spill some ink in praise of a new accept on an erstwhile classic, and Smith & Wesson'south revolvers have long set the standard for wheel-gun classics. From their v shot Scandium J frames, to their .460 S&W tank-busters, Smith & Wesson continue to be 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 do just about everything.

Smith 686

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

Spec Sheet

Model: 686 Plus
Caliber: .357 Magnum®
.38 South&W Special +P
Capacity: 7 Rounds
Butt Length: 6″ / 15.2 cm
Front Sight: Red Ramp
Rear Sight: Adjustable White Outline
Grip: Synthetic
Action: Single/Double Action
Frame Size: Medium – Exposed Hammer
Stop: Satin Stainless
Overall Length: eleven.94″ / 30.3 cm
Textile: Stainless Steel Frame
Stainless Steel Cylinder
Weight Empty: 43.9 oz / 1,244.half-dozen thousand
Purpose: Recreational Shooting, Home Protection, Handgun Hunting

Smith 686

The cylinder of this model holds seven shots.

Smith's homepage cites the intended purposes of their guns, and they say the 686 with its 6 inch barrel is skillful for recreational shooting, home protection, and handgun hunting. I tend to concur. While it wouldn't exist my first choice for duck hunting, it can do just almost everything else. If I could only own one gun (God forbid), my choice would be easy: I'd take this 686.

Office if my deep respect of the 686 comes from the performance of the long barrel. If you look at the tables on Ballistics by the Inch, you lot'll run into some of what I mean. Nether controlled conditions (meaning no loss of pressure from cylinder gap), the .357 puts out muzzle velocities somewhere effectually 1,600 fps. Revolvers button out some gas before the bullet leaves the barrel, so they drop 100 to 200 fps, but information technology withal a sizable bullet traveling at devastating speeds.

Smith 686

I nevertheless shoot the 686 improve in single action mode. This is seven shot cord.

And shooting the 686 couldn't be whatever easier. The double action pull is heavy, off of the scale I apply to gauge pull. This is typical. My scale stops at 10 pounds, and it is close to that. Yet the pull is even and predictable, and you lot can hold it at whatever stage without a lot of endeavor. My groups with the double activeness pull are even so wider than I'd like. I'1000 not practiced at the motion. I was training with revolver guru Bob Constable, in Farmville, Va. He could bang out night tight groups with a double activity pull.

The play tricks to it, I'm told, is to utilise the trigger pull to help stabilize the gun. Where well-nigh single action pulls use merely 3 fingers and one pollex for a grip, the double activeness revolver grip adds in the actress finger that would normally be used to tweak a touchy trigger. You lot pull back as you are refining your aim, and then rocket through with a consistent motion. The result should be a more stable platform for the shot, and a more accurate shot.

Smith 686

The 686 is dead on authentic, even in double action. This is my best group from 25 yards.

As I said, I'm non good at it. I still prefer the single activity style. I have a hard enough time getting downwards the support mitt cocking motion. I fall dorsum on those bad habits I learned at the paw of my male parent, who taught me to shoot with an old Iver Johnson snubbie. We couldn't hitting much with that gun, so actual skills were an afterthought. The 686 is incredibly accurate. And with a 3.5 pound single action pull, it is in credibly consistent.

The long sight radius helps with the accuracy. The front post is almost eight inches from the rear, which makes it announced smaller. The visible space on the sides allows for greater precision. If you lot are shooting unmarried activeness or double, these sights are ideal. The back sight is a flat black with horizontal ridges. At the cut out, a white U provides just enough of a quick reference point for actual defensive sight acquisition. The front post is mostly black, though there is an orange insert that is piece of cake to see. The mix of sight styles is kind of a compromise between true target sights and sights meant for defensive shooting. You tin can find them fast, or take that extra time to really dial them in.

Smith 686

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

If there is one aspect 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 as their snub-nosed brethren. You have to haul information technology out its holster. It must be like drawing a sword from a sheath. It requires an exaggerated movement that feels unnatural to me, as I'g habituated to drawing a GLOCK nineteen. I wear this gun a lot, merely merely when I'm not concerned with the extra fourth dimension required for a draw. It is ideal for stomping around in the wood. I wear it often when I'g at the range. I fifty-fifty carry information technology hunting. It has everything I want for rural OWB carry.

The 686 Plus has the advantage of one actress round. Reloads happen every bit speedily every bit you can reload a revolver, but seven round relaoders aren't equally common as 6 rounders, so you'll probable be doing it the onetime fashioned way. As this is a .357, y'all have an broad variety of ammunition to chose from. From .38 shotshells on the low end, to fatty 158 grain .357 JHPs, this revolver will handle it all. And betoken of impact isn't going to shift much between .357s and .38s, at to the lowest degree non as reasonably close distances. I regularly shoot at a 100 thousand range that has 12 inch steel plates. In one case I detect the hold-over for whatsoever round I'm using (maybe an inch for .38s, virtually none for a .357), I tin striking those plates about ninety% of the fourth dimension.

Smith 686

A loaded cylinder is conspicuously 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, peculiarly for smaller game at closer ranges. The .357 has been a popular cartridge for ranch rifles for years for this very reason. Information technology has enough boot to take a deer, or to put down a cow, or to punch through the skull of a hog. While folks who live in big bear state notwithstanding favor larger rounds, there's an argument to be fabricated for a gun you lot can command (which is the only kind of gun control I'll endorse). I'll take 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 paw with the .44 Magnum, and larger revolvers, and the time between shots increases, and I tend to blanch like a madman. Adrenaline might mitigate that behavior, just it might not.

I'thou an L framed shooter. Who am I kidding? I'k actually an X frame on the S&W scale. Simply this gun fits my hand perfectly, and fits me too. I tend to wear it in a cross-draw holster at my waist. In this position, I can sit, stand, run, and even cover information technology up with the tail of a field coat. As long equally I keep the bottom two or three buttons on my Carhartt buttoned, I tin adequately cover the gun.

Smith 686

Wooden grips can be thinner and smoother, but the rubber feels great in the hand.

If you're non graced with actress girth, cantankerous-draw carry may make y'all look like a wanna-be civil state of war general. Traditional potent-side comport is a viable option, and shoulder holsters are plentiful. It is a versatile gun, for sure, and whether you behave it on your hip, or in a toolbox, or keep it tucked under the seat of your truck when y'all're out on the back 40, the 686 will get the task washed. Pull the trigger and it will striking what it is pointed at.

Information technology is this terminal characteristic that makes the gun that much more valuable for me. I conduct when I'm at dwelling house. I take family members, though, that don't shoot hundreds of rounds every week. They don't attend training classes, despite my constant prodding. Even so they know there's a go-to gun that will always work. While I don't leave a loaded gun out where anyone can selection information technology upward, information technology is accessible to those I trust. And they know how to use it. And I don't have to worry about them remembering to rack the slide, or drop the safe, or dial up a red dot. It is set to scroll with frangible .38s, at but 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 actually i of the most all-around versatile guns I own. There are few job specific jobs that 6 inch barreled 686 does amend than guns designed for more singular purposes. It isn't the best option for concealed carry. It may exist as well big for some people'due south daily carry preferences. It isn't lite enough to exist a pack gun. It isn't as large every bit some shooters would like for actually big game similar bear or moose, and information technology isn't as small as some might want for plinking, only it tin can do 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 near automatics. And they're harder to screw upwardly. While you lot can mar the sights bay banging them around, or wreck the trigger attempting to lighten the double-action pull, about the only other thing you can do to one of these is curve the center pin rod by slamming the cylinder domicile like some Hollywood gumshoe. The 686 offers tremendous accurateness in a gun that will never neglect, and there's something timeless about that.

Smith 686