Not sure. I ll check with Dobbs, he may know. This gun had deeper flame cutting than I have ever seen, and what was weird was how nice the gun was in general.Originally Posted by Tamara
Not sure. I ll check with Dobbs, he may know. This gun had deeper flame cutting than I have ever seen, and what was weird was how nice the gun was in general.
Just a Hairy Special Snowflake supply clerk with no field experience, shooting an Asymetric carbine as a Try Hard. Snarky and easily butt hurt. Favorite animal is the Cape Buffalo....likely indicative of a personality disorder.
"If I had a grandpa, he would look like Delbert Belton".
Gas cutting is as much a function of the top strap metal as anything else. I have seen K frames with a big groove burned in, yet were still acceptably tight. One 4" M-66 in particular, that I know the history on, had a discernible but not deep groove after 5K or so of various 158gr factory .357s, over a ten+ year period. Another 2.5" blue M-19 brought to me had a seriously gas-cut top strap, about like DB described, and the user swore he shot mostly .38s, shooting magnums only for quals, twice a year.
My personal 4" M-66, issued to me in 1978 and shot regularly for ten years, has a discernible groove, but nothing alarming. I estimate I've shot no more than a couple of thousand "magnums", of various stripes; but that gun has had untold thousands of .38s through it.
BTW, ditto on the L frame not particularly liking full patch .357s. The L frame was born directly due to complaints about K frames shooting loose with just a modicum of "magnums"; but in all fairness, the original M-19 was never intended to be fed a lot of .357s. The L frame was… but they didn't quite hit the mark.
OP, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but truth is truth. OTOH, yours is a no-dash, and that's good. It pre-dates the time when S&W really began to ramp up the production shortcuts and quality (and quality control) took a near-fatal nose-dive.
But if you plan to shoot a lot of full-house .357s in it, look for that M like Tamara advised (and it is behind the YOKE; Colts have cranes; S&W's have yokes). If it isn't there, either revise, sharply downward, your planned magnum usage or send it back to Springfield. If that hammer nose bushing lets go, all sorts of unpleasant side effects will follow.
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Last edited by LSP972; 10-07-2015 at 08:35 PM.
Buddy who shot a lot of IDPA with an almost exclusive diet of the 140 Silvertip flame cut his 586 the same way. The gun is still tight and has a beautiful trigger.
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Is the flame cutting caused more from fast burning powder that can be used in 38sp and 357mag instead of just 357mag use?
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So is flame cutting an issue on guns like Ruger GP100s as well then?
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A 4" 686 was the revolver I was issued and trained with at the Border Patrol Academy. Your revolver looks to be in great condition. I don't think I would change a thing. If the carry up is good, you have a great fighting gun -- no custom work needed.
RE: flame cutting. Any 357 can exhibit flame cutting. I have come to the conclusion it is more a function of the load and the powder used. Magnum rounds, heavy for caliber charges of slow burning powders, all contribute. From my experience, tends to be self limiting; progresses to a point and then stops. If you look at pre-war SAA's and some pre-war/ early post war Smith's -- some have a top strap machined from the factory with a grooved where flame cutting would be exhibited. The Ruger 357 Max was known for being very tough on the top strap. I've shot buckets of 38 through 357 revolvers, lots of handloads -- primarily W231 & 125-158 gr bullets. No issues with flame cutting or forcing cone erosion.
I don't know how much damage is done by extreme flame cutting, but it is an indicator to how much shooting has been done with what is likely duty ammunition. That was sort of my point. As I have said, the L frame is better than the K frame as far as Magnum use, but they were not what many people believe in regards to durability for shooting high numbers of full house Magnums. Both the GP 100 and the 27's and 28's were far better in this regard.
The reality these days is that no agencies are really issuing and shooting tons of .357 magnum in large numbers of guns,most it it sort of a mute point. In the non-government sector, I also think the Joe Citizen who shoots several thousand full house .357 Magnums every year for decades is a Unicorn as well. So, essentially, for the OP...enjoy that 686. It will likely do everything you want it to well and should be very enjoyable to shoot and train with.
Just a Hairy Special Snowflake supply clerk with no field experience, shooting an Asymetric carbine as a Try Hard
"If I had a grandpa, he would look like Delbert Belton".
You have to be correct in that view. After all, who can afford all those magnums? .38 Special is (sadly) expensive enough these days.
Nope, no recall mark.
No worries. I'm a die-hard "plastic fantastic" guy. If I can't stick a light under the front end (and thus far, if it doesn't say Glock on the slide), I'm not really interested in using it in any serious manner.
This gun will probably see less than a thousand rounds a decade and 999 of them are going to be .38 practice ammo. This is basically going to be a a 4cyl Mustang wearing a 5.0 badge.....it'll look the part, but it's really just going to be a range toy.
Then I would not send it in; its likely to come back with MIM parts- or worse.
Again, as nyeti said, enjoy it. I wasn't trying to be Debbie Downer; I was just weaned that way. Police armorers and helicopter pilots are both generally brooding introverts... because they know that if something bad hasn't happened yet- its about to.
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