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Thread: Grail Gun: 686 CS-1

  1. #1

    Grail Gun: 686 CS-1

    Just bought one of my grail guns: a S&W 686 3" CS-1, made for the US Customs Service. I've wanted one for years, and the prices keep going up like crazy, so when I came across it on another forum I went ahead and took the plunge:





    On a side note, I have to pay for this thing now, so feel free to check out the classifieds sub-forum.
    Last edited by TC215; 01-01-2017 at 08:13 PM.

  2. #2
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Aug 2016
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    Congrats on a cool acquisition.

    Brings back memories of our Inspectors, many of whom carried the CS-1 as their issued firearm.

    I wouldn't mind owning one but I'll make do with my 3" 686+.
    There's nothing civil about this war.

    Read: Harrison Bergeron

  3. #3
    I was hoping you would comment, I was curious if you had ever been issued one.

  4. #4
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    Very nice. I had a 4" model that I used in IDPA. Loved that narrower front sight but dang it that thing would occasionally give me fits releasing the rounds out of my compIIIs.
    Adam

  5. #5
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    Congrats. I'm a big fan of the L frames and the CS-1 is on my buy list too. Enjoy.

  6. #6
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TC215 View Post
    I was hoping you would comment, I was curious if you had ever been issued one.
    They were never issued to special agents. The Inspectors and the agents were in two entirely different chains of command. But I remember what a big splash they made when they hit the scene. If I recall correctly there was more than one iteration of the gun? Not my area of expertise by any means.
    There's nothing civil about this war.

    Read: Harrison Bergeron

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by blues View Post
    They were never issued to special agents. The Inspectors and the agents were in two entirely different chains of command. But I remember what a big splash they made when they hit the scene. If I recall correctly there was more than one iteration of the gun? Not my area of expertise by any means.
    There were 3" versions, 4" versions, and supposedly a few 6" guns for the pistol team.

    They were built to tighter tolerances than the regular 686's, which caused some problems, and they all had to be gone through and fixed.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by TC215 View Post
    There were 3" versions, 4" versions, and supposedly a few 6" guns for the pistol team.

    They were built to tighter tolerances than the regular 686's, which caused some problems, and they all had to be gone through and fixed.
    My understanding is Jim Cirillo helped spec these out including the sights. After retiring from the NYPD he worked for USCS at FLETC as a firearms instructor. As of a few years ago FLETC still had a bunch of 3" CS-1's converted for red handle and blankfire use. They also had some 4" used for revolver familiarization fire.

  9. #9
    Ok, that makes sense. From what I was reading on the S-W forum, a couple thousand were sold to the public, some were saved for simmunition/training use, and the rest were destroyed courtesy of the Clintons/Janet Reno.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by TC215 View Post
    Ok, that makes sense. From what I was reading on the S-W forum, a couple thousand were sold to the public, some were saved for simmunition/training use, and the rest were destroyed courtesy of the Clintons/Janet Reno.
    The ones sold to the public were contract over-runs, sold by S&W.

    All the Gov guns were destroyed or transferred to other agencies for training use as noted. I've never seen them used for Sims but I'm sure some were.

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