S & W 686 plus
- Thread starter 327 FM
- Start date
S&W has a reason for all the barrel lengths.
The 2.5 has the advantage of having a short barrel. The 2.5 carried at 4 O'Clock is short enough to still access my back pocket. When you conceal carry short is normally a good thing to keep the muzzle out of sight.
The Disadvantage of the 2.5 is a short Ejector Stroke as was mentioned above. Not a huge problem with practice.
The 3" to me is a favorite for concealed carry. With a 3" you still have a fairly short barrel, and you also get the Full Stroke Ejector Rod.
What are the chanced that a Civilian will ever need to reload in a gun fight??
Probably fairly slim.
However I was in Law Enforcement for several years, and not having a reload on me goes against the grain.
Myself I would rather carry a 3" over a 2.5" just for the ejector stroke.
The 4" is the work horse of the 686 line. I have both a 686-1 Power Custom Combat, with a Clark Moon Clip Conversion, and my ICORE Classic/ IDPA SSR / Reactive Steel Challenge revolver a 686-5 Power Custom Combat. Why 2 almost exactly the same?? The wife took over my 686-1 as her house gun.
I shoot the 686-5 a great deal. It is easy to shoot, and a very accurate revolver. Nothing not to love. It is also a good open carry barrel length.
The 5" is not a bad length. I have all my holsters custom made in 2014, so a 5" would not be a problem for me. This is not a legal barrel length for IDPA SSR Division, but it would not be bad for ICORE. The main problem I would have with a 5" barrel is it being in the 7 shot configuration. IDPA SSR and ICORE Classic both require 6 shooters.
The 6" would be a good length where accuracy is moving to the front of the line. Most serious ICORE Shooters prefer a 6" because of the accuracy advantage on longer shots. The 6" makes a very good range gun for shooting targets, it is not a bad choice for open carry in the woods. I personally feel a 357 Magnum is too light to deer hunt with, however a 6" is not a bad hunting barrel length.
The 8-3/8" seems to be a little scarce in my area. To me the 8-3/8 would be a great long range target revolver. I cast bullets. A 686 with an 8-3/8 barrel, and a Scope or MatchDot II would make a super range gun for shooting accuracy loads. I can see a 30mm MatchDot II mounted on an 8-3/8 barrel with some 180 grain home cast bullets breaking Clay Birds at 100 - 200 yards at the range off my pistol rest. I could get into doing that with no problem.
This would also be my choice in a hunting 686 also.
Which one to pick depends on what you plan to do with one. If I had one of each I would have a use for every one of them.
Bob
ICORE MO2908
See You at the Range
The 2.5 has the advantage of having a short barrel. The 2.5 carried at 4 O'Clock is short enough to still access my back pocket. When you conceal carry short is normally a good thing to keep the muzzle out of sight.
The Disadvantage of the 2.5 is a short Ejector Stroke as was mentioned above. Not a huge problem with practice.
The 3" to me is a favorite for concealed carry. With a 3" you still have a fairly short barrel, and you also get the Full Stroke Ejector Rod.
What are the chanced that a Civilian will ever need to reload in a gun fight??
Probably fairly slim.
However I was in Law Enforcement for several years, and not having a reload on me goes against the grain.
Myself I would rather carry a 3" over a 2.5" just for the ejector stroke.
The 4" is the work horse of the 686 line. I have both a 686-1 Power Custom Combat, with a Clark Moon Clip Conversion, and my ICORE Classic/ IDPA SSR / Reactive Steel Challenge revolver a 686-5 Power Custom Combat. Why 2 almost exactly the same?? The wife took over my 686-1 as her house gun.
I shoot the 686-5 a great deal. It is easy to shoot, and a very accurate revolver. Nothing not to love. It is also a good open carry barrel length.
The 5" is not a bad length. I have all my holsters custom made in 2014, so a 5" would not be a problem for me. This is not a legal barrel length for IDPA SSR Division, but it would not be bad for ICORE. The main problem I would have with a 5" barrel is it being in the 7 shot configuration. IDPA SSR and ICORE Classic both require 6 shooters.
The 6" would be a good length where accuracy is moving to the front of the line. Most serious ICORE Shooters prefer a 6" because of the accuracy advantage on longer shots. The 6" makes a very good range gun for shooting targets, it is not a bad choice for open carry in the woods. I personally feel a 357 Magnum is too light to deer hunt with, however a 6" is not a bad hunting barrel length.
The 8-3/8" seems to be a little scarce in my area. To me the 8-3/8 would be a great long range target revolver. I cast bullets. A 686 with an 8-3/8 barrel, and a Scope or MatchDot II would make a super range gun for shooting accuracy loads. I can see a 30mm MatchDot II mounted on an 8-3/8 barrel with some 180 grain home cast bullets breaking Clay Birds at 100 - 200 yards at the range off my pistol rest. I could get into doing that with no problem.
This would also be my choice in a hunting 686 also.
Which one to pick depends on what you plan to do with one. If I had one of each I would have a use for every one of them.
Bob
ICORE MO2908
See You at the Range
I have a 2 1/2" and if ammo is crap, don't whack the rod properly or run a dirty gun I guess it could FTE, but I've never had a failure to extract / eject, and I shoot it a lot!
I used to qualify yearly with it and never had problems with it. This year I started using my times 8 627 PC so the 2 1/2" gets backup status
I used to qualify yearly with it and never had problems with it. This year I started using my times 8 627 PC so the 2 1/2" gets backup status