Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Heavy Shilen Barreled S&W 686

The operative word here is “heavy,”as the thing is pretty weighty. The idea is to end up with a S&W revolver which can handle loads that are much stronger than target hollow base wadcutter loads, but with the same precision as a PPC revolver.


The goal:
M15 with Clark barrel (Douglas 1:10 twist)


The project:
M686 with Shilen barrel (1:14 twist)

The cylinder gap presently gauges at 0.0015”. The cylinder clears the back of the barrel at the top, but appears to very lightly drag at the bottom, but only when a film of cast bullet residue is present. Obviously, the face of the cylinder is not precisely square with the rear of the barrel, and this is even visible when the gun is clean. Because I know the rear of the barrel is absolutely square, the problem must either be with the cylinder face, or the cylinder axis is not precisely parallel with the center line of the bore. I don’t yet know which it is, but the most likely suspect is the cylinder axis being very slightly lower at the rear than at the front, compared to the bore center line. The cylinder has about 0.001” of endshake, enough for the cylinder to clear the barrel completely if removed, but a standard 0.002” shim would bind it up tight and is therefore not a viable solution. It’s really no big deal because, if I were to take another thousandth, or so, off the rear of the barrel, the irregularity would be very, very difficult to detect. But, that’d be sorta like sweeping the dirt under the rug, which I may just need to accept and move on.

In addition to dealing with that minor annoyance, I still need to polish the barrel exterior to match the frame, make and install a front sight, and install the proper height rear sight guts.

At least such projects keep me off the street and outa trouble.

Even if the cylinder gets trued up, won't the hammer mounted firing pin present a problem of fired primers possibly tying up the gun with heavy loads???

Isn't the cylinder the limiting item when it comes to pressure? Going to a 5 shot cylinder and offsetting the bolt cuts would be typical.

Maybe line bore the chambers in a new blank that's been trued?

Looking to maybe max out at a 180gr. cast bullet doing 1,200 fps, or so. The weakening crane clearance flat under the K-Frame barrel at the forcing cone does not exist on the L-Frame Model 686. And, the L-Frame cylinder is certainly strong enough.

I once had a heavy PPC barrel split and fall off a Model 66 shooting SuperVel factory .357MAG ammo from the Ransom Rest at the old CHP Academy Range, ringing like a bell as it bounced on the concrete floor. The barrel had split from the bottom of the forcing cone at the flat, extending through the frame to the barrel shoulder, fracturing and flinging away the left threaded section of the frame, and releasing the barrel to fall. Rather not repeat that, even though S&W was kind enough to sell me a new frame and factory barrel for $66. So, I’m using an L-Frame, even though the heavier loads should not be particularly strenuous.

That's a neat project. Would make for a fun hunting handgun.

As heavy as it is, it will require a cross-chest bandolier holster so’s not to be walking in circles from leaning to one side.