Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 686 or GP100?

I’ve shot both. If I bought one now, I’d get the Ruger, the new Smiths arent as nicely put together as ones before they installed the the grip safety. The Smiths are prettier, but I’d go for a new Ruger indtead thesre days.

What grip safety would that be? Do you mean the sideplate lock?
The only GP100 that I've ever liked is the 3in Wiley Clapp model.

686, pre-Hillary. Although my 686+ is no slouch with a Custom Shop slicked up trigger.

Has Ruger got the problems with the 7 shot GP ironed out? Thinking I read where they have.

I now have a Match Champion that's a pretty damn good pistol after it's obligatory trip back to the factory. But I still like my Smith 66 better.

L frame Smith is more than sufficient, strength wise...........it's even chambered in 44 mag now.

So pick whichever gun you like the best & rock on.

Either way, it's really kind of pointless to shoot full house magnum loads all the time, just for the fun of it, anyway, so in reality 90% of the people don't, so IMO, more or less a moot point.

YMMV

MM

I had a 686 6" for a while and it was a beautifully put together piece, felt great in my big hands with the target grips, and the sights were terrific on it. However, no matter what I did it wouldn't shoot worth a darn. It always shot low left at least 6" at 25 yards with whatever ammo I loaded in it. I let my buddies try it, including one buddy who was a police shooting instructor and none of them could do any better with it so it went down the road. If it has shot as well as it looked it would still be in the safe... haven't had a chance to try the GP100s yet, but hopefully someone at the new gun club I'm joining will have one at the range one day so I can actually get a feel for it. I wouldn't be opposed to trying another 586/686 if I could find one that shot better...

Bob

I don't have my new Anaconda yet but me and the 2 friends I shoot with have our Pythons, SA trigger pull ranges from 6lb 3oz to 6lb 8oz on the 3 revolvers.
For a $1500 revolver a 6 1/2lb trigger might be more than acceptable to you but is completely unacceptable to me...............mine is at the gunsmith right now getting fixed.
In the meantime I will keep shooting my trusty 686

I have an old custom shop 686 I inherited from my dad. It is a hell of a shooter

I've never owned a 686, but have owned several Smith revolvers (and good guns all). Currently I have a SP101 and a GP100 (3 inch Wiley Clapp version) both in .357. Love these guns and would never part with them.

Well, I've owned both, but the GP100 was almost 35 years ago so I don't really remember much about it other than what I really wanted to buy that day for my 21st birthday was the 686 with the 8 3/8" barrel. They didn't have one in stock so I reluctantly bought the Ruger, but wasn't really happy with it mostly because I settled for it instead of what I really wanted, so it went down the road shortly thereafter.

I later bought a 6" 686 and kept it for a couple years, but then sold it. Now, many years later, I just recently bought the 686 with the 8 3/8" adjustable front sight that I'd always wanted. It's at the gun smith right now getting drilled and tapped for a scope. It's a no dash and pre-dated factory drilling and tapping on them. I've owned Rugers and I've owned Smith's, but it's hard to get a better trigger than a S&W and I prefer the looks too.

Mine is well over 6 pounds. Not exactly sure where it is because my scale doesn't go that high. I have two original anaconda and they are much better. I love everything else about my new python except the single action trigger pull. The double action pull is quite good. I should probably just get the trigger done and use the python but I'm still going to look for a 4" seven shot 686. I'm making piles of 148 wadcutters so I can get some practice in. I don't shoot handguns enough to be good with one. I plan to change that.

Does anyone know if the 170g Keith type bullets seat too far out for some shorter 357 cylinders? I think a good 170g Keith would work well as an all around cast load. I've loaded 180g wfn cast bullets for my wife's 3" sp101 that she carries fishing. I've found the heavier bullets still get decent velocity from the shorter barrels.

My favorite all around 357 bullet is probably the 158 xtp. I load a lot of those for her 101 too. The 158 xtp penetrates well enough for most things less than grizzly yet still offers enough expansion for self defense.

I used to use 125g hps for self d in a 357 and still occasionally carry a rem golden Saber 125g 357 load that Remington didn't load much hotter than 38 +p. That's usually what I have in my 360 pd because it's hard to handle much more than that in the little scadnium.

Bb

I've had both a 686 and a stainless GP100, both 4" I still have the GP100. Mine is an older model with the rubber grips with the wood insert. Fits my hand better than the Smith. I installed the Wolff springs and it has a pretty decent trigger now. Mine loves the 180 XTP's over a stout charge of H110. Another thing I like about the GP100 is how easy it is to change the front sight. Literally a 30 second job.

How often do you change the front sight?

I did on my 3" when I was shooting 90/95 grain .358 bullets. Took me 30 seconds and really helped.

I'd go for the 686, but would take one of the later pre-lock ones:

In the early L frames ( 586, 586-1, 686, 686-1) there was a recall regarding a firing pin bushing. Some revolvers would lock up while firing because the primer would flow back into the firing pin hole. Not all. The revolvers shipped to a S&W facility have an M stamped on the frame in the yoke area.

I've had a few of each over the years and sold my last 686 soon after I bought a GP100 44 Spl. The 5 shot 44 is easily my favorite of the bunch...

I like my 686, but will admit I have not shot a GP100 but one time but I liked it as well

I went into the gunshop today looking fir a 4" 686 plus. The had a 4" 6 shot 686 and a 3" 686 7 shot. I had about talked myself into the 3" plus model and yhen I noticed they had just put out a new M&P 10mm in the model i was looking for.

So the 686 plus will have to wait a but because I bought the 4" with safety M&P 10mm. I rely like the feel of this 10mm so I hope it is reliable like my xdm 10s are.

I also noticed a brand new looking heavy barrel savage 12 in 22-250 on the used rack cheap. I had a sticker that said cabelas exclusive on it. I'm not a savage fan but it looked like it would work for shooting a bunch of ground squirrels and I was already doing paperwork so I bought it too. I need to figure out what twist it is. I guess savage made 22-250s in 9 and 12 twist. I hope it's a 9.

Bb

Have an blue GP100 4" that's amazing, beautiful old s&W model 27's, 19, pre dash 686, model 13, and Ruger security six , old blued python and trooper mkIII. The 686 that I have is extremely nice as is the action and I love it. But truth be told my old model 27's and the Ruger GP100 are the best 357 revolvers I have, even more so than my old colts. Hands down no comparison the $450 I paid for the GP100 and the Milt Sparks holster were an bargain and one slick package. I improved it even more by an shim and spring kit and some stoning. The thing is an Supreme packing revolver, but that just my opinion and it may be different for others.

If you're referring to your new Python regarding cylinder length and the 170 Keith, that combo in 357 brass is too long. It does work nicely in 38 Spl brass - that shot very well in mine with HS-6.