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Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

686 Caliber Dilema


Shadowrider

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The gun:

2012-02-17140837.jpg

I was/am still considering converting to .40SW but the wait time will be considerably shorter if I just set it up for .38 Super. I could likely shoot it the rest of this year. If I go .40SW it will likely be mid/late May at the very earliest before I can be running with this thing. The problem is that if I go .38 Super I will want ports which if I understand correctly will put this gun in open division permanently. The ports will also likely make reboring to .40 impossible. It's a 6 shot and I know that's a liability in open, but what revo in open isn't? The optic is far better with my eyes and may or may not be permanent, it all depends on how much fun I have dabbling in open division with a revo but I will be putting on one of Toolguy's FO fronts IF I decide on .40.

So what would you do? Go open and stay there or just deal with the time frame and do .40SW so you can shoot revo or open?

:blink:

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I will be the first to ask. What is wrong with just leaving the caliber it already is?

Lee

Case length and reload times if shooting major which is what I want to do with it. .357 mags ain't fast to reload and shooting 175 rounds of them ain't fun either. Plus the ROs get cranky. :roflol:

Edited by Shadowrider
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What about option three - buy another gun. :devil:

This was meant I think as somewhat of a joke, but there is a lot of truth to it. By the time you get it modded, assuming it does work out as intended, moon clips are spendy for a setup like that and in the end it will not be as competitive. A 625, 610 or 627 would pay for itself quickly in the cost of clips and headache/wait me thinks. Just my opinion.

Lee

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for major loads 5"gun the 625 is king--if you want a 6" gun buy the 610,40s&w,major load not bad to shoot--my $.02

if you want to shoot minor in open the 627,or 686--38 super would be my choice,and if you don't like if later you can sell and get some of your money back for another game,,but if you build a Frankenstein gun you will have it forever..second thought !!!

Edited by EEH
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You can have it cut for moon clips for about $100.00 plus shipping. What would be the difference between doing this, and shooting a moonclipped 38 Super? For that matter, you could cut down 38SPL brass to 38 Super length and shoot it in the moonclipped cylinder. Then, you could experiment with the Short Colt loads later on when you decide to try something different again.

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for major loads 5"gun the 625 is king--if you want a 6" gun buy the 610,40s&w,major load not bad to shoot--my $.02

if you want to shoot minor in open the 627,or 686--38 super would be my choice,and if you don't like if later you can sell and get some of your money back for another game,,but if you build a Frankenstein gun you will have it forever..second thought !!!

I have a very nice 5" 625, but the N frames just feel like slugs to me. K frames are the ultimate DA revolver IMO. The L frame is somewhere in the middle but not too far from K. I believe the cylinder for an L frame weighs just as much as a N frame, but after you load them up I'm not sure. What I am sure of is the big honking cylinder on the N frame does seem to have much more inertia. They just feel sluggish to me.

You can have it cut for moon clips for about $100.00 plus shipping. What would be the difference between doing this, and shooting a moonclipped 38 Super? For that matter, you could cut down 38SPL brass to 38 Super length and shoot it in the moonclipped cylinder. Then, you could experiment with the Short Colt loads later on when you decide to try something different again.

I'm actually thinking along these lines now. I have 500 rounds of brand new Starline .357 mag brass. I wouldn't mind trimming it since this will be a moonclip gun and can keep track of my brass. I could also play with it with speedloaders while making up my mind. I still think .40 is the way to go, but I'm just so impatient. Sometimes I just piss myself off... :roflol:

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I'm actually thinking along these lines now. I have 500 rounds of brand new Starline .357 mag brass. I wouldn't mind trimming it since this will be a moonclip gun and can keep track of my brass. I could also play with it with speedloaders while making up my mind. I still think .40 is the way to go, but I'm just so impatient. Sometimes I just piss myself off... :roflol:

I know exactly what you mean!

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I will be the first to ask. What is wrong with just leaving the caliber it already is?

Lee

Case length and reload times if shooting major which is what I want to do with it. .357 mags ain't fast to reload and shooting 175 rounds of them ain't fun either. Plus the ROs get cranky. :roflol:

If you want .40 then do it. You will probably go there envy way, so save the cost of the intermediate step with 38 super.

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Depending on how short you trim the .357 brass the wall thickness may be so thick that when you seat the bullet the round might bulge enough that it will not go into the cyl.

FWIW

Richard

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Update: After much deliberation and talking to several really good revo shooters yesterday, I've decided to keep this one minor. I have an extremely nice 5" 625-4 for major (actually it's one of the nicest I've ever seen in any S&W revo). I'll just learn to deal with it's clunckiness.

Moonclips and .38LC/.38SC brass are being ordered in the morning.

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Depending on how short you trim the .357 brass the wall thickness may be so thick that when you seat the bullet the round might bulge enough that it will not go into the cyl.

FWIW

Richard

Good point Richard, I am trimming .38 spec brass to .809" and they work great with 158 Gr. Berrys, but with my Cast 195 Grs. (Lyman mold) they do bulge a tad. A quick run in the "Lee" factory crimp/resize die fixes that. It only seems to be bad with Remington .38 Brass, I use only Federal now and have no problems at all, great load, very accurate and NO recoil

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