T Bacus Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 So what can you do to a six inch barreled 686 if you want to shoot it in IDPA? The rule book says shortening factory barrels is ok, and I'll assume buying a factory 4" barrel and swapping it out is also ok. But what factory barrel can you buy? Is a 4" Mountain Gun barrel ok? Could you order a 4" SSR barrel and install that? If cutting the factory six inch tube is ok, can I cut it to match the conture of an SSR barrel? Here's the real issue. I want to play in SSR next year and I need to get a gun. The 686 SSR from Smith is a nice gun but I really hate the new guns with the lock. Not because I have a problem with the lock, but I hate the new conture of the frame around the hammer. I also have a really smoking set of Houge Wood grips but they are for a Square Butt, not a round one. Lastly, a new SSR is around $700 and I can pick up used 686 SqButt for under $350.00. What I would prefer to do is take the factory 6" barrel and turn it into a 4" barrel that looks like an SSR barrel. My question is, do you think that this would be A), legal, and , in the spirit of the IDPA rules. Worst case scenario is I just buy an SSR barrel, or a Mountain Gun barrel if the SSR barrel is not avaliable, but I'd really rather modify the 6" one, cheaper to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Tim, I've forwarded on your question to Robert Ray, the rules guru at IDPA HQ. I'll follow up with a phone call and hopefully have an answer for you shortly. Duane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 So what can you do to a six inch barreled 686 if you want to shoot it in IDPA? The rule book says shortening factory barrels is ok, and I'll assume buying a factory 4" barrel and swapping it out is also ok. But what factory barrel can you buy? Is a 4" Mountain Gun barrel ok? Could you order a 4" SSR barrel and install that? If cutting the factory six inch tube is ok, can I cut it to match the conture of an SSR barrel? Here's the real issue. I want to play in SSR next year and I need to get a gun. The 686 SSR from Smith is a nice gun but I really hate the new guns with the lock. Not because I have a problem with the lock, but I hate the new conture of the frame around the hammer. I also have a really smoking set of Houge Wood grips but they are for a Square Butt, not a round one. Lastly, a new SSR is around $700 and I can pick up used 686 SqButt for under $350.00. What I would prefer to do is take the factory 6" barrel and turn it into a 4" barrel that looks like an SSR barrel. My question is, do you think that this would be A), legal, and , in the spirit of the IDPA rules. Worst case scenario is I just buy an SSR barrel, or a Mountain Gun barrel if the SSR barrel is not avaliable, but I'd really rather modify the 6" one, cheaper to me! My understanding is it will have to be of a configuration that was offered to the general public as a production model revolver. The rule on shortening a barrel5. Shortening of factory barrels. I would like to see the answer from IDPA also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Bacus Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Tim,I've forwarded on your question to Robert Ray, the rules guru at IDPA HQ. I'll follow up with a phone call and hopefully have an answer for you shortly. Duane Thanks Duane. Hey, I read your articles in the latest G&A Book of the 1911, good work there. I remember the OM 9MM you wrote about in the New-Breed 9 article. That was one sweet shooting little pistol. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Yer welcome. Thanks for the kind words on the articles, and the 9mm Officers Parabellum; it's always been one of my favorites. BTW, talked to Robert Ray at IDPA HQ today. His immediate reaction was that cutting a 6" barrel down to 4" was perfectly okay, that's right out of the Rule Book. For the other options you mentioned, he's going to do some research, then post directly here with a definitive answer, possibly tomorrow (Thursday), certainly before the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detonics Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 After looking at the offerings for the 686, i have found that replacing the factory 6" barrel with a SSR or Mountain gun barrel would be acceptable as long as all other criteria for the division was met. The 686 was offered with both of these barrel profiles so each would be legal as well shortening the barrel from 6" to 4". As for re-contouring the barrel to match the SSR barrel specs, the rule book only says that you can cut a barrel down in length. I would have to say that the answer to re-contouring the barrel would be no. I hope that this helps get you up and running in the the SSR division. Have a good week and a great shooting season. Robert Ray IDPA HQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Robert, Thanks for your work in this matter, and the quick reply. Duane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey357 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 The answer from "HQ" was about what I thought it would be ...BTW, Tim, the square-butt grips you have will fit onto the RB frame of the new SSR just fine--just leaves a lil' bit of "Gap" at the bottom of the backstrap--not hardly worth mentioning...HTH....mikey357 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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