Sw 586

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Mainiac

Well-Known Member
Been shooting my long barrelled 586 this winter.
Id kind of forgot just how accurate this thing is.
Ive been shooting the mp 125hp lately,,the gun thinks it is a bullseye gun,with this little bullet!!
Anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 grs of titegroup,,,shoots well under 1 inch groups,at 25 yards,,
388311 shot under an inch today,with 2.5 tg,,as well.
 
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Slughammer

Member
L-frames are my favorites. My 686 used to have a 6" barrel but is now wearing a 4". It rides in my range bag pretty much all year. If I go to the range just to shoot rifle, I almost always stop at the upper pistol range and shoot some steel plates that are out at 50 yards before heading home.20240212_211602.jpg

Pair of L- Frames. 681 with Holosun on top and 686 with gold bead front sight on the bottom.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Love them L-frames!

It took 45 years, but S&W finally got the 357 Magnum concept right in 1980. Colt's I-frame--similar in size to S&W's L-frame--was birthed in 1953. Battle was joined, now--S&W countered with the Model 19 on the K-frame, then came the Colt Python. The medium-frame 357 Magnum was all that and a bag of chips for a good long time. Not to be outdone, Bill Ruger joined the fun with his company's Speed- and Security-Sixes. Lots of decent mid-frame 357s were on the market.

S&W was almost too late. As police equipment, the 6-shot revolver in 38/357 had about run its course. Scenarios like my shop's Norco Bank Robbery/Shootout--the Miami FBI debacle--and the North Hollywood bank shot with the 2 gym rats showed that the wheelgun was showing its age; by 1997 (the N/H timeframe) most cop shops had converted to bottom-feeders as sideiron. N/H prompted a lot of agencies to start issuing AR-15s to their patrol folk.

All that said......the L-frame 357 Magnum is one fine 357 Magnum revolver. There has never been a time since 1981 that I haven't had at least one at my house.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I have a solid understanding of the magnum K-frame concept, but it was just a bridge too far for the K-frame. The introduction of the Riger DA Six’s (Security, Service, Speed) likely forced S&W to address the limitations of the magnum K-frames. S&W stepped up to the plate and circa 1980, they hit it out of the park with the L-frame. The L-frames are what the magnum K-frames should have been from the beginning. But as Al correctly points out, the L-frames arrived at the end of the revolver days of American law enforcement. This is a bit of a shame because S&W really got it right with the L-frames, but they appeared in the twilight of that era. Civilian sales of the L-frames carry on with the 686 but the fixed sighted models geared toward LE sales (581 & 681) were the first to be dropped from the line.

Ruger upped the ante in 1985 with the introduction of the GP-100. But they faced the same changing winds of that era that S&W was facing.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Thumbcocker, thanks for sharing.

While I don't use that FBI technique with the two middle fingers through the frame "window" but a lot of that video is very familiar.
 
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Mainiac

Well-Known Member
I can see why the revolver died out.
I have a pair of ruger americans,in my and wifes vehicles, plastic,and i hate the looks/feel of them,but 10 rounds of 45acp,with no safetys or levers/buttons,,just squeeze trigger,100% reliable and simple,,,cant beat them!!
 
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Mainiac

Well-Known Member
Mainiac said:
I can see why the revolver died out.
I have a pair of ruger americans,in my and wifes vehicles, plastic,and i hate the looks/feel of them,but 10 rounds of 45acp,with no safetys or levers/buttons,,just squeeze trigger,100% reliable and simple,,,cant beat them!!
Click to expand...
Also,,they will shoot 2-2.5 inch groups@25 yards!!
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
RicinYakima said:
If you bring a pistol to a gun fight, you are behind the power curve. Even in 1970 we had 870's in every car.
Click to expand...
We always had 12 ga. pump guns. Model 12s, then 1200s, finally 870s. Then......well then we hired girls as patrol officers. They hated the shotguns so much they go on a bank alarm or a gun call with just their sidearms. Then the dept. bought those little Ruger carbines, in 40 S&W, but we were carrying S&W 469s in 9 m/m as our issued sidearm. A low point in my career arms wise, in my opinion. The admin people and the city "fathers", (can you be a father with no balls?), were scared speechless of the idea of AR-15s in the cars. I became a Sgt. and had an honest to God glass stocked M-14 tucked along side my driver's door with a spare 20 rounder I bought out of my pocket strapped in my briefcase. I finally talked the powers that be into buying me some W-W 150 grain power point ammo instead of the Federal 168 Match HP the S.W.A.T. snipers carried in their M700s.
Anyway, as other Depts. and the SO put ARs in the cars, and mayhem and lawsuits did not follow, we finally got a fighting long gun back in the cars. I would have preferred both an 870 and the AR to be available, but no such luck.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Mainiac said:
I can see why the revolver died out.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I would label the trend as "Died Out". Perhaps replaced would be a more fitting term.
Revolver tactics are different than pistol tactics but I'm not convinced a good DA revolver is inferior in the real world.

A LOT of courses of fire and other training are designed AROUND the advantages of a pistol. For example, if a course of fire is more than the capacity of the revolver and is conducted in a short time limit - the pistol will have a huge advantage under those rules.
This isn't saying that revolvers are superior but the deck is a little stacked against a revolver when the stages of fire are geared to the strengths of a pistol. In the real world, those advantages become less pronouced.

The push towards pistols in the mid 1980's and into the 1990's is a deep topic for another thread but I think revolvers are no more "dead" than manual transmissions. No longer common but not inferior to the popular replacement.
 
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Mainiac

Well-Known Member
Petrol & Powder said:
I'm not sure I would label the trend as "Died Out". Perhaps replaced would be a more fitting term.
Revolver tactics are different than pistol tactics but I'm not convinced a good DA revolver is inferior in the real world.

A LOT of courses of fire and other training are designed AROUND the advantages of a pistol. For example, if a course of fire is more than the capacity of the revolver and is conducted in a short time limit - the pistol will have a huge advantage under those rules.
This isn't saying that revolvers are superior but the deck is a little stacked against a revolver when the stages of fire are geared to the strengths of a pistol. In the real world, those advantages become less pronouced.

The push towards pistols in the mid 1980's and into the 1990's is a deep topic for another thread but I think revolvers are no more "dead" than manual transmissions. No longer common but not inferior to the popular replacement.
Click to expand...
Yup,,you stated it much better then this hillbilly!!!
What i was getting at,is there is no way i could keep one of my old classic revolvers,,in a vehicle consol,,id worry about it.
But these plastics things(and the ruger has a ss barrell),,,are care free,,plus hold alot of bullets!
At half the cost of a good revolver.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Mainiac said:
Yup,,you stated it much better then this hillbilly!!!
What i was getting at,is there is no way i could keep one of my old classic revolvers,,in a vehicle consol,,id worry about it.
But these plastics things(and the ruger has a ss barrell),,,are care free,,plus hold alot of bullets!
At half the cost of a good revolver.
Click to expand...
Can't argue with that logic.
 
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