What's your favorite new revolver?

dcmdon said:
I own 4 revolvers that are among my favorite firearms of all time.

1) Ruger security six, blued, adjustable sights, 6" barrel. Its not as much of a beast as the GP100 and the lack of a full underlug keeps it pointable. And its very pretty
2) Smith and wesson 4" model 66 custom by Richard Fletcher of Fletcher Custom. This is the finest handgun I own. A joy to shoot.



3) New kid on the block - S&W 986. This is a 7 shot 9mm revolver. Its got a 5 inch barrel and a titanium cylinder. Before I shot it I was afraid it would be too light at about 32 oz. But its just perfect. It has the longer sight radius of a 5" gun but points and balances like a light 4" gun. Also because the barrel is longer, the recoil is more straight back than flip. The gun is new to me. So I've got a few things to do before it suits my needs. 1) new grips, I hate the Hogue finger grip grips. 2) a better/lighter DA trigger. I'm going to try doing a fluff and buff along with loosening the mainspring preload screw. It already has the PC main spring. I already make reloads for my competition glock using Federal primers, so it won't really need much of a whack.

To me the beauty of this gun is that I already make 9mm by the bucketful. So I won't hesitate to shoot it a lot.

Which reminds me I need to buy more moon clips.

4) last is a 6" high polish nickel model 29 in .44 magnum. I partly love this gun because of how I got it. I was at a gun shop in early 2013. The guy was freaked out by Obama's second term and was getting rid of any gun he didn't have a receipt for. The shop only offered him $300 for the gun. He turned it down. I followed him into the parking lot and offered him $350 cash on the spot. He accepted. We drove to a friends office down the road, printed up some DPS-3 forms and did the deal. The gun had never been fired and didn't even have turn marks on the cylinder.

Don

This is a group photo of the 29 painted for deer hunting. All the nickel is covered. Its a special paint that comes off with brake cleaner. Middle gun is a 686, which I like, but don't love. The bottom gun is the 66 before its visit with Richard Fletcher.

Click to expand...


What's not to love about the 686.
I love mine. Such a nice gun. Had to talk myself out of buying an extra 686 a few times. I almost lost the argument too.
Love them!

That 29 is awesome!! The 66 is a great looking gun. Nice collection


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The 686 is a great gun. I've just grown to prefer the 4" 66.

The 686 was actually the first new gun I ever purchased. It was a group buy from my gun club in the early 90s. Its a semi-custom run with the name of the club laser engraved on the side of the barrel and a round butt, which was rare for a 6" gun back then.

Don
 
S&W 627.

Becuase only having 6 or 7 rounds of .357 is lame!

Personally, I like .357 for its versatility. It can be pretty powerful, yet still cheap to shoot with .38spcl. It's easy and cheap to reload. I even run .38 short Colt loads in my S&W 627 for ultra cheap, ultra fun loads. Moonclips make sure you bring home all your brass and make reloads as east as can be.

I picked up a 4" 627 Pro Series for $625 from the classifieds... A little patience will save you some money of you go that route (although I really want the 5")
 
**DRB** said:
S&W 627.

Becuase only having 6 or 7 rounds of .357 is lame!

Personally, I like .357 for its versatility. It can be pretty powerful, yet still cheap to shoot with .38spcl. It's easy and cheap to reload. I even run .38 short Colt loads in my S&W 627 for ultra cheap, ultra fun loads. Moonclips make sure you bring home all your brass and make reloads as east as can be.

I picked up a 4" 627 Pro Series for $625 from the classifieds... A little patience will save you some money of you go that route (although I really want the 5")
Click to expand...

where did you get your moonclips?

Do you use a tool to unload the brass off teh clips?

These are new questions for me with my new 986
Don
 
dcmdon said:
where did you get your moonclips?

Do you use a tool to unload the brass off teh clips?

These are new questions for me with my new 986
Don
Click to expand...

I have a dozen or so moonclips I bought used for screwing around and 10 purchased of TK Custom match moonclips specifically for the starline brass for my .38 short Colt loads (these are stupid, stupid expensive). I have an old moonclips tool as well

I set this up to mess around with the revolver for a few maches last year but I ended up not getting to shoot a single match with everything going on.... The TK Custom mokn clips are nice, but not needed unless he clock is running (their $65+ for 10)
 
Last edited:
dcmdon said:
where did you get your moonclips?

Do you use a tool to unload the brass off teh clips?

These are new questions for me with my new 986
Don
Click to expand...

I've only used his 8-shot 38/357 clips but George at Revolver Supply is great to deal with. He is also a dealer on NES: gmm50. I've got 50 of the plain steel and 60 of the nickel plated. As with any 38/357 clip they are brass specific. Federal and R&P work best with those. It looks like he as ones for the 986 as well. Send him and e-mail, he'll likely send you some samples to try.

As for moon/de-mooning tools BMT makes the best, at least for rimmed cartridges. They are expensive but worth it. I've heard they aren't as good with the non-rimmed 9/40/45 though.
 
eisenhow said:
I've only used his 8-shot 38/357 clips but George at Revolver Supply is great to deal with. He is also a dealer on NES: gmm50. I've got 50 of the plain steel and 60 of the nickel plated. As with any 38/357 clip they are brass specific. Federal and R&P work best with those. It looks like he as ones for the 986 as well. Send him and e-mail, he'll likely send you some samples to try.

As for moon/de-mooning tools BMT makes the best, at least for rimmed cartridges. They are expensive but worth it. I've heard they aren't as good with the non-rimmed 9/40/45 though.
Click to expand...

Yes, please listen to eisenhow.... He actually knows what he's talking about!
 
Thanks. I found Revolver Supply's web site. Thanks.

TK Custom now makes blue steel moon clips. Their price for 10 is the same price for 10 of Revolver Supply's stainless ones.

While stainless is nice, function is more important. Any thoughts on that? I want to support a member of this forum, but the ones that come with the gun are TK's. Maybe I'll call him talk to him about it.

Don
 
**DRB** said:
I even run .38 short Colt loads in my S&W 627 for ultra cheap, ultra fun loads.
Click to expand...

What kind of powder and projectiles are you running in your 38 short colt? I have the brass but have not reloaded it yet. I read that I should look at 9mm loads to get a starting point.


If you want a revolver tricked out without all that cosmetic stuff, check out Dave Santurri in North Attleborough. He took my 686 with 6" barrel, swapped in a 4" barrel, cut the cylinder for moon clips and performed an action job. He talked me out of extraneous stuff like recutting the crown and other cosmetic work like a typical Yankee. :)

The trigger is amazing and his turn around is quite fast.

Chris
 
Proud Citizen said:
What's the difference between the S&W 627 and 686 besides capacity? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...

Frame size for one thing. N for the 627 and L for the 686. The N is a large frame revolver and the L is a medium/large frame revolver. The L was developed because the medium framed K .357, (m19's and m66's) weren't holding up to a steady diet of .357 loads when training changed and police departments trained with the same ammo they carried and not .38 Spl loads for training. Also the new at the time 125 grain JHP .357s were hot.

The N frame is the frame the original .357 was built on. A lot of people find this gun to be heavy for a carry gun. YMMV.

Either offering is a good choice from S&W IMO. I depends on how the feel to you.
 
Ok, pardon this if it's a dumb question, but what is the advantage of moon clips? I only own one revolver so far (GP100 match champion), and have speed loaders for it. Are moon clips a type of "speed loader"? If so, why would you choose moon clips when you need a special tool to add or remove the cartridges? If I'm not mistaken, I believe the cylinder needs special machining as well. Just curious "why?" Anyone would go that route?
 
Terminator03 said:
Ok, pardon this if it's a dumb question, but what is the advantage of moon clips? I only own one revolver so far (GP100 match champion), and have speed loaders for it. Are moon clips a type of "speed loader"? If so, why would you choose moon clips when you need a special tool to add or remove the cartridges? If I'm not mistaken, I believe the cylinder needs special machining as well. Just curious "why?" Anyone would go that route?
Click to expand...

Moon clips are great for competition speed reloads. You don't need to deal with an empty loader. All round drop in with the clip. Fire. Eject the round and the clip.
Yes your gun does need to be cut for them. They're not really good for a self defense revolver IMHO. If you tried to carry clips in your pocket you would most likely bend them. That would drag on the recoil shield and render the gun inoperable.
Some revolvers like the S&W 1917 uses moon clips because it's chambered for a rimless cartridge. Without the rim a normal ejector can't eject the spent cartridges. The clip give the ejector something to push on to eject spent rounds.
Some of these guns can't fire fine without the clip because they rounds headspace on the case mouth against a shoulder in the chamber. You just need to poke the emptied out with a pencil or use your thumbnail to pick them off by the rim.
Some newer versions of the 1917 don't have the chamber shoulder so they won't fire without the use of clips. The rounds will just be forced deeper into the chamber and jam inside the cylinder.
So if you want to fire a rimless round in a revolver you need clips. People add them to rimmed cartridges like the 38/357 for faster reloads.

Or you can lookup the new Korth 9mm conversion cylinder, a S&W 547 or a Medisa 47 revolver to see how some ingenuity can eject rimless cartridges without a moon clip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Moon clips are great for competition speed reloads. You don't need to deal with an empty loader. All round drop in with the clip. Fire. Eject the round and the clip.
Yes your gun does need to be cut for them. They're not really good for a self defense revolver IMHO. If you tried to carry clips in your pocket you would most likely bend them. That would drag on the recoil shield and render the gun inoperable.
Some revolvers like the S&W 1917 uses moon clips because it's chambered for a rimless cartridge. Without the rim a normal ejector can't eject the spent cartridges. The clip give the ejector something to push on to eject spent rounds.
Some of these guns can't fire fine without the clip because they rounds headspace on the case mouth against a shoulder in the chamber. You just need to poke the emptied out with a pencil or use your thumbnail to pick them off by the rim.
Some newer versions of the 1917 don't have the chamber shoulder so they won't fire without the use of clips. The rounds will just be forced deeper into the chamber and jam inside the cylinder.
So if you want to fire a rimless round in a revolver you need clips. People add them to rimmed cartridges like the 38/357 for faster reloads.

Or you can lookup the new Korth 9mm conversion cylinder, a S&W 547 or a Medisa 47 revolver to see how some ingenuity can eject rimless cartridges without a moon clip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Michael, thank you for taking the time to explain their function. Makes much more sense now.
 
Jim85IROC said:
It's ugly, but it's such a simple idea that it amazes me it took so long for somebody to think of it. I'd love to shoot one to see how it handles
Click to expand...

Doesn't the Mateba use a similar system? I'm not sure if they're even available or not but I thought it was similar.
Cool concept but I'm not a fan of it aesthetically. If you could make it look like a S&W I would be impressed

Terminator03 said:
Michael, thank you for taking the time to explain their function. Makes much more sense now.
Click to expand...

Glad I could help. I forgot to note that for rimmed cartridge revolvers like 38/357 you don't need the clips to extract. The cylinder is cut so you still headspace off of the rim and can eject normally without the clip.
I think it was Gemini customs that had some moon clip cylinder machining videos on their website. Pretty cool to watch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Doesn't the Mateba use a similar system? I'm not sure if they're even available or not but I thought it was similar.
Cool concept but I'm not a fan of it aesthetically. If you could make it look like a S&W I would be impressed



Glad I could help. I forgot to note that for rimmed cartridge revolvers like 38/357 you don't need the clips to extract. The cylinder is cut so you still headspace off of the rim and can eject normally without the clip.
I think it was Gemini customs that had some moon clip cylinder machining videos on their website. Pretty cool to watch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll have to try to find those videos because I'd be interested in seeing the process.
 
yes. everyone DOES need a .22 revolver! I have an old model 17. More accurate than the user any day of the week. shooting quick is fun but shooting accurately makes for a nice change of pace at the range. Next range trip I'm going to benchrest it. I've looked into getting a model 41 but cant justify it with how well the 17 shoots
 
grey said:
yes. everyone DOES need a .22 revolver! I have an old model 17. More accurate than the user any day of the week. shooting quick is fun but shooting accurately makes for a nice change of pace at the range. Next range trip I'm going to benchrest it. I've looked into getting a model 41 but cant justify it with how well the 17 shoots
Click to expand...

That and... It is absolutely perfect for bringing a newbie/ no experience person shooting.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Doesn't the Mateba use a similar system? I'm not sure if they're even available or not but I thought it was similar.
Click to expand...

I believe that I read somewhere that the Rhino is a direct descendant of the Mateba. Not sure if the Mateba patents lapsed when they closed up or exactly the legalities.

But as the barrel fires from the bottom cylinder, supposedly there is little to no muzzle flip and recoil is also much lessened due to it recoiling straight back into the wrist/arm rather than being above the hand torquing up.
 

Similar threads

What not to do with your new gun.
2
Replies
42
Views
1K
Coyote33
Coyote33
Al Capone's favorite gun up for auction Colt 1911
Replies
11
Views
383
tuna
tuna
New member
2 3
Replies
64
Views
935
Canndo
Canndo
Know your target
Replies
4
Views
382
alx
alx
Cleaning your guns
2 3
Replies
66
Views
2K
Buck F
Buck F
Back
Top Bottom