When it rains it pours. Was excited last year when Lipsey's reintroducing the Smith & Wesson Mountain Guns. I've had a 629 Mountain Gun for years that has been my woods carry gun. Always wanted the 686 but was never able to find one. So put my name in with my dealer for a 686 the day after they were announced and waited, and waited, and waited...

About 6 months later they announced the 610 and 617 Mountain Guns. Cool! Put my name in for both. Really didn't need the 610 as I have a Ruger GP100 Wiley Clapp in 10mm, but hey, it's a no lock Smith. The next week my dealer received the 610, the one I wanted the least showed up and I got it.

Then Friday, was in my LGS looking at something else and he says, "Hey, we got a couple of revolvers for you." Yes the 686 and 617 showed up. Absolute worst timing as I've got some other current financial commitments that take priority over two revolvers. Fortunately my dealer offered to hold them for me.

No obvious QC issues on either one. The 686 has the tightest lockup of any of my Smith revolvers. Probably also has the tightest barrel/cylinder gap as well, hope that doesn't become an issue. The grips on the 617 are absolutely gorgeous with high contrast grain. Looking forward to getting both of these home.

So for those who say pics or it didn't happen...

I’ve got those two. I suspect the tight lockup is due to that ball detention on the yoke. I think it’s funny that my 22 has that feature but the 44 Mountain Guns stuck with the old style lockup.

I think you will like them. My 617 has quickly become a favorite and the 686 has kind of replaced my older 357’s.

Great guns.

I learned my lesson about buying new Smith and Wesson revolvers. Good luck if you plan on actually shooting them much.

That is bullshit jones. In the last couple years I have bought a S&W 43C which the internet has demolished for being shitty. It became a staple in my range bag with a speed beez 8 shot speedloader. I have put at least half a case of 22 through it. With the loading blocks you can shoot 80 rounds as quick as you can run a speed loader. Which you do because it’s a 2” snub so you shoot it fast and a bunch. Zero issues.

I then bought the 340 no IL. I certainly don’t shoot that as much as the 22 and mostly 38’s with the occasional +p. Zero issues.

617 Mountain Gun. I just got this so it doesn’t have a ton of rounds yet but what do you possibly think is going to break on it? It’s a wildly overbuilt K frame 22.

686 Mountain Gun. Also fairly new. Again what do you think is going to break?So far it has done a boring job of acting like an L frame Model 66(I know the 66 is K but shooting them side by side it feels like a 66 more than my old 686+). It has a much beefier forcing cone, its built on a bigger frame, it has replaced the secondary locking feature with the ball decent on the yoke which anybody with any engineering sense can easily see it’s a stronger lockup system.

Which Smith revolvers have you been shooting that fell apart on you? I am looking at 4 new manufactured S&W and unless I got lucky they are just as good and better than the old stuff (outside collecting purpose).

In fact the last revolver I had to send back to the factory was a Ruger.

The OP can shoot the hell out of those two guns are they will be just fine. If you are being honest you would admit that that 686 MG is the strongest built 357 L frame S&W has ever made. Go look at the forcing cones of an old one and then this one. Then go look at the old style ejector rod lockup and the yoke ball detent and enlighten us on how the old one is stronger.

Have you even shot the MG yet?

Oh great. Bullshit.

Damn my lying eyes. Good to hear that what I experienced wasn’t poor QC and it was just bullshit.

But, I know I have too high expectations for the guns to work out of the box. For the sights and cylinder latch not to break/fall off under recoil. For the yoke to be defect free upon purchased. So glad to hear all that was just bullshit.

So you never have fired a mountain gun but you are very comfortable shitting on this man’s post. Got it.

If you transferred a gun where the yoke was problematic that’s on you. As for the rest did they fix it? Or are you just going to smear every gun they make because you had an issue?

Internet angst. It’s a fucking cancer. You buy/shoot enough guns shit happens. You painting a retardedly wide brush stroke is just that. Fucking retarded.

Name one manufacturer you have ever shot that you didn’t have to fix something or send it back under warranty. I’ll start.

Walther, Ruger, SA, Glock, Sig, S&W, that’s just off the top of my head sitting in a hotel room. It’s just how mechanical things work.

You saying those two guns won’t work if you shoot them enough, which is exactly what you said, is absolute bullshit. If you don’t recognize that, then that’s your problem.

lol. You sound like a shill.

Yeah. When I buy two new guns and neither work correctly and are nothing but problems, I’m going to say the whole line has some issues. And we’re talking all these problems across 2000 rounds of .38 and .357. Not 20,000 rounds. And dammit, I should have removed that yoke to check it first specs. But I’ve never heard of yoke problems causing light primer strikes. It’s what Smith claimed was wrong with it.

I know, I know. How dare I not toe the party line and giving them glowing reviews. But, I guess that’s what they have you for.

I will not buy new Smith revolvers again. Lesson learned. Smith didn’t make it right. The FFL did.

Fuck you. You sound like an asshole. The man just dropped 2k on his new revolvers and is excited to get them in hand and you shit on their quality from behind your keyboard. Yes. That’s an asshole move. And you are talking out your ass. Just because you had a gun that broke from the factory you act like you are some fucking messiah of guns. Big deal. Like I said I’ve had broken guns from the factory from every manufacturer out there. I hope somebody buys something so I can go shit in their thread.

Your problem jones is you think your experiences trump everyone else’s experiences. They don’t.

I've handled two Mountain Guns in my life. The second one I bought, ever so slightly used. Perfect. That was in the early 90's.

The first one I ever handled, also the early 90's, was a new one a "big box" sporting goods store had. When I finally saved up enough money I went to buy it. And I was crushed. It stayed with them. It was worst put together S&W I'd ever handled. Might even be at the top of the list to this day.

So nothing new as far as hit and miss.

For what it's worth, my 686 Mountain Gun is perfect. No issues with QC or sights. The only thing I changed was the grip, and that's because I prefer the Hogue grips on Smith revolvers.

Congrats, OP, on the new MGs!

I was pleasantly surprised to come across a new 686+ MG at a local shop a handful of months ago. I’d read a lot about the new MG line and seen quite a few YT videos, including lots of info on the troubles some owners were having with them. Thus it was that I was dubious about the gun, trying to not be overly “wowed” that I’d found one in-person, so to speak.


I got to handle it a good bit before committing to it and felt confident moving ahead with the purchase; the shop featuring the gun at a bit below the then-going rate didn’t hurt.


I’m now just shy of having 500 rounds downrange with it. A fair mix of Magnums, .38+P, and standard-pressure .38s represented there. No issues thus far. It is not as “good-feeling” as my usual older N-Frames are, but it’s working quite well. Easy to shoot; in fact, so much fun to shoot it’s hard to stop. The gun feels svelte to me, akin to handling a Model 66 as others have said (again, my fondness for N-Frames is helping reinforce this, I’m sure). I’ve not yet purchased dedicated gunleather for it but likely will soon; I’ve carried it in my existing N-Frame holsters in the meantime (not a perfect fit, clearly, but good enough to get by with for now).

I’m really liking it (including the Tyler Gun Works take on the Bear Hug Grips product).

The internet loves to bitch. I’ve had lots of guns that I had to tweak something that should have been right from the factory. Some occasionally had to go back to their respective motherships to make them right. That being said if you believe the internet you would only buy guns from last century and everything made today is crap. I buy a lot of guns. I shoot a lot of guns. For straight up shooting, not collecting (which I prefer the old ones for that), I find modern guns to be almost universally fantastic. But if you don’t know how screwdrivers, loctite, and drifting sights works then yea, new guns suck. lol.

Goodgoddam let the man enjoy his new toys, jones. Are you drinking or just wanting to piss on someone's joy?

I think they are spectacular and hope you enjoy them, 2000Z.