New 686 No Lock??

A buddy of mine said he saw a 'new' 686 (don't know the dash #) without a lock at a local gunstore. I'm a bit skeptical about it since I haven't heard S&W stopped putting locks on their bigger revolvers.

I also looked on the S&W site for new 686s and it had a lock. I can't think of an explanation for this, without delving into dishonesty on the store's part- any thoughts?

I thought I heard that S&W was going to slowly stop putting the locks in over the next few years.

I'd venture to guess that the place either had the tag marked wrong, or your buddy simply did not see the lock. I know of no SKU#'s in S&W's 686 lineup without the lock, perhaps with the exception of custom shop creations.


I'm open to being proven wrong, in which case I"ll order one for my shop immediately.

I hope so. Have been seeing some more guns without them. First it was the 642 and 442. We just got a 340M&P sans lock.

Bring back the no lock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the replies.

It turned out to be a 686-4, which he bought.

Did it have a lock or no?

I believe -6 began the lock series.

I emailed them again and they confirmed only the J's for now

Good to hear.....

Big fan of SW revolvers but I always send them to Karl Sokol to have the lock taken out... along with trigger job and night sights

I just swapped into another 342 no lock the other day and just got it back from him

I will NOT carry a gun to defend myself with the lock in it.....

No lock.

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