# Loose screws on a S&W 686-6



## logan85 (May 7, 2006)

I finaly have discovered why my 686 has been haveing difficulty setting of primers.

According to a man at Smith and Wesson, every screw on the gun is made to be screwd in as far as it can go. Then, they take an air-wrench and further tighten the screws. The screw on that sets the mainspring is set by fileing the tip of the screw in such a way that it is supposed to be screwd in as far as it could go.

Well, after hand tightening the screw on the main spring, I proceeded to fire ~70 rounds, and at the end of the day the screw on the main spring had managed to come about 2 turns loose. Later, as I was cleaning the gun, the forward screw on the rear sight had almost come competely out. By the way, two calls to S&W were made, the first call they pointed out the main spring screw should simply be fully tightened, after reporting the loosening of the screws they said that at the factory they used an air wrench to tighten the screws and so they were probbably simply not tight enough. . .

So I guess I need to hunt down the appropriate screw-drivers for every screw on the gun (as a lot of 'em have been comeing loose) and possibly even hunt down an air wrench. . . :roll:

_However,_ if the screws had all been tightened down at the factory, using a air-wrench, _to a point where they would not come loose_, then I doubt even an air-wrench will fix my problem. So, I have a strange feeling I'm going to have to put lock-tight or a similar product on every screw.

Does this sound like a good or bad idea considering the situation with the screws on the gun? I really did expect the quality on this gun to be better. . . It's only had about 1,000 rounds through it.

L J


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## Hal8000 (May 8, 2006)

Use lock-tite a fair amount myself... I'd use it in a heart beat!

There are three colors that I know of:

Blue- light/medium weight use. It can be easily removed. (Great for grips and frequently removed screws)
Green- Can be applied to screws in place. (hard to find)
Red- Considered to be for heavy use. Takes a fair amount of heat to remove... (I use this for screws I don't normally remove)


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## spacedoggy (May 11, 2006)

Iv'e put close to 5000 through my 686 plus and no screw problem yet. That's why I didn't buy a Taurus, I hear you have to tighten screws every 50 rd. Use lock=tite it's a great product. It's what keeps my Harley together.


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

*Setting screws*

I can recommend Loc-Tite, the red or green. The green used for screws already set.

The mainspring strain screw is set, but it is set for the original spring. If the mainspring is replaced, then it has to be readjusted accordingly. I've watched them assemble revolvers at Smith & Wesson. They are hand fitted and fired for accuracy. I was amused to see one adjusting "tool", a bar of pure lead about a foot long and fitted with a bicycle hand grip, used as a hammer, to make minute adjustments in the fit of the crane and frame.

Put me in mind of the old joke that ends "Ten dollars for hitting it with a hammer. A hundred and forty dollars for knowin' where to hit it."

Bob Wright


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## logan85 (May 7, 2006)

Bob - the gun was purchased new, so the spring and screw should be good for each other.

I shall search for some Loc-Tite today. You recomend usingeither the red or green, I'm not sure I will be using the green, as every screw (em, all but one) on the gun is loose, they should not be hard to remove. I also doubt the local hardware store would have a more rare type of Loc-Tite. Anyways, according to Hal8000's post, the red loc-tite would be quite difficult to remove if I ever had to had the screws taken out, so I shall search for the weaker blue loc-tite and try that first.

L J


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

If I'm not mistaken, I bought the green Loc-Tite from AutoZone. But haven't had any problem finding it.

I use it fairly often after turning barrels in the frame. I works its way down into the threads and locks the barrel in place. This is why I've had some of my S&W barrels pinned.

Bob Wright


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## 2400 (Feb 4, 2006)

logan85 said:


> So, I have a strange feeling I'm going to have to put lock-tight or a similar product on every screw.


Clean the screw and the threaded hole, then use Locktite "Blue" or 242 as it's known. It will hold the screw and not let it back out. The 242 will let you take it apart without using heat and cut down on the possibility of breaking it off. The red will need heat and force to remove it.


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

2400 You are correct!

Its the TUBE that's red. The stuff inside is BLUE, shut my mouth.

Sorry if I mis-led anybody.

Bob Wright


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## DWARREN123 (May 11, 2006)

I have a fairly new S&W 60-15, it did the same, I used blue Loc-Tite. It did the job so far.


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