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The Smith & Wesson Pellet Revolver
By Roy Hill
The Smith and Wesson Model 686 has been a gold standard for .357 magnum revolvers since its introduction in 1980. The Umarex CO2 version, built under license from Smith and Wesson, has all the style and class of its older magnum cousin, and should prove itself to be a standard against which other CO2 revolver replicas are judged.
Umarex offers the Smith and Wesson in several different models, all bearing the same numerical designation as the original revolvers, 586 for the blued guns and 686 for the stainless models. The Umarex guns come with barrel lengths of four or six inches, and all have the corresponding full-length lug under the barrel, which is an important part of the classic profile of the Smith 686.
Umarex preserves much of the familiar operating system of the double-action revolver in the CO2 version. The pellet magazine release lever is in the same location and has the same appearance as a cylinder release latch. And while the Umarex Smith uses 10-shot pellet rotary magazines instead of a six-shot cylinder, the pellet mags slide onto a shaft that swings back into place on a crane arm, very similar to closing the cylinder on an original Smith and Wesson.
Just like the .357 magnum, the Umarex pistol fires in both double and single action, and features rear sights adjustable for both windage and elevation.
I tested an Umarex 686 with a six-inch barrel, and almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened up the cardboard box I received it in. The realism and attention to detail astounded me.
The blue plastic carrying case looks exactly like the cases in which Smith and Wesson firearms arrive, complete with the silver interlocking script “S” and “W” that is the famous Smith and Wesson logo. Anyone who failed to look closely enough could easily mistake the Umarex pistol for an actual .357 magnum. The matte nickle finish is set off nicely by the black rubber grips. The words “Smith and Wesson Mod. 686-6" are cut into the left side of the barrel, and the Smith and Wesson trademark is engraved on the frame beneath the pellet mag release lever. Only taking the pistol out of its case reveals the additional markings on the gun’s right side identifying it as a.177 caliber licensed copy of a Smith, manufactured by Umarex in Germany.
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The 12-round magazine for the Smith & Wesson revolver.
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Picking the revolver up proves it to be a very close copy of the original. The manual lists the weight of the Umarex 686 as 44.125 ounces, or less than two ounces lighter than an original six-inch Smith in .357. And while the CO2 version has no recoil that needs taming, the full-length lug under the barrel gives the Umarex revolver a nice solid heft, and allows the shooter to hold a very steady sight picture.
The black rubber grips on the Umarex revolver look very much like the black rubber grips that my Smith and Wesson 629 .44 Magnum currently wears, and fit my hand just as comfortably. The right grip panel popped off easily to expose the piercing mechanism for the 12-gram CO2 cylinders that power the revolver.
Out on my backyard range, I found the Umarex 686 to be very enjoyable. Dialing in the sights was just like on an actual Smith revolver and I was able to use a small screwdriver, or even an empty .22 casing to turn the sight adjustment screws. Another feature that really stood out on the range was the smooth trigger pull. In double action, the trigger felt consistent all the way through with no stacking near the break point. In single action, there was just the smallest bit of slack before the break point, and the trigger broke cleanly and crisply.
To see what kind of accuracy I could get from the CO2 revolver, I shot from my range table at a paper target 10 yards away. Using RWS Meisterkugeln match grade pellets, I produced a 10-shot group that I measured with my dial calipers to be 1.31 inches wide by .82 inches high. The gun’s quality trigger was a big reason for the consistency. While punching paper was interesting, a gun like the Umarex 686 just cries out for more entertaining uses.
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Shooting a CD with the Smith & Wesson pistol is relatively straightforward.
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The Smith & Wesson Pellet Revolver is accurate and stylish.
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Sticking with the RWS Meisterkugeln pellets, I found the long sight radius of the six-inch model made it easy to hit empty 12 gauge shotgun hulls from seven yards away. If I shot only in single action, and really focused, not even spent 9 mm casings were safe from my reach at the same distance. Despite the fine performance, something just didn’t seem exactly as it should be.
And then it hit me. A CO2 replica of a magnum handgun just had to have magnum ammunition. So I dug out a tin of RWS Supermag pellets that weigh 9.3 grams each, more than 20 percent heavier than either the standard RWS Hobby or Meisterkugeln match pellets. And that’s when the fun really began.
Always wear proper eye protection when firing a CO2 revolver, especially if you are shooting anything besides paper targets affixed to proper target frames. And always be sure to clean up after yourself when you are done shooting, especially if you shoot small reactive targets that bounce or break.
When one of the heavy RWS Supermag pellets smacked an empty shotgun hull, it flew several feet up the face of the dirt berm on my backyard range. After knocking around a bunch of 12 gauge empties, I dug out a few clay birds and set them up. One solid punch from the Umarex 686 with an RWS Supermag pellet splintered the White Flyer clay targets into piles of orange chunks. What’s more, the 10-shot pellet mags were very easy and quick to replace, meaning that if I fired in double action, I could crank out 20 rounds of RWS Supermag pellets in much less time than it would take me to fire 12 rounds out of a .357 magnum. Now, I was nowhere as fast as the grand master of the Smith and Wesson revolver, Jerry Miculek. But I was plenty quick enough to deal with the line of reactive targets I set up on a section of old railroad tie. Of course, the revolver’s very good trigger made it that much easier to produce hits in rapid fire.
I have a box of old promotional CDs laying around, and on a whim, I stuck one of them into a crack on the railroad tie. The RWS Supermag pellets chewed it up as quickly as I could press the revolver’s trigger. A gallon milk jug full of water was no match for the Umarex 686, as the pellets punched neat holes through the jug’s thin walls, causing puddles to quickly form.
As a test of the revolver’s power, I decided to shoot a two-liter soda bottle also filled with water. Powered with a fresh Walther 12-gram CO2 cylinder, the RWS Supermag pellets penetrated the thicker walls of the soda bottle, but only for the first six or seven shots. While none of the rest of the pellets bounced back at me, it was obvious they weren’t getting through the thicker plastic—I kept my shooting glasses on, just in case. Putting more holes in the two-liter bottle required another fresh CO2 cylinder. After several shots, it was very satisfying to see little streams of water squirting out of the sides of the soda bottle.
Overall, the Umarex 686 CO2 revolver proved to be accurate, smooth, and most importantly of all, fun. It was great in both single and double action, and would be a fine way to practice revolver shooting for less cost, and with a lot less noise than a firearm. The MSRP of the Umarex revolver is around $270 for the four-inch blued version, around $290 for the six-inch blued, and around $320 for the six-inch stainless versions. Best of all, you can shoot it in the back yard, or even safely set up a shooting range inside your garage or home, which wouldn’t work out very well with a .357 magnum firearm.
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