I ordered a S&W Model 986 from my LGS and yesterday, it just arrived and the initial impression was mixed. First, the one negative is that the action is surprisingly rough. It is a new gun and it has to be broken in, but even with that, I was expecting a smoother out of the box action.
It was furnished with two 7-round moon-clips and upon loading them, I found them easy to insert into the cylinder. I expect my BMT Equipped loading tool to arrive today and when it does, I'll take the 986 out to my range (weather permitting) along with the rest of the WWB 100-round box I got at WallyWorld some time back.
The 986 is a 7-shot L-frame with a 5"-barrel in 9x19 mm (9 mm Luger) and is DA/SA. It has a titanium cylinder, and comes with a Hogue Monogrip, but one thing that I am thinking of is replacing the Monogrip with a Bantam.
I expect that the recoil will be very manageable and it will wear itself in soon and be as smooth as are my other L-frames.
I'm looking forward to shooting it, and I expect that Midway will ship the moon-clips I recently ordered today
Later:
As I type this, my 986 is soaking in Hoppe's and is a bit smoother than it was before this morning. I put a few more than 70 rounds downrange this morning before the exasperation of loading the moon clips every time got to me. The revolver was furnished with two 7-round moon clips and I have 32 more on the way from Midway but they won't be here until Monday at the earliest, so I am stuck with just the two. When they get here, I think I'll enjoy shooting it a lot more, as the clips can be loaded while I watch TV.. The shooting part was fine, just that loading the clips was a pain in the butt.
The revolver is a seven-shot L-frame in 9 mm Luger (or Parabellum, or whatever your fancy happens to be) with a titanium cylinder. The barrel length is 5" and like in the picture above, it is a slab-sided affair with the extractor rod housing coming to a taper. Personally, I wold have preferred it being more like the traditional L-frame set-up with the barrel rounded and the under-lug coming to the muzzle, but that's just my opinion. I suspect that the man purpose here, was shaving weight.
My cousin's grandson was there tending to his livestock and I had him shoot it as well. He's more into rifles, but I think he liked shooting it.
At first, there were a few misfires, but I think that will be taken care of with the break-in process. Like I say, the action was very rough at first, but I think it is starting to smooth out now that a few actual rounds have been shot through it.
Close-range accuracy was very adequate and the recoil was very easy to handle.
Is this a good carry gun? For someone such as me, who does his best with revolvers, I'd say 'yes'. For someone who likes the 1911, or for a XD-person, or a dedicated Glock person, I'd tell them to stick with what they have and are best with.
However, I am really looking forward to getting those moon clips from Midway.
One thing I am thinking of is changing the grips to Hogue bantams, but I haven't quite made up my mind on that.
