Smith & Wesson 586

.177 Cal, 10 shot

What?! A Smith & Wesson 586 in .177 caliber? Yes, it's actually a CO2 pellet gun, cleverly disguised as a Smith and Wesson 586. This gun not only looks like a S&W 586, it feels like one. The weight is similar and the weight distribution is similar. The only thing that isn't similar is the noise and recoil when you fire it.

This is a very nice pellet gun. Tom Gaylord, a well known authority on air guns says that this gun and it's stainless steel sister the 686, "are the best CO2 revolvers that have ever been made - bar none!" See Tom's review of the gun here.

It looks just like a .357 magnum S&W 586

My motivation for buying the gun is two fold. First of all I like air guns - have been shooting them for years. They are something everyone can enjoy shooting and we can shoot in out in the yard or even in the basement year round. Secondly, my hope is that practicing with this gun with improve my skills with a real S&W 586 that I could shoot in IDPA matches.

Needless to say it is fun to shoot, but it is accurate too. I haven't shot it enough to have figured out the best ammo as yet. I need to work on that. It was shooting a little to the right, but no problem, it has the fully adjustable sights and a couple of turns of the sight screw brought it right in.

The right side gives away the charade. All of the details are laid out there.

The gun is manufactured by Umarex under license from Smith and Wesson, so it has all of the authentic logos and even comes with a Smith & Wesson logoed box just like the loud Smiths do.

The only criticism I have of the gun is that the trigger is very rough. As rough as any gun I've ever shot. Frankly it is terrible. I've read articles saying that they do work in over time. I'm going to see if I can get to the trigger mechanism and lube it with some firearm grease and see if that doesn't help it along. I'll also be looking on the Web for some instructions on how to improve the trigger. I noticed that when it gets low on air, the trigger seems to be even worse. I guess that will help me know when it's time to slap in a new CO2 cartridge.

January 13, 2013

I did some test firing with different pellets today. I found that it definitely likes heavier pellets and match grade pellets. I lubricated the trigger with some silicone air gun oil. That helped the trigger situation some, but I still noticed some "notchiness" in the trigger.

At one point, I couldn't pull the trigger back far enough to fire. Something was jamming things up. I removed the cylinder, reseated the pellets and all was well. So I started seating every pellet with the end of a pen and that seemed to help. The trigger was better after that. So I think the problem of the rough trigger is not so much the trigger itself, but the rotation of the cylinder against the air nozzle face. I think two things are in order 1) make sure the pellets are seated completely, and 2) keep the faces of the cylinder clean (I can see some lead building up).

Below are the targets from today's tests. I don't mean for you to be able to study them, but rather just that you can see the process I go through, checking out the different pellets.
On the sixth target (bottom right of top paper) I thought I noticed a change in the sound of the pellets hitting the paper. I wondered if I was getting low on CO2. I loaded the next time with some of the lightest pellets I have. On the fourth shot, the pellet bounced back off the paper. Definitely low on CO2.

So now I know I can get about 50 shots before I'm needing a new CO2 cylinder.