Smith& Wesson Mod, 686 YEAR MADE?

[mefrank]

Hi Every one I have a Smith&Wesson Mod 686 . 357 with 4" barrel bright stainless Serial# AJM4142, I bought this gun in the 1970s can anyone tell me what year it was made and approximate value? It looks brand new mefrank

[SoCal Bob]

According to the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson (3rd edition), the L frame was introduced in 1981. Serial number prefixes AHS-AHT were used beginning in July 1985 and ALA-ALC were used beginning November 1985. So, sometime between July & November 1985.

It also says that S&W sometimes used serial numbers out of sequence so YMMV.

[DEPUTYBILL]

686 (1980-1986)
686 M (RECALLED AND FIXED BY S&W)
686-1 (1986-87)
686-2 (1987)
686-3 (1988-1992)

[mefrank]

Looks like it was the 1980s I was sure thinking I bought it in the 70s Can anyone tell me what it is worth?

[Revoman]

4" are fairly popular and if looks 'new' as you stated should fetch around $650-750 in Komifornia market.

If you have the box, tools and paperwork that came with add another $50 or so.

[trigger945]

The California market is a bit inflated so $650 - $750 sounds about right for an excellent condition one.

My 4" 686-4 sold for $650 IIRC.

[mefrank]

Thank you very much for the information

[Virus55]

I was going to say $700 would be safe. Can we see a photo of it just for kicks?

[mefrank]

Yes I'm going to list it probably tomorrow soon as my wife takes the picture and posts it I will reply here with location so you can see it. She does the technical stuff