SW 617 "light strikes" - didn't expect this

[thunderbyrd]

earlier this week, i bought a used SW 617. i got it to the range yesterday and had fun but also some disappointments. after i had put 2 cylinders (10 shot each) through it, i started getting failures to fire. after those first two i would average one failure in about every 20 rounds. i looked at the bullets that didn't fire - there were no indentions at all on them. the firing pin didn't strike those rounds.

the 2d cylinder i fired, used some walmart milk carton poly-coated 40 grain. that is IMHO about the crappiest bullet i've ever used, but one season for wanting the 617 was so i could shoot cheaper stuff. well, all 10 of them fired, but they refused to extract. i had to take a rod and push 6-7 out, then it dropped the rest. i didn't think to stop and examine those and see what might have been wrong.

the story i was given on this gun was that it had never been fired. a guy bought it and put it in his safe, never fired it and later sold it to the store to fund auto repairs. i looked the gun over best i could and couldn't find any evidence of it ever being fired, but i'm no expert. it does have a very light turn-line.

i sure never expected something like this out of a SW! but i' am wondering: i keep reading that auto loaders sometimes need a break-in period. do revolvers need a break-in?

 

[Riomouse911]

I have a batch of .22 Rimfire DA revolvers, Smiths, Taurus and a Dan Wesson.

All of mine with the exception of my S&W Model 17-3 and S&W 48-8 .22 Mag have had tough extraction with most brands of ammo I’ve shot through them. These guns would not extract at all after a few cylinders, they needed the cylinders honed a bit with 400 grit then 800 grit flex-hones (bought off Amazon by Brush Research) and some oil. Chuck in a drill press on slowest speed and with a light touch they will smooth out burrs and help with the release of the cartridge cases.



As for the light strikes, a lot of times the rounds aren’t seated all the way and the firing pin just pushes the round into the chamber. If you have to push them in rather than them seating themselves this may be the issue. A good brush scrubbing will reduce this.

If the gun looks unopened I doubt the mainspring has been replaced, but I would check the tension screw on the front of the grip to be sure it is tight all the way.

Maybe these are the issues that will solve your problem, maybe not. Without the gun in hand it’s just a guess, but these things helped me with several rimfire revolvers.

Good luck!
Stay safe.

 

[trackskippy]

As for the light strikes, a lot of times the rounds aren’t seated all the way and the firing pin just pushes the round into the chamber. If you have to push them in rather than them seating themselves this may be the issue. A good brush scrubbing will reduce this.

Ive run into this a good bit with my S&W 22 revolvers and its always been after a few boxes and the guns were getting dirty.

If you pay attention as you load, and make sure that the rounds are fully seated, it usually drops back off to zero.

 

[Pat Riot]

I have a model 17-3 and a model 63 that I bought last year. The 17 has very tight chambers. The 63 is a bit looser. Both can have sticky brass depending on the ammo. The higher velocity stuff tends to get stuck and takes a bit of force to eject but not too much force.
On the model 17 I disassembled the cylinder, cleaned it very well and then used a .22 bore mop saturated with Flitz in my drill driver to polish the chambers. I secured the cylinder in a vise with soft wood paint stir sticks between the vise jaws and cylinder to protect the cylinder from marring. I polished all 6 chambers, reassembled and tried it out. I still had some sticking down repeated the process.
That helped a great deal.

As for the light strikes, I have no advice as I haven’t encountered that with these two revolvers or any that I have owned, but I am very sure to make sure all rounds are fully seated when shooting.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Check the tension screw for the light strikes and try a different brand of ammo before geting too crazy about the hard extraction.

My M1922 Springfield has a very tight "match" chamber and has trouble extracting fired Winchester cases, but works smooth as glass with Federals......

 

[kidneyboy]

Check the tension screw for the light strikes and try a different brand of ammo before geting too crazy about the hard extraction.

My M1922 Springfield has a very tight "match" chamber and has trouble extracting fired Winchester cases, but works smooth as glass with Federals......

These are the first 2 things to do.
Add to that - clean the cylinders and leave them a little wet. Both of my 617's and my 17 have tight chambers and run better this way.

 

[sparkyv]

Yup, I agree with several of these posts.
Check the [edit] strain tension screw for the (presumably DA) light strikes.
Lap the chambers or try other ammo. My 1982 M63 has tight chambers, and a light lapping solved the sticky cases / hard extraction.

In my M617, crappy WIN 525/Western ammo give me hard extractions, but none of many other kinds of ammo does. That's why I said to try other ammo.


Is this CCI ammo? These are the only PC 22LR of which I'm aware, and wouldn't expect it to be crappy.

used some walmart milk carton poly-coated 40 grain. that is IMHO about the crappiest bullet i've ever used,

 

[AzShooter1]

First is to check the strain screw and make sure it's as tight as possible. If you want to get a lighter spring to replace the OEM get one from Brownells.

Sticky chambers is a bear. Easy fix is to put a tight fitting patch on your cleaning rod with some heavy grit polishing material. Most Smith & Wessons will be improved by doing this.

I use Federal BYOB for match shooting and I have some CCI Mini Mags that shoot a bit tighter.

 

[243winxb]

Wolff springs may have been installed. Replace with factory springs.

 

[mxl]

My experience with my 617 and several other older S&W .22 revolvers with tight chambers is to use Federal brand ammo. It seems a hair smaller and extracts easier and without getting stuck after a few shots.

 

[243winxb]

i looked at the bullets that didn't fire - there were no indentions at all on them. the firing pin didn't strike those rounds.

The hammer block may have something to do with this.
The HB should move out of tbe way, when the trigger is pulled fully to the rear.

Does the firing pin move freely.

 

[thunderbyrd]

well, we had a family get-together today at my wife's brother's place. we had a ball. about 9-10 late-teens and early 20's, several of whom were female and had never fired a gun before. we shot up about 1000 rds, .22lr, 9mm, and .380. i got to see lots of malfunctions! mainly from my 617 - failure to fire - and a couple of taurus. my other BiL was bragging about the "good deal" he got at rural king on his taurus 9mm, like $230. with a full mag, that thing wouldn't go into battery. it did it every time. then, another taurus, a 22 of some kind, it just kind of came apart (it was not a tx22). all the glocks we were shooting performed very well, except i saw one stovepipe.

the girls loved shooting my walther 1911-22. then my SiL, who is completely blind, fired off a few. she seemed to totally enjoy it! this was a great day i'll always enjoy remembering, even if the SW did act up.

the first 2 cylinder loads fired fine, then started missing one every load. there was a young guy there who really got into shooting the revolver, so i told him , have at it. he probably put around 150 through it. it finally got to missing 3 rounds per load.

i haven't tried to tighten the spring because i don't know how to take the grip off.

 

[AzShooter1]

There is one screw on the grips. If they are stock Smith & Wesson grips it is in the middle of the handle. If they are Hogue grips the screw is on the bottom of the grip.

Take the grips off and screw in the strain screw until it is flush. That should solve your main problem. You also need to bring a brush with you and clean the cylinder about every 2 to three times you shoot. Carbon builds up in the cylinder and under the star. Just blow out what's under the star or use a patch.

Also try different ammo. Some is dirtier than others. My 617 loves CCI Blazers, Mini Mags and Standard Velocity. It also shoots Federal BYOB and Remington Golden bullets 100% so try to find some of the above.

Get some blue Loctite and put it on the strain screw to keep it from backing out again.

 

[Lnf Crzr]

I’ve got a S&W 627 no dash
Most all I ever shoot is CCI standard or minimag .

Thousands of rounds, Honestly can’t remember (1) one ftf or any issue.

Before and after I’ve found a small plastic pick to clean edges of chambers where the cartridge sits into…. seems to be the key. Something I learned from a old 63 4” I had. Couldn’t get that 63 to fire 2of every 6x fired. Very frustrating-so I sold and got the 617.

Tack driver and worth money, like my 317, I’ll never part with it.

 

[Lnf Crzr]

Edit 617 ^

 

[thunderbyrd]

well, , i must apologize to S&W, turns out the gun is not at fault at all, the problem was operator error.

i finally got ahold of an allen wrench that fit and took the grips off. the screw on the front of the frame was tightened all the way, so nothing to be done there. i cleaned out the area around the firing pin best i could, then took it to the range. i had a failure to fire in the 1st cylinder and the next one too. somewhere in there, i realized I WAS NOT LETTING THE TRIGGER RETURN ALL THE WAY TO ZERO. I was holding that last little bit and that was causing it not to fire the next round. so i very carefully and deliberatly took my finger off the trigger each shot. and voila! boom, ten times in a row.

a very inexpensive gun repair!

 

[crestoncowboy]

My 10 shot 617 had to go back to Smith when brand new for light strikes. I had a thread on here following the return
My last 3 smith revolvers were bad right out of the box. All three came back fixed and still run perfect.

Mine Came back with a note that said replaced yoke. Cylinder was also replaced but not noted. I know because mine had a defect

 

[JTHunter]

well, , i must apologize to S&W, turns out the gun is not at fault at all, the problem was operator error.

i finally got ahold of an allen wrench that fit and took the grips off. the screw on the front of the frame was tightened all the way, so nothing to be done there. i cleaned out the area around the firing pin best i could, then took it to the range. i had a failure to fire in the 1st cylinder and the next one too. somewhere in there, i realized I WAS NOT LETTING THE TRIGGER RETURN ALL THE WAY TO ZERO. I was holding that last little bit and that was causing it not to fire the next round. so i very carefully and deliberatly took my finger off the trigger each shot. and voila! boom, ten times in a row.

a very inexpensive gun repair!

And an inexpensive lesson for all of us. It is funny/strange how finicky some guns can be in the way they are handled. Now, if you can just remember to let up on that trigger when your adrenaline is skyrocketing because of a HD/SD situation.

 

[PapaG]

Clean the chambers well and make sure the mainspring strain screw (if it has one) is not backed out.

 

[4v50 Gary]

In addition to the suggestions above, it may also need an internal cleaning. Gummed up actions are not good for reliability.