smith and wesson 617 .22 long rifle with a 6 inch barrel.
- Thread starter Catman42
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ok, this my honest assessment of the s and w model 617 as it left the factory. it was about 95 percent finished.i will have to do the rest to make it a gun that shoots as it should. very very strong built. i redid the forcing cone as it wasnot deep enough and smooth enough. it was really gritty and bad on cocking single action. i filed then polished out the machine marks on the back of the inside of the gun where the base of the bullets layed. they would almost hang up as i cocked the hammer. when i smoothed that out and polished it to chrome like now it is smooth i cocking it single action. as to accruarcy. it is good but not as i expexcted.my uberti cattle man 12 shot 22 is better right out of the box. i think the problem is the exit holes for the cylinder are too tight. im going to contact a fellow in north carolina. who reams out the cylinders to the best size for extreme accuracy and maybe send the gun to him to make them better. it will cost me about another 125 dollars but it will be worth it if i can make it a one hole gun at 20 yards. now it isnt. out of the box, need work. am i glad i bought it yes. but you would think they would do what im going to do to make it shoot good. ruger is no better than s and w. just expect to tweek what you get as out of the box for most guns is 95 percent. you have to do the other 5 percent.
I wouldn't recommend reaming a .22 cylinder. My S&W .22's are the only ones with chamber throats close to being what I feel is optimum for a .22. Before you think of reaming it, measure all the chambers with pin gages. As a point of reference, I measured the throats on the new cylinder as .2242" with my inside mic. One of my 617's measures .2237". My Ruger Single Six, which was rebuilt by the factory is oversized, in my view, at .2286" and shoots very well. Measure before you cut.
Now that you have cleaned up the forcing cone, fire it and look at the distribution of fouling in the forcing cone. If the fouling isn't concentric with the forcing cone, it indicated the cylinder isn't aligning with the barrel. If it is small, it can be fixed at home; if it is larger, it should go back to the factory.
I have a Model 17 made in 1958. It had very bad chamber alignment. I sent it back to the factory. They could either weld up the cylinder locking holes, or put in a new cylinder for the same price. I took the new cylinder. They also returned the original cylinder. It is now the best shooting .22 revo I have.
ok guy and gals, i have to be honest. it was shooting 6 inches low. corrected that and now it is on center every time i shoot it. love the gun and the 10 shots it gives me. no need for a cylinder job. however my uberti cattleman 12 shot 22 long rifle shoots as good a groups as this gun and maybe a little better. this is good info for you who may be as a perfectionist as i am. when i aim at the many snakes we have here at 20 yards i want to take their heads off with out thinking will the gun do it or will it not. we do have a over abundance of snakes in my yard.every day it is several of them of differnt kinds. the 617 is a good gun, just tweek it as i did. you will love it.
i have a model 17 also and had to do polishing in the back part so the shell would not hang up. it is a tack driver but only 6 shots. my son in denver is going to get that gun as it will stay in the family. as to accuracy, it is the best of the best. bought in the early 70/s now it is worth 1200 dollars. can you believe? do like the 617 after i tweeked it.
it is shooting to point of aim now and the cocking action is smooth since i took out some sharp machine edges. burned a lot of ammo this afternoon. at 20 yards i can keep the 3 inch spinner spinning. love the gun but i have to say if your in the market for a 22 that really shoots in a revolver, the uberti csttleman 12 shooter is faster and easier to use. i did not like the new safety hammer and trigger on my uberti colt so i put in a old style that is fool proof. both these guns are tight group printers and i will continue to burn ammo with both of them.cant comment on the ruger 10 shooter revolver. it looks like a good one also.
GooseGestapo
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I have the 6” 6-shot 617, bought in 2002.
Tuned trigger, honed chambers, lightly cleaned up forcing cone and crown.
Replaced front and rear sights to allow a 50yd neck hold on B27 target and 3speedloaders.
It’s my off- season trainer for PPC competition. It’s almost identical to my Model 14 HB,.38spl “Distinguished” competition gun. Way lighter than my M10 “limited” 1500-gun.
I too, has killed a “bunch” of small game. Ranging from armadillos, squirrels, ruffed grouse, blue grouse,
Definitely a keeper and legacy gun.
A friend once called it my “short barreled squirrel rifle”.
Apt description...
Tuned trigger, honed chambers, lightly cleaned up forcing cone and crown.
Replaced front and rear sights to allow a 50yd neck hold on B27 target and 3speedloaders.
It’s my off- season trainer for PPC competition. It’s almost identical to my Model 14 HB,.38spl “Distinguished” competition gun. Way lighter than my M10 “limited” 1500-gun.
I too, has killed a “bunch” of small game. Ranging from armadillos, squirrels, ruffed grouse, blue grouse,
Definitely a keeper and legacy gun.
A friend once called it my “short barreled squirrel rifle”.
Apt description...
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this morning i compared the exit hole in the chambers of my model smith 17 targert revolver from the 70/w to my new 617. you could push a 22 cal bullet easily into the front of my 70/s smith with out diff. meaning they are not undersized when they come out. thats why it is a one hole gun at 20 yards. cant do that with the new 617. way way too tight in the exit holes meaning the bullets are swagged under sized when they come out. thats whay 1 and 1/2 inch groups at 20 yards. that will be fixed next week. i will polish them so a bullet fits in the with ease and no slop. then the gun will be a one hole gun like the other one. you would think the factory would do this but they dont, rugers are bad for this also. never ever had this problem with a uberti of any kind. ubertis come to shoot and they do.
My S&W 617 6" is probably my favorite gun. It was the first time I really tried to justify the extra expense of a Smith over another option and it was absolutely worth the effort. It was good advice for a firearm you will own forever and send thousands upon thousands of rounds downrange with. Lately mine has become difficult to eject and it may be in need of a tune up so I have considered sending it back to the factory for service.
OrangePwrx9
Member
Geez, what a lot of screwing around to get that thing shooting right. I thought mine was bad, but in retrospect, I had it easy. At least I didn't have to drop more money to correct cylinder issues.
Guess Smith hasn't gotten better after all. Now I'm afraid to shoot the new M69 I took delivery of. Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of that thing.
Hat's off to you, Catman, for seeing this through.
i will do the cylinder my self, probably today as it its raining out side. when i got all the machine grooves and marks out of the back of the inside. it opens and closes like liquid butter and cocks very very smoothly. i shot it from a rest against my 70/s model 17 and the old one shoots tighter. its cylinder from the front does not undersize the bullets like the new 617. when i get then opened up a little the 617 will shoot as good as the old one. i do have to say the trigger on the 617 is the best ive seen on a revolver. i really like the gun and im glad i know how to tweek it. i just cant figure out why ruger and smith and wesson cant finish their guns the way they should. i guess its all about profit and money. i talked to a friend yesterday from kentucky and he said, roger, your just more fussy than most people and i think he is right. i like one hole ragged groups. if i know how to make them that way then their is no excuse not to do it.
well polished the front of the cylinders out to let a winchester super x enter with ease. a remington is still a little tight. my 70/s target smith will allow a remington to enter but i think the 617 is about where it will shoot very well. if i can find the proper mop may just polish some more with polishing powder on it. i also find the shells come more easily out of the back when they are empty. i used steel wool for the final polish on a brush.
well guys and gals, this morning is set a 6 inch gong out at 50 yards. with the smith 617 i rang it it 3 times in a row with 30 shots. got to stop bitching, it is now good enough for me. never missed the 30,shots. from a rest of course. the 3 inch one at 20 yards is a never ever a miss. i polished the chambers this morning with a blue polish i got from a friend on a 22 bore mop. they look like chrome. eject like butter. shoot like above. guess i tweeked the gun enough. love it. too bad s and w dont do the same off the shelves. but what can you expect from any company whose bottom line is MONEY.my cattleman didnt do to bad at 50 yards only a couple of misses. smith is the front runner.
If it wasn’t right out of the box, why didn’t you send it back?
because it wasnt broke, just not tweeked to shoot better and smoother. i know how to do that tweeking so i did. shot some real tight groups with it this morning and now it is a gun im very pleased with. one doesnt send back a gun that isnt broke, they wont fix tight chambers, and the machine marks are very easy to take out. all the revolvers i have have been finished by me. and their accuracy shows it. some people are satisfied as they come, not me. thats just who i am.
pulled a 22 long rifle bullet with out distorting it.. pushed it through a 617 cylinder and it came out 22 thouands, then i carefully pushed that bullet through the barrel and it came out just over 20 thousands but not by much. so now the bullets are not undersized as i polished out the cylinder holes. my old smith model 17 came out of the cylinder over 23 thousands. same for the uberti colt which came out around 24 thousands. barrel were about the same as the 617 smith. as long as the bullet enters the barrel not undersized you can get accuracy. all three of these revolvers have a redone perfect forcing cone. i prefer a cylinder larger than 22 thousands but the bullet engraved well in the barrel and evenly. that about ends it for me on this one. love the gun, but had to work on it to make it a better gun.
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