My amended license was ready on Wednesday and I was able to pick up the 317 this morning. I detail stripped, cleaned and lubed it. I was disappointed to see some scratching on the front of the cylinder where it looks like someone used a hard wire brush on it or scraped it with a metal tool. Otherwise, fit and finish was OK. The side plate screw behind the trigger had some evidence of being tightened with the wrong size (too small) screwdriver, but it is barely noticeable. The trigger seemed heavy but totally manageable in double action and excellent in single action.
I got to the range with a selection of ammo and had at it. I optimistically started with a NRA 20-yard slow fire pistol target at 25 yards. Eight shots and I didn't hit the paper. I moved up to ten yards and found it was shooting quite low. I did a quick adjustment and moved back to 25 yards for final sight-in and ammo testing.
After the first two cylinders fired, I was experiencing some buyer's remorse. The sights didn't seem all that bad but I was all over the target. As I continued to shoot, I found that the little J-frame needed my XL hands to make some adjustments in my grip and trigger finger placement. My accuracy started to improve and after about a hundred rounds, I was putting my shots in the black with some in the 10-ring and having a ball busting dirt clods on the berm at 35-40 yards shooting double-action.
The 317 didn't do very well with CCI Standard Velocity. I have a supply from about ten years ago. It always seemed to do very well in any .22LR I tried it in. Not so much with this one. It definitely preferred the high velocity stuff and showed a liking to the inexpensive Federal Auto-Match bulk. That was a pleasant surprise. Some older Winchester Super-X and Remington Golden Bullet also did very well. I had no issues with cylinder drag from fouling after almost 200 rounds fired. No extraction problems either.
As for the sights, I wouldn't consider them ideal but I could certainly live with them. I had a diamond square file that was just about the right size to change the rear V-notch to a square notch. It needs to be a hair wider but I didn't have another file with a safe edge that I would like to use to finish the job. I blued the filed areas and I'm anxious to get back to the range tomorrow and see how the new notch shape affects my accuracy.
I really like this interesting little revolver and the challenge of learning to shoot it well. I'm happy with the way I'm shooting it now and I expect to get better with it yet. And that means I'll like it even more. I'm pleased and satisfied!
