Mole_Man
Member
Hello, all!
First post. I confess I have lurked these threads for some time to try and garner some wisdom from the well, but I've finally got a question of my own that I hope I can get some opinions on.
I am the proud owner of a S&W Model 17, serial K-41xx. According to the sticky in this forum, this is a 1947 model. I purchased it in Albuquerque earlier this year, and it's previous owner seems not to have appreciated the weapon in the very least: stored in a leather holster, barely ever cleaned, and plenty of cheap ammo put through it. I've had the pits buffed out and cold-blued by my gunsmith and luckily none of the corrosion reached into the barrel. The threads are intact, and she still fires a helluva lot straighter than I can hold! The years of scum were much more difficult to remove, but I've finally managed to get the chambers to a mirror polish.
However, the ol' girl looks like hell. Patches of different bluing, bad corrosion on the hammer, and the timing notches in the cylinder have seen so much use in 51 years that they're getting a sort of scoop shape instead of a sharp-sided notch! On top of that, I've had endless and terrible trouble with sticky chambers. I clean it after each use, no matter how many rounds I fire, and the metal in there reflects about as much light as I could hope for with ultra-fine steel wool. But even if it's the first 6 rounds I fire, I have to give the ejector rod a couple taps with the back of my Leatherman to get the shells out. I resorted to this after I gave myself a rather nasty cut on the frame when using just my hand.
This problem, plus the very obvious age of the revolver, is making me lean towards trading it in. It's replacement, after trying out several .22LR revolvers, would be a Smith 617 with a 6-round cylinder.
Can any of you comment on this? Should I trade her in to a collector or should I get her refinished and keep using it? If I keep it, does anyone know a foolproof way to get around the extraction problem?
Cheers, all!
First post. I confess I have lurked these threads for some time to try and garner some wisdom from the well, but I've finally got a question of my own that I hope I can get some opinions on.
I am the proud owner of a S&W Model 17, serial K-41xx. According to the sticky in this forum, this is a 1947 model. I purchased it in Albuquerque earlier this year, and it's previous owner seems not to have appreciated the weapon in the very least: stored in a leather holster, barely ever cleaned, and plenty of cheap ammo put through it. I've had the pits buffed out and cold-blued by my gunsmith and luckily none of the corrosion reached into the barrel. The threads are intact, and she still fires a helluva lot straighter than I can hold! The years of scum were much more difficult to remove, but I've finally managed to get the chambers to a mirror polish.
However, the ol' girl looks like hell. Patches of different bluing, bad corrosion on the hammer, and the timing notches in the cylinder have seen so much use in 51 years that they're getting a sort of scoop shape instead of a sharp-sided notch! On top of that, I've had endless and terrible trouble with sticky chambers. I clean it after each use, no matter how many rounds I fire, and the metal in there reflects about as much light as I could hope for with ultra-fine steel wool. But even if it's the first 6 rounds I fire, I have to give the ejector rod a couple taps with the back of my Leatherman to get the shells out. I resorted to this after I gave myself a rather nasty cut on the frame when using just my hand.
This problem, plus the very obvious age of the revolver, is making me lean towards trading it in. It's replacement, after trying out several .22LR revolvers, would be a Smith 617 with a 6-round cylinder.
Can any of you comment on this? Should I trade her in to a collector or should I get her refinished and keep using it? If I keep it, does anyone know a foolproof way to get around the extraction problem?
Cheers, all!
