617-4, back from the factory

[valkyriekl]

I sent in my 617-4 because I felt that after 29,251 rounds in the past two years, the precision of the barrel was starting to suffer -- the first shot from a cold gun would always go off to the right, for instance, even when bench-rested. I had S&W install a new 4" barrel with fresh rifling on it. The 4" barrel balances better with the red-dot sight anyways. The gun was sent in during the first week of October, and I just got it back this past Monday.

Spent a little time zeroing it at the range, and then used it in Monday night's .22 Bullseye league. I did pretty well with it, considering I haven't really found what kind of ammo the new barrel likes.

Today I was swapping out grips and decided to have a little fun while I was at it. I borrowed the sunshades from all of my other UltraDot sights and put them on the UltraDot installed on the 617, and here's the result:



Heh.

[TACC1]

Nice gun, and a great attitude! Thanks for sharing. I'd be interested
in your shooting impressions after you get the ammo question
sorted out. TACC1

[gr7070]

What is your process for determining what ammo it prefers? I'm curious.

What distance do you shoot? Off a rest? How many of each do you shoot? Do you care if the gun is hot? Which ammo do you use? Any bulk cheap stuff? Etc.

I've never bothered to find out what my .22s like, but think it might be interesting and fun. I'd appreciate a thorough description.

[valkyriekl]

Originally Posted by gr7070

What is your process for determining what ammo it prefers? I'm curious.

What distance do you shoot? Off a rest? How many of each do you shoot? Do you care if the gun is hot? Which ammo do you use? Any bulk cheap stuff? Etc.

I've never bothered to find out what my .22s like, but think it might be interesting and fun. I'd appreciate a thorough description.

I've only seriously done it once two years ago with a S&W 617-6; I took ten different makes of ammo (basically what was available from my local Walmart, Dick's, and the range I frequent -- stuff I could get really easily) and shot them using iron sights, both off a sandbag rest for group-size and offhand-unsupported for 'real-world' simulations. I'd shoot 5- or 10-round groups and then measure the group size with a set of calipers, as well as my impressions after shooting them (dirty? felt-recoil? consistent? etc.). I shot them at 50- and 25-yards, the two principle distances in Conventional Pistol/Bullseye. I believe I started with a clean-as-I-could-get-it gun and did fire a few cylinders of fouling shots to warm up the gun a bit before starting with the tests, and I cleaned out the cylinder after switching ammo.

The group-size, my impressions, price, and availability all factor into which ammo I determined my gun 'likes'. CCI Standard Velocity won out last time in terms of precision, with Federal #750 winning in terms of price and availability (at the time, it was $12 for a brick of 550 rounds from Walmart!).



I'll probably do something similar with my 617-4, though I'm already biased against any Remington or Winchester-branded ammo (too inconsistent and dirty and expensive last time, and it hasn't gotten any better since; I've also had a squib or two with Winchester!), which really only leaves Federal and CCI-branded stuff.

[valkyriekl]

Originally Posted by TACC1

Nice gun, and a great attitude! Thanks for sharing. I'd be interested
in your shooting impressions after you get the ammo question
sorted out. TACC1

I'm still kinda getting used to the balance with the new barrel, but I did some sandbag-rest testing with three different types of ammo: Federal #750 (36gr copper-washed hollow-point high-velocity), CCI Standard Velocity (40gr lead standard velocity), and Federal #510 (40gr lead standard velocity).

First shots were with the Federal #750. I fired 10 rounds standing, one-handed, unsupported, at 50 yards, spotted the hits (not good, most in the 8-ring, one in the 7-ring, and only one in the 9-ring), then sat down and shot 10 more at it from a sandbag rest (sandbag under my wrists only; gun and barrel are free-floating). A little better, definitely not spectacular:



Next was the CCI Standard Velocity, 10 shots sandbag-rested at 50 yards. A bit of an improvement, but I'm still not that impressed:



Finally, 10 shots of Federal #510, again sandbag-rested at 50 yards. Now we're getting somewhere!:



I did put the gun back to a 'normal' configuration (and also took advantage of some natural sunlight for a few glamor shots, obviously shot late afternoon):



So in conclusion: I think I'll be sticking with Federal #750, because it's cheap and readily available (I've already got several thousand on-hand) and it works well enough (I shot a 189-3x out of 200 possible points in slowfire at 50 yards tonight, and only one shot dropped in the 8-ring). I might try to find a case or three of Federal #510 for when I feel that I'm at the point where the ammo is the thing holding me back.

[LarryC213]

That is a really nice revolver. Thanks for the information. If I were to buy a S&W revolver right now I would be very tempted to get a 617. This is probably a silly question, but here it goes; does anybody shoot their 617 DA? And if so, how does the DA pull compare with a 6 shot revolver? I was thinking that the 617 would be a great revolver for DA revolver practice.

[gr7070]

I shoot mine 90% DA. I don't notice much if any difference in timing v. my 686 - at least what I would attribute to "timing". I'm no revolver expert.

The pull is quite different in that the 686 is much lighter and a little smoother; 686 is a much nicer DA trigger. No idea if that's partly due to one is .22 and one a 38, or one 6-shot and one a 10-shot, or just coincidence???

The 617 has gotten better in the 9 months I've owned it, NIB.

[GF]

Who makes the aftermarket stocks pictured in post #4?

I like the diamond and the color of the wood.

GF

[LarryC213]

Originally Posted by gr7070

I shoot mine 90% DA. I don't notice much if any difference in timing v. my 686 - at least what I would attribute to "timing". I'm no revolver expert.

The pull is quite different in that the 686 is much lighter and a little smoother; 686 is a much nicer DA trigger. No idea if that's partly due to one is .22 and one a 38, or one 6-shot and one a 10-shot, or just coincidence???

The 617 has gotten better in the 9 months I've owned it, NIB.

Thank you.

[Engine49guy]

Very nice 617...and thanks for the ammo info.

Would you mind sharing what the job cost from S&W?
I have been considering doing a barrel swap on one of mine.

[stevieboy]

I shoot all of my revolvers, including my 617 no-dash, exclusively DA. The trigger pull on the 617 is slightly heavier than that of some of my other revolvers although not hugely so. I once talked to a Smith service rep. and he told me that Smith deliberately uses a slightly heavier mainspring on their 617s than on their centerfire K frames because of the tendency of .22lr ammunition to misfire with light hammer strikes.

[valkyriekl]

Originally Posted by GF

Who makes the aftermarket stocks pictured in post #4?

I like the diamond and the color of the wood.

GF

Eagle grips makes that as part of their "Heritage" series -- it has all of the classic features: football relief, diamond centers, and a slight coke-bottle profile. Those particular grips were round-to-square conversion, too.

Originally Posted by Engine49guy

Very nice 617...and thanks for the ammo info.

Would you mind sharing what the job cost from S&W?
I have been considering doing a barrel swap on one of mine.

According to my records, it was about $250 for the barrel assembly, gunsmith time/labor, and return shipping. They also smoothed out the cylinder stop notches on the cylinder and checked for any timing/lockup issues (none found, even after 29K rounds).

Originally Posted by LarryC213

That is a really nice revolver. Thanks for the information. If I were to buy a S&W revolver right now I would be very tempted to get a 617. This is probably a silly question, but here it goes; does anybody shoot their 617 DA? And if so, how does the DA pull compare with a 6 shot revolver? I was thinking that the 617 would be a great revolver for DA revolver practice.

My 617-4 gets shot in DA about 2% of the time. I don't notice much of a difference in the pull-weight in DA compared with my 17 (no-dash), but then I usually replace the trigger rebound spring to get them about the same.

One difference I do notice, however, is that the 617 with its 10-shot cylinder, locks up sooner than the 17 with its 6-shot cylinder. My 7-shot 686-5 also locks up earlier than my 6-shot 686-1M, and as I recall my 5-shot 60-9LS locked up a bit later than my 6-shot revolvers.

That is probably a function of the interplay between the hand, cylinder stop notches, and ratchets, but my take on it is that (generally) cylinders with more chambers don't have to rotate as far to align the chamber with the barrel as those with fewer chambers. For example, my 617-4 (10-shot cylinder) only has to rotate its cylinder 36° to align the next chamber with the barrel, while my 17 (no-dash) has to rotate its cylinder 60°. Same for my 7-shot 686-5+ (51.43°) vs my 6-shot 686-1M (60°).

[madmikeb]

I shoot my 617's almost exclusively DA. With a couple DS-10speed speedloaders and a loading block, it's great for bowling pin and plate shoots. Nothings more fun than beating the semi auto boys with my 10 shot revolver!

[Hawgleg44]

My pre-lock 4" 10 shot 617 is back at S&W right now. It's been absolutely flawless for thousands of rounds, but the timing suddenly went off this past weekend. The first indication was extreme lead spatter (I thought my face was bleeding, but it was just cold), and I had four firing pin strikes between chambers on the cylinder.

Then, when looking at it, every one of the cylinder stop notches on the cylinder are extremely burred up.

I know Smith will take care of me. I dropped it off to them last Thursday and got the letter in the mail today that it's in the computer and should be done in 2-3 weeks. I'm sure all it needs is a new hand, cylinder lock, and cylinder.

[Mule88]

How do you holster that Dude.

[valkyriekl]

Originally Posted by Mule88

How do you holster that Dude.

I don't; it's never seen leather, so it's always ready to fight =)