Thinking of purchasing the 617 revolver, 10 shot 22lr. I've always wanted a 22lr revolver. Any opinions on this? The 617 is pricey though. Love the quality of my 686 plus.


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When they come to pry the gun out of my cold dead fingers, That gun will be my SIG P226. But, my S&W 317 kit gun will be in my pocket.

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NRA Benefactor

I have a 617-6 10 shot and it is a super accurate, fun to shoot revolver. Equal to my older S&W revolvers in accuracy and single action trigger pull too. You will not need another . 22 LR revolver if you buy a 617, though that shouldn't stop you from buying more!

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

Of the guns I shoot a lot, the 617 w/4" barrel is my favorite. Well balanced and very accurate. Just a joy to shoot! You're going to need a LOT of ammo .....

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Pass it on.
Mark

You will love it!

I have a 617 with the 6" barrel. Great weapon, great trigger. It goes with me to every range session. It's well worth the money.

I rarely, as in almost never, buy new guns. With S&W, and most other manufacturers, the older they are the better I like them. The pre 17s/18s and their later model number versions are perfect. That said, I have a no dash four inch 617 that may just be the best of the bunch from a purely fun shooting perspective. And last year I found a 10 shot 617-6 Mountain Gun (ok, made in 2012 even though they didn't show up until last year, so not really "new" but close enough) and it is as well made and fun to shoot as the no dash or the earlier guns for that matter. That's a long ramble I guess to endorse your inclination to buy a new 617. Enjoy.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I've considered one, strongly, but I always get sidetracked. I ended up going with a 6.5" S&W 500 at the moment. I'll save up a few pennies again soon.


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I have a 17-2 and a 18-7. If either of these ever leaves, I will probably get a 617. Have shot a friends and it is pretty nice.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

And if you like the 22 WMR, it is really easy to buy another M 617 cylinder and have it fitted to your handgun. Then have that cylinder reamed out to 22 Mag. You will then also have a superbly accurate 22 Mag! .... Every one that I have done has turned out to be at least as accurate at the 22 LR version and a couple have been even more accurate. A win win situation. .......

My 617 w/2x Leupold and with open sights.

In response to a question about accuracy, I shot the 617 at 25 yds with 2x Leupold and 100 yds with 4x Leupold.

I really like this gun and shoot it often. I also have several older M17s which I also like and shoot a lot. As I get older, I find I enjoy/shoot the 22s a lot more.

I say get the 617, I think you'll really like it.

Paul

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+1 on the SpeedBeez set up! I was just talking about that on another thread. Seems like today is 617 day on the forum!

I have both a 4" and 6" 617 of recent vintage. Crazy expensive but I love them. If I could keep only one -- the 4" has better balance and the trade-off in sight radius and steadiness (once a heavy gun is steady -- it's steady) is marginal. If I were strictly target shooting rather than just plinking and having fun, I'd keep the 6".

I just got one last month. My favorite gun, put 1200rds through already. Always goes to range with me, the others are rotated.

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Mike, AmVets Member, Navy Vet

I have the 4" dash 6 model. Its absolutely one of my favorite guns to shoot. My 12yr old son and my way better half also enjoy shooting it. The speed beez reloaders make it a little easier for them as well. Mine has no issues with anything from bulk ammo to match grade. I really think there are worse buys out there.....

Have the 6" and a favorite blaster.

It's unanimous! Do it!

I always thought there was a bore diameter difference between the two cartridges.

Anyway, I keep thinking I should procure a no-dash 617 with an 8-3/8" barrel to complete the set but since I shoot the 4" a lot more than the 6", I never found the longer barrel worth going after.



Ed

Go for it! You'll love it!
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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Buy the 617 you will enjoy it! Here are two of mine and a bonus 17!

The 617 is my most used firearm. I shoot 1000's of rounds a year at various shooting matches like SCSA, NSSF and local bowling pin shoots. They are reliable and accurate and will provide years of service. Out of need I developed a speed loader for the 10 shot 12 years ago.

Below pic has a 617 (no dash) top, 617-2 middle and a 617-6 bottom.

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Snap it up. I really like my 6" with a reflex sight. I will campaign it in a match tomorrow. It is far more accurate than me. It loves the relatively inexpensive Fed AutoMatch.

I have Three 617's all 10 shot, 8" 6" both I shoot all the time and I have a 6" with a 10 shot aluminium cylinder, I've never fired's it,NIB, it was the first 10 shot S&W came out with.

I own both the 6-inch, 10 shot 617 and it's little J-frame brother the model 63 and shoot them more than any other gun I own (even my model 41) because they are very accurate, just plain fun..will shoot anything you feed them and you can shoot till your finger is sore and you won't break your ammo budget. I have speed loaders for both..highly recommended.

You absolutely can't go wrong with either although the 617 in 6 inch would be more of a range gun while the 63 doubles as kit gun. A lot of folks like the 4-in 617..some feel it's better balanced. I've never seen or held one so I can't comment on that point, but to my thinking a K frame 4-in revolver is still a bit big and heavy for anything more than the range. So, if you think you might wind up with the model 63 as well I think the 6-in 617 and the 3-in 63 make a better pair.

S&W does have some Q/A issues, but I can't think of a manufacturer these days that doesn't and I will say their customer service is very good and ultimately it's my experience they will make things right. I bought the 617 from a local shop and have never had a problem. The 63 was bought through an online broker and the gun I got had a milling imperfection so I sent it to S&W and they sent me a new firearm. Unfortunately that one had a very slightly bent front sight (took me a while to realize it) so it needed a trip back to S&W. Frustrating, but now the 63 is almost as accurate as it's big brother.

As and aside, I see posts on this forum with people complaining about the postage to send in a firearm to S&W for service. I don't know why. Sending in a firearm is absolutely free via Fed Ex.. you just need to call S&W first and follow their procedures.

S&W is noted for good revolver triggers out off the box, but be prepared for a heavy trigger pull vs a centerfire. Remember, these are .22 so they need a stronger spring to shoot reliably. My advice is don't go for the lighter Wolfe springs.. you'll wind up with misfires. I can't comment on the after-market trigger kits. They may be fine, but I just had my local smithy do a trigger job and that lightened and smoothed the pull considerably.

The standard rubber grips are very comfortable but I decided to dress mine up a bit with custom wooden Hogue grips just because I'm a traditionalist and somehow a revolver just begs for wood.

Both the 617 and 63 are hard guns to find so while a bit pricey, you can get back what you paid for them and more almost any time. The guys behind the counter at my local gun store/range have made it clear they'll buy my 617 at a premium any time I'm tired of it (which will probably be never!)

One word of caution, stay away from the 317. S&W has had a lot of trouble with it and this comes from a rep over the phone ...stick with the stainless and be prepared to smile.

Welcome to the forum, backtracker. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have the 3" Model 63-5 and a 17-3. I had a hard time finding the Model 63 because I wanted to physically inspect it, so that limited me to local sales. It's a sweet little kit gun, maybe the best one ever.

Love my 63..it's just so damn shootable!

The 63 was my first experience with an online broker and a major one at that. Don't know if I'd do it again, but I knew S&W would stand behind the gun if there was a problem and they did. That's the good part. Good customer service is critical...ask Apple about that. What's sad, is S&W seems to be missing the front-end of the consumer equation. They let two guns that should never have left the factory wind up in a customer's hands.

The other thing that's sad is S&W reps seemingly have no knowledge of inventory or production schedules. Moreover, they work through distributors and have no interest in controlling that part of the supply chain. So, a lot of hard-to-find stock winds up online and none at the brick and mortar stores. I waited four months for my local guy before giving up and going online.

I'll be interested to see if the sloppy Q/A and laissez-faire distribution policy spill over to their larger outdoor business plans under American Outdoor Brands where they have to compete against a large number of high quality icon brands.

I have the 6" 617, bought new a year ago. Hated the black rubber grips, so put on Ahrends square butt wood. I like the fact that the 617 is the same design and weight as my 686. Very well made, but you pay for that. I wish the sights were red ramp front and white outline rear, like my 686. This has to be the "meanest looking" .22 ever.

I just bought a mdl 617-6 a few days ago. I lubed it a little and shot 100 rnds through it the first outing. Cleaned it up good when I got home, (including removing the side plate, gasp) a little lube in the right places, installed a pair of Kim Ahrends Tactical stocks and took some pics.
I'll take it to an indoor range tomorrow to try the new stocks. The rubber OE grips are comfortable and fit my hand well, but as another poster here said, I like my revolvers w/ wood.
As for the fit and finish I must say it is excellent. The yoke to frame alignment is nice, barrel and front sight appears to be straight w/ the frame, barrel to forcing cone gap is a tight .005.
Out of the box it shoots POA at 10 yards. I didn't shoot much farther that that as I was in the mountains and things are very dry out this way.
I like this firearm a lot.
Oh another thing, I really like the patridge style front sight. But I think I'll add some yellow Testors to the rear surface of the front sight. My ol' eyes pick up the yellow pretty good.
I should mention, 4" BBL.

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I purchased a 617 w/ 6" barrel about 6 months ago. Best case scenario is you find a few in LGSs and inspect them for barrel cant, timing, and general fit/finish. When I was looking, inspected one that was on sale at my preferred LGS, it had barrel cant and was the only one they had in stock. Visited their sister shop 12 miles away, they had one that was perfect and matched the sale price of the other store.

I typically don't worry about S&W actions. They either smooth up after time or you can expedite the process by thoroughly breaking down, lubing, polishing a few select areas, and possibly a spring kit. The first thing I do before going to the range is break them down, of which I mean taking the sideplate off, removing the mainspring, rebound spring, hammer, and trigger. If I recall, mine was very dry out of the box. A little lube goes a long way. Mine are typically 95% ready to go before firing a shot.

The 617 I purchased will cut one small hole at 25 yards with CCI mini mags. It has a weigand mount for either a red dot or scope as the intent is either plinking or possibly squirrel hunting. Very happy with the purchase.

These 617's are heckuva guns, and I shoot my -4 10 shot quite often. It's crazy accurate and a ton of fun.
Cleaning it is not my idea of fun though, that's why I have a ND 6 snot. Both guns are 4 inch.

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Sure you did

My 617 is my favorite gun to shoot. It has a very light trigger pull, DA only. It loves Federal Gold, and Automatch.

I want to get one. It may be my next purchase.


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My 617 is my favorite - and most used - gun I own. You won't be disappointed.