I have a new 617 6 inch. The cylinders are not smooth as my previous older model 617. The butt end of the cylinder has striations and then they smooth out as they get to the middle of the cylinder. These are uniform on every cylinder so it looks like it is a manufacturing process but what do I know?
Any thoughts from those more knowledgeable than I? The gun shoots well and has the usual ejecting issues after 100 rounds or so.

I'd like to see pics' to compare to my 617 no dash, but I did ream the cyl with a finish reamer, and have no extraction issues now

I wish I could get a good picture but can't get the lighting right. The striations are tiny straight lines that go up to the end of the shell casing then everything is smooth. This is my only revolver with this issue.

Without pics, it is hard to give an opinion or advice.

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Pine_Worker
Ex-LEO, NRA Life

What I am trying to determine is has anyone bought a new 617 that has rough cylinders or should the cylinders be smooth on the inside from back to front?

My 617-6 has smooth chambers, but it is 5 years old.

Mine is certainly not smooth. May be a reaming issue of some sort unless someone has other info. 1/2 with striations and 1/2 smooth. Think it needs to be reviewed at Smith after the lockdowns are over. Thanks for your input.

First, you say it is a “new” Model 617; does this mean newly produced or newly acquired? What dash number is it? Aluminum or steel cylinder? You mention that the “cylinders” are not smooth... may we assume you mean the chamber walls of the cylinder are not smooth? If I am reading you correctly, you have striations equally in all chambers, but they only go part way up the side of each. Is this correct?

It sounds (without further information) as though your gun missed the final finish reaming in the whole cylinder. This would be a QC issue. If it is indeed a new production gun, a trip back to the factory would certainly be in order. If it is old enough that the factory won’t deal with it for you, any competent gunsmith should be able to finish ream the chambers. Either way, it doesn’t seem your problem is terminal. Good luck and please let us know what you find out.

Regards,
Froggie

Sticky extraction can be solved by either reaming the cylinders ( I use a Clymer Reamer) I got it from Brownell's, but you can also change to different ammo.

Lately I've been using Federal BYOB with tremendous luck. I can run an entire Steel Challenge Match without having to take a brush to the cylinders. That's about 30 reloads.

Remington Golden Bullets also work very well.

When I use Mini Mags I clean every stage or the cases need to be hit out.

There are lots of smart folks here but everything you get back is going to be subjective if you don't give us a picture to go on. Smooth and rough are very relitive and inaccurate terms.

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Dave

I just bought 2 617's-6 a 4in and a 6in the 6 in has the same thing going on in the cylinder as you are talking about, the 4in does not. I had problems whit the cylinder closing on the 6in sent it back to S&W it was there about 4 weeks they repaired the extractor rod, replaced the bolt, repaired the yoke, and repair the hand but did not ream out the cylinder.

Attached Images

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My cylinder is exactly like Deno56's (posted above). He did a great job taking pictures. In his picture you can see the striations I was talking about. My gun is a new 6 inch 617-6 that was not pre owned. Thanks Deno for a great picture!

Don't know if this will work with your problem but I had extraction problems with my 17-4. I polished each cylinder chamber with Flitz polish. I used a Q-tips in my drill to apply the polish and haven't had a problem since. Not sure if this will work on stainless but it's worth a try.

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Ed

Talked to customer service. Its going back for a review.

I just checked my (new since December 2019) 617-6 and it does indeed have those faint striations you describe. They go perhaps half the length of the brass casing and then the rest of the chamber is smooth. They're smooth and don't seem to cause any issues, but it is a curious thing to see.

I've subscribed to this thread, so am curious to see what your experience is with S&W service's response. Please let us know how it goes.

Will do. It appears this is the way they are making them now. I have a 4 inch on order so I will get to see another sample. With all the delays, I don't know when it will arrive.

Got my 617 4 inch today. The inside of the cylinders are smooth as they can be throughout. No lines. The 6 inch is at the factory for review. Will keep you posted.

A simple reaming with a 22RF standard finishing reamer will solve the problem and solve any ejection problems at the same time. As Macinaw so nicely illustrates.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Received the 617 6" from repair shop at S&W today. The cylinders still have the striations as noted in previous posts. There was only a note saying "passed range testing". Don't believe they did anything except evaluate it. Evidently this is how the cylinders are being manufactured now. Thanks for all your responses.