Recently acquired a Model 617 No Dash and having an issue with case extraction. The fired cases remain stuck in the cylinder and are difficult to extract without some persistent coaxing with the extractor pushrod.
Checked the fired cases and noticed the firing pin indentation was fairly severe as the case heads appeared warped. Check the hammer spring and found it way too tight.
Backed off the hammer spring, cases now look normal, but still difficult to extract. The base of the cases show a uniform expansion of .005 larger than other .22s I shoot.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

If by the "hammer spring" you mean the mainspring strain screw on the front grip strap, that is meant to be fully tightened. If you are getting 100% reliable ignition with it loosened slightly that should not cause any problems.

However, this is not the cause of its sticky extraction; some S & W .22 cylinder charge holes are slightly undersized. You can try different types of ammo and make sure the cylinder is very clean, but sometimes the only option is using a finishing reamer and taking out a little bit of metal.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Or you could try polishing the cylinder bores with some Mother's or similar polish, clean them well and then shoot them a lot. Bore Bright or something like that is another one. They should smooth out and loosen up. I tried that before reaming the bores and it worked well. Reaming is one of those things that can be overdone without too much difficulty, especially if you cock the reamer a bit.

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Foster Positivity.

I've tried several different brands of .22LR ammo in my 18-3 and most of them are difficult to extract.

However, Federal Value-Pack 36-gr ammo extracted with no problems.
It's also cheap and reasonably accurate, so that's what I shoot in that gun.

Might be worth a try in yours

So far I have used some Eley and CCI Mini-Mags. Both have had extraction problems. Will try polishing and see if that helps. Thanks!

You might try chucking a .25 cal brush into a drill. Run it, carefully, through each charge hole, a few times. If that doesn't do it, a reaming is probably needed. Not sure on current prices, but a competent gunsmith should be able to do it for around $100, I would think.