Shot my 1917 for the first time this weekend and ran into a slight issue. When firing the gun single action, the trigger would stick in the fired position. I remedied this by pulling the hammer back a bit which would then free the trigger to return to its original position. This happened with and without moon clips but never during dry fire.

Any ideas?

So you just got this revolver & never shot it before now?

I'd suggest you remove the side plate & give it a good cleaning/lube. Could just be dirty.

Also, the previous owner may have cut/modified the rebound spring so it may need to be replaced.

No sure what I can relate to it not happeneing when dry fired.

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Waiting for the break of day

What BLUEDOT37 says. You could have 100 years of dried goo inside the pistol or a gun that was worked on by Bobba the kitchen table gunsmith with side cutters and a ball peen hammer.

Yes, I just picked it up last week. I've already had the side plate off and it was surprisingly clean. I lubed it using Slip 2000 and tightened up the strain screw since it was pretty loose. It appeared as though the side of the rebound slide had been polished, either by hand or by use over time, same for the piece that rotates the cylinder (I don't know the name).

Did you take out the rebound slide and inspect the rebound spring?

As stated above, check the rebound spring to see if it has been shortened. If so, replace with a full length spring.

Also, check the hammer and trigger pins. These are screwed into the frame and can come loose. If so, Loc-Tite and peening will be in order. The short action revolvers have the pins pressed into the frame.

I once worked on a 2nd model .44 Special that was binding and discovered a loose pin. First time I came up on that issue.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

No I didn't. I could see that it was different enough from newer Smiths that I should not dive into that quite yet. I think I'll check out Muley's suggestions.

The Slip 2000 is a high quality line of products. The problem most likely came about from tightening the mainspring. You probably have a clipped or weaker than factory rebound spring that worked OK with less tension on the mainspring. The cure is simply a proper rebound spring.

Check the tip of the firing pin for damage that may allow it to get snagged in the primer when fired. With no ammo in the gun this doesn't happen if I read your post correctly.
If the firing pin is OK, then I'd try some different ammo first before pulling springs out and replaceing them.
It's a couple easy things to check first.
Rebound spring may certainly be suspect, but with the gun functioning fine in dry fire mode,,I'd be looking for something else too that's only in play during live fire.