Hey Gang,

Got a problem with a 617-6. Bought this from an old guy at my Shooting Club who had this as a "Fixin' To" project. It came with a new cylinder assembly, center pin and ejector rod that had not been assembled. I put it together, had to fit the pin and all rest seems A-OK .. end shake, headspace & bbl/cyl clearance.. but! ... Both manual & dbl action the hammer will only go to a bit less than 3/4 Cock. The cylinder indexes fine. I'm guessing that the star ratchets need to be filed/fitted. I'm a shade tree semi-auto smith and know squat about revolvers. Just for grins I took out the center pin, held the Thumb Piece aft and it cycles fine ... 'cause, of course, there is more "play" without the pin in the "shield hole". This confirms to me that it is a ratchet/hand fitting problem? Can anyone here point me to a youtube or serious explanation of fitting ratchets/hands and what specialized tools I might need.
Thanks & Merry July ;-)

So many things here! I would get the Kuhnhausen S&W Revolvers Shop Manual book. It will help you through the project and get you started in the right direction. Good luck!

The correct direction is to contact S&W about doing this. Because cutting the ratchet pawl is a task that requires the use of a very special tool (IIRC a Cutting Hand) that is inserted through the window for the hand and operated by hands with the skill to do this task quickly and easily.

As a result you need a tool that is never sold to the public and for which the detail drawings are most likely kept under lock and key. Then you have to have someone very skilled in this task train you how to do it and have enough disposable materials on hand to do enough practice to gain the skill to do it properly.

If you're just looking for a project, then I'd say to get the book described above. But if you want a nice shooter, then send it in to Smith. It doesn't matter that you're not the original owner, they'll fix it. The worst they could do is charge you a bit. But then it's fixed right.

I would like to have more information: Why does this frame need a new cylinder? Is this a conversion from 6 chambers to 10, or vice versa? What is the "Dash" number of this frame? Is this a conversion from aluminum cylinder to a steel cylinder?

From your meager hints of the problem, my first guess is that a new hand that is 0.004" to 0.006" narrower than the original would solve the problem.

But, the best advice you have received so far is to send it to S&W and let them 'fix' it. .............

From the clues given, this sounds like it might be a 6 shot to 10 shot conversion. If that is the case, do not touch the ratchets. The nose at the top of the hand for the 10 shot needs to be much thinner than the regular one on the 6 shot. See of you can get Smith to send you a 10 shot hand or use a diamond file to file the nose of a regular one. Hands are cheap. If one gets messed up, not much loss.

OK Gang,

Thanks for all the inputs! I do have the Kuhnhausen book and Geo Note's and a bunch of others but none of those give detailed instruction on fitting the hand to ratchets .... but ... after reading numerous posts here & elsewhere I finally pieced together, in my mind, how it's done .... & I done did it ;-) Now!! I have the jewelers/gunsmith files, Arkie Stones, padded vice and enough patience to do the job. Yes! The S&W Guy with the experience, jigs & etc could do the job in 30 min. It took me 3+ hours of going slow ... working, fitting, working .......................& it would cost me UPS 2nd Day Air both ways and $$$ to S&W ... How Long!!!?? .... and besides! I have mixed reviews of S&W Quality/Workmanship "These Days" and Ruger has got me all PO too.
We will find out if it all works at The Club tomorrow before Skeet Shooting with The Good Ol' Boys. Merry, Merry ;-)

Put over 100 rounds thru her today ... works fine ;-)

Great job, Crew Dog! Glad it worked out for you.

I do believe that many people can do things like this. You help confirms this.

NUMBER ONE. Patience and willingness to find out what you really need to do.

#2 decent tools, equipment

#3 some experience using tools and working on less precise and valuable things

Great news! Congratulations!

There's nothing like the sweet smell of success.

Wow - you shoot skeet with a .22? What's your average?

__________________
So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I had a 617 with the 10 shot cylinder that I was going to give to my Son. Before doing so, I bought a new 6 shot cylinder and fit that to the gun. I had to file the ratchets, after changing the hand, and it took patience and time to do so, but I got it done and it turned out very well, indexing and timing perfectly.

Unfortunately the gun and several others got stolen in a B&E. Serial numbers given to the PD, but nothing has shown up yet and it has been a few years.