Not my best day but I sure did have fun today shooting my S&W 617 during out monthly Steel Challenge Match.

As long as it took to get use to the red dot sights, I can see having to spend a lot of time dry firing to get use to irons.

I could see my misses before I shot them but was in a too fast to go zone that I didn't just watch the front sight and hit the target. Our last stage was Smoke And Hope and I nailed it for me. One shot one hit per target and I had a decent score.

I used my DS-10 Speed Loaders throughout the match. I used Federal HV Gold Ammo and didn't have one failure. I still need to focus on that front sight to make sure I get my hits. When I did I had one for one hits on the stages.

We've got a saying in my other sport. "Most fun wins!" Looks like you had the most fun!

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The best I can with what I got

It is fun to shoot a match designed for auto pistols with a revolver. I shot ours once with a Model 17 with a New York reload (Model 18). Had a good time.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

AzShooter, I love shooting my 6" 617 in Steel Challenge. It's the only .22 pistol I've shot in Steel Challenge. I am a B Class shooter and currently ranked 14th in the world with it. I doubt there are any other wheel guns ahead of me. I may change to a semi at some point, but I'd love to make Master with a wheel gun. I also shoot a 929 in Iron Sight Revolver. Keep shooting that wheel gun and giving those bottom feeders a good run!lol

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That's fantastic shooting. I use to only shoot revolvers and shot my best time with a 625 many years ago. My fastest time was 119. Now, 69 and a lot of health problems I'm holding at about 160. I'm enjoying it though and that's what counts.

Good luck. I hope you make Master. Your gun looks great. I just changed from wood to rubber Hogue's because the fit my hand better.

Thank you AzShooter!

Great to see people competing with revolvers in these challenges. I have a bone stock 617, and I thought it had a trigger job because it is so light, but I think it is original. What a sweet gun. I only have about 80 rounds through mine, haven't done much accuracy testing with it yet. Mine had a buildup of lead (much bigger than I would expect) above the barrel and to the right of the forcing cone, so I want to check accuracy and see why I had so much buildup- I bought it used, and it was clean except the pile of lead and powder- PO must have put 1000 rounds through it before cleaning it, then cleaned it and sold it. Was less than a year old when I bought it.

Give it a good cleaning and it will last you forever.

Hi RM,

How do you like the Hogue Big Butt combo with the rubber and the wood? I used to have an NRA Action 686 that I put a Hogue laminated "NRA Action Prone Big Butt" grip on (see photo), and was thinking of getting one for my 617. I don't think Hogue makes this extended Big Butt grips and only makes their regular Big Butt grips. When I saw you were using the combo rubber/wood, I thought I would see what you thought of them.

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I like the rubber Big Butts the best. It doesn't matter with the .22 but when shooting .38s I could tell a big difference between the wood and rubbers. I often use the wooden ones for pictures but have been shooting them on the .22 the last two matches.

My hands fit the rubber grips better with the finger grooves ground off.

With you guys using the 617 for Steel Challenge, have you installed the Apex extended firing pin?

I'm thinking of doing this just because I've gotten a handful of misfires with some Federal ammo. I don't want to mess with the trigger pull because I like where I've gotten it. I also don't want to mess with fitting the Mass Driver Hammer. I'm thinking the extended firing pin may resolve the very infrequent misfire issue.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Actually, I just spoke with Apex. They told me that their firing pin is not made for the rimfire models and should only be used with centerfire. Bummer!

When Randy set me up with the new Mass Drive Hammer he told me to put a stock firing pin back in. I had the extended firing pin in for years with no problems with the old hammer. I used Cylinder and Slide and Power Custom extended pins.

The C&S pins have a tendency of breaking so if you go that route make sure you have an extra in your shooting bag.

Did you use the Power Custom in your 617? Was it ok with the rimfire?

Nice shooting your 617. When I saw your post I wasn't sure if you were using a 10 shot or a six shot. I have a six shot that I'd have to get converted to 10 shot before trying Steel Challenge with it. Only having one extra shot would be enough to drive me mad.

Yes and it's working fine.

Cool, thanks. I'll pick one up.

You know what would be fun—to see one of these matches shot with these beauties. I bet they would do just fine:

Post Your Pre-War K-22s

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Possum—The other white meat!

Go for it. It will be a fun day for sure. Get some DS-10 speed loaders for the 6 shot and enjoy yourself.

I just got off the phone with Ron Power at Power Custom. He tells me that his firing pin isn't made for the rimfire guns either. He said that the slot that's cut for the retaining pin is in the wrong place and a gunsmith has to cut a new slot for it to work in the 617.

AZ, did you have a gunsmith work on yours when you had the Power Custom firing pin in your gun? I'm just really confused now.

Gee, I don't know what to say. Mine has just over 500 rounds through it now with no modification to the pin. I didn't realize it needed it.

Randy says to put the factory pin back in and I'll probably end up ordering one now.

I just order 2 new firing pins from Numbrich Arms for the standard 617. I'll switch out when they come in and see if there is any difference.

If it works ok, that's great. That's why I asked. It seems that if you were able to do a drop in installation and it worked ok, then it actually does work. I'll pull the side plate off of mine this weekend and pull the factory pin out. If it's configured the same as the Power Custom pin, which I expect that it is since it's working for you, then I'll order one up.

Thanks for the help again. I appreciate it.

An extended firing pin may make contact with the edge of the chamber. The factory ones generally do not. While I do not generally dry fire rimfire guns, it's nice to know there's no danger if someone drops the hammer on an empty chamber.

I'm not a steel shooter, all my racing revolvers are centerfire. Why do you guys want to use the extended firing pins? If Randy says to use the factory ones, I assume there's no advantage using one with a tuned trigger. Are you seeing an advantage with them?

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Is there anyone doing conversions from 6 shot to 10 shot? this sounds like an expensive conversion. I would love to have a 10 shot 17 or 617 to play the Steel Challenge with, but all that is made are those but ugly, heavy full lug guns. They only made 42 of the mountain guns and I will never find one for sale. Talk about looking for a needle in a hay stack. My double holy grail gun- a 10 shot 22 without a full underlug. I made myself a promise years ago, two things never to be seen in public with, one, an ugly woman, two, a full lug S&W. I have better taste in life and life is too short to be seen with ugly guns or ugly women.

Initially when I had Randy's first hammer for the 617 he told me to use the extended firing pin because I was getting some failure to fires with the light pull at under 7 pounds. When he gave me the Mass Drive Hammer he told me to put the stock firing pin back in. I got a few failures to fire and put the extended pin in. No more FTFs.

I do have 2 stock pins coming and will switch to see if they work with my heavier pull. If so I will go back to stock firing pins.

Good luck on your quest. Try Power Custom or TKCustom and see if they can help you.