I have never been disappointed in a '40s era K-frame revolver. I don't think you would be either. I like the older specimens of a highly successful model. I would never criticize a model-marked gun with an advanced dash number, but I just don't feel the same magic with them that I do with earlier versions of the same gun.

Take a look at the speed hammer on the 1948 gun and tell me: has there ever been a more attractive hammer profile on a S&W revolver?

Get the 1948. Shoot it. If it is as accurate as your 17-3 or better, it's a simple decision which one to keep. If by any chance the 17-3 is the more accurate gun or just feels "better" to you in some nebulous way, then keep the one you have and let the Pre-17 move on. I doubt you would have any difficulty selling it on this forum. Seems to me the only way you could lose is to refrain from buying the Pre-17.

I don't even have a model-marked K-22. There are three prewar guns and three postwar Pre-17s in the safe. I love them all, even though I can't shoot some of them very well.

My avatar up there at the top left of this post frame shows a piece of my January 1948 K-22, the first Masterpiece I ever bought. It will probably be the last one I sell.

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David Wilson