Model 617, My story(Update-Happy ending)

Harv 24 · Mar 25, 2025

One of the reasons I joined this site was to increase my wheel gun knowledge. I purchased a NIB 4" model 617. When I went to pick it up and do my inspection, this is what I found.

Wear on the front and rear sight. finish wear where you can see shiny metal
pretty prevalent scoring on the cylinder
boogered upside plate and yoke screw.
Big time carbon build up on the inside of the frame and the forcing cone.

I know they test fire, but that seems excessive, compounded with the finish wear and the screws deformed.

If this were a $400 gun, maybe. But a close to $1000 gun, I'm thinking this was a return/repair that made it back into the distribution chain.

The store I bought it from was great. They agreed that this was not the norm and called the distributor. They called me the next morning and said a new gun was being shipped out. I should see it in a few days.

So what say you all. Am I being overly picky? or is this the new norm for Smith and Wesson? That Colt King Cobra .22 for $850 is starting to look better.

Mercury · Mar 25, 2025

I don't think you're being picky at all. It seems like that may have been a used gun and even if it were not, I would not have accepted it.

Jeep 1 · Mar 25, 2025

Welcome to the forum,
From what I’ve seen Smith & Wesson quality is nowhere near what it once was. Next time I would be surfing auction sites and LGS
to find an original, 617 or 617-1 you will be much happier and not out much more money.
Tom

stansdds · Mar 25, 2025

22LR ammo has never been known as the cleanest ammo on the planet and the plain lead bullets are usually the worst offenders when it comes to leaving deposits, but that is a lot more on the frame than I would ever expect from firing 3, 5, 6, 10, or 12 shots. Seems like a fair amount of wear on the edges of the rear sight too. Buggered screw heads are usually a sign of someone using the wrong type of screw driver or just being careless and that could even happen at the factory these days. Given the visible finish wear, gsr fouling, and buggered screws, I would have to question the legitimacy of this being a NIB revolver. It does look used, at least to me it does.

Mark 40 · Mar 25, 2025

Harv 24 said:
So what say you all. Am I being overly picky?

IMO, not at all

Yendor357 · Mar 25, 2025

Yes you’re picky. For $1K, you paid for the right to be picky.
All I see wrong are the screw slots slightly burred up, which should not happen. But that’s an easy fix. Either get new ones or get out the 1200 grit sandpaper, and fix them yourself. Other than that, the gun looks fine to me.

Sending anything back to the factory nowadays is a 50/50 proposition. I sent my 617 back, and now the barrel isn’t indexed correctly. I wouldn’t send it back. I’d keep it, as is, and polish those screw heads myself.

My 4 inch 617 has been a journey. However in its present state, with a 2X Leupold scope on it, it has more than once put 5 shots under 3 inches at 100 yards.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

Engine49guy · Mar 25, 2025

I have OCD so it would bug me too .
If you purchased it online from a distributor and were doing the transfer at your local gunshop your in a very different position then if you are buying a new gun in the case at a local shop IMO.
Luckily it was easily resolved (before it was transferred if I'm reading it right) had it been transferred and went home then been discovered it might not have been as easy but luckily SW still seems to resolve such issues.
A number of scenarios could have occurred, the one that pops in my mind is maybe that gun had an issue at test firing so went back to be addressed, Mr new guy/gal gets said gun and had a crazy party last night , not much sleep and their eyesight, steady hand and vision ain't so great today, buggers up screws slaps it back together, Mr test fire doesn't inspect screws runs some more ammo thru it, maybe it goes back again who knows but eventually it passes and arrives at your FFL uncleaned and worse for wear.
You are basicly the QC for cosmetic issues now and perhaps 50% of buyers might not notice or care .
Bottom line is always carefully inspect any new gun before plopping down payment or leaving.
On a side note if it was a 617 nd or 617-1 don't think SW would have done much for you this many years later and iirc likely predates the lifetime warranty stuff.

swagmeister · Mar 25, 2025

Totally unacceptable for a so called NIB gun to be in that condition. Glad the gunstore did you right. Be sure and look over the next one coming because of S&W's continuing problem with quality control or lack thereof, it could be in the same condition or worse!! Good luck.

22hipower · Mar 25, 2025

Did you buy it to admire its perfection or to use it? If you want perfection, take it back and ask for another one. . . .but don't take that one out of the box and don't use it. If you bought it to use, it will look a lot worse soon but will be just as functional as the day you bought it. Nothing I see in your pictures would surprise or dismay me at all.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

APS · Mar 25, 2025

I wouldn't be happy with that. I suspect Ron Cohen might be consulting to S&W and Rugers QA departments.

AveragEd · Mar 25, 2025

Those "Bubba'd" screws would have turned me off right away unless the price was much lower. That's a carelessly used gun in its original box, if you ask me.

Eds

usm1rifle · Mar 25, 2025

That looks like a well used gun to me. I would have been unhappy with it represented as new.

SWFan27 · Mar 25, 2025

Just get another one. I love my 617-6 that I bought last year.

toddimusnimski · Mar 25, 2025

You paid for NIB and should accept nothing less. Yes, with use it will get wear and tear, but that's the consumer's job, not the manufacturer's. YOU get to decide if it's a safe queen or if it gets drug by a chain behind your truck, and all conditions in between. If the factory resolves that new guns don't have to look new, we need to hold them accountable. Good call on your part.

If this was listed and sold as NIB here in our classified section, a return or partial refund would not be unreasonable. The factory should be held to the same standard.

Welcome to the Forum! Please keep reading and sharing.

Todd

balin · Mar 25, 2025

You are justified. But Smith was quick to rectify the situation. So I can't condemn them. For a manufacturer to never have a bad product leave would be impossible. And the lower the number of mistakes that get out the higher the cost. I worked for a company for decades whose product would sell for hundreds of millions of dollars and not one was perfect. Seems most gun manufacturers are getting more complaints then long ago. Or decades ago there was no internet so it would have been rare to hear many complaints. Plus with low unemployment companies have to hire who ever they can get

Harv 24 · Mar 26, 2025

Got the word that a replacement pistol is in, going to go either at lunch or after work to go get it, I'll post pics and hopefully have a happy ending to the story.

GSP Fan · Mar 26, 2025

There is IMHO no way that was NIB. Glad your getting a different gun. I have two 617's a 4 and a 6 inch both are ND guns. Next to the K22 and M18's there my favorites
Good luck with the replacement.

Ted Neff · Mar 26, 2025

I wouldn’t accept a $300 gun with screws like that. Your not being picky at all. Someone was in there that shouldn’t have been.

Harv 24 · Mar 26, 2025

Picked up pistol #2 after work. This one is certainly a NIB pistol. Finish on the sights good, no buggered-up screws, no excessive carbon build.

The gun came from RSR distributors. They did alright by me. Replacement with no questions ask. very satisfied.

Now it's time to go shoot after a good cleaning. I have to say, after being used to the double action on my H&R model 999, the Smith trigger is like butter. and no staging. I'm sure it will get better as time goes buy. Now to get my Rosewood grips for this...

wproct · Mar 26, 2025

I'm really happy for you. Glad that you didn't take the first revolver and glad that the dealer did the right thing for you. I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of your new 617.

Model 617, My story(Update-Happy ending)

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads