S&W Model 617, Ashland Shooters Supply Co.

Don't see these discussed too much anymore.

I believe they made a total of 116 of the six inch barreled Model 617's.

I am pleased to have acquired this one a few years ago.

enjoy,

bdGreen

Seeing one of those is a first for me. I have two of the Ashland M-60's, but a 617? Very cool.

Very nice! I was watching a Ashland 4" half lug on GB recently...it finished just north of $2,400. The half lug 617 is definitely on my wish list...I'll have one someday.

Very nice and interesting 617 variation,
Back when I was hot n Heavy filling out my K22 card and on the lookout for one I realized that they are indeed a needle in the haystack.
While some might scratch their heads on the Ashland variation there is a very simple explanation when you realize a few things,

First, the Model 617 was introduced during production of the 17-6 so is equivelant to that version (in the same way a Model 66 no dash is equal to a 19-3 etc),
Second,
the early 17-6 which was available in 4", 6" and 8"3/8 had the exact same barrel profile as the Ashland gun (so does the 17-5 btw) but in blue.
Heres whats weird,
it would appear that the Ashland guns shipped after the introduction of the standard 617 and 17-6 with full the underlug judging by the Op's above example:
617, 6" wide rib (no ejector shroud)
Serial BEJ 4175
shipped July 1991

For comparison from my collection notes,
in order of ship date,

Model 17-6 , Blue, Barrel 6"
Full lug
 Serial BDS 9870  Shipped  Apr 1989

Model 17-6 , Blue, Barrel 4"
Heavy wide rib barrel no ejector rod shroud
Serial BDE 5305   Shipped July 1989

Model 617 , SS, barrel 4"
Full lug                                       
  Serial BEF 4052   Shipped  Aug 1989

Model 17-6 , Blue, 4" barrel
Heavy wide rib no ejector shroud
Serial BEH 8419   Shipped Sep 1989 

(OP's Ashland gun's Serial would be here if going in order)

 Model 17-6 , Blue,  4" barrel
  full underlug          
  Serial BEJ 6279  Shipped  Sep 1989 

 Model 617,  SS , 6"
Full lug
 Serial BEV 7017 Shipped May 1990,

(OP's July 91  ship date is here)

Since Full lug guns had been shipping for over two years my suspicion is Ashland placed their order and asked for the older style non underlug barrel in stainless, since there is no difference in the frame would have been an easy job for SW to simply make a run of barrels in the previous style made of Stainless, perhaps Ashland was testing the waters to see if people preferred a lighter barrel or perhaps they just wanted a slightly different product that wasn't being offered , I have no idea, perhaps time will tell?

About the time I realized that finding one to fill that hole wasn't gonna happen I had pondered the idea of sending off one of my 4" wide rib non underlug 17-6's off to be hard chromed to hold it's place shoukd one ever turn up but that project was never accomplished.

On a closing note
(Warning: personal friendly rant coming)
today is the second time I have seen the term " Half lug" applied to a SW that has the unshrouded ejector rod ( triggering my unmedicated OCD),
IMO this is confusing since models like the Model 53 Jet and 617 Mountain gun exist which have a half length "lug" or ejector rod shroud,
If the consensus would agree that since there are K22s with full underlug barrels and some that have half lug shrouded ejector rods , that perhaps when we refer to the older style versions ( usually made prior to 1989)  which although they do have a small lug that retains a pin and spring to capture the front of the ejector rod , do not have a "Half lug" barrel since their ejector rods are not shrouded.
If I am in the minority on this concept I will gladly stand corrected and adjust my personal use of this nonmenclature
(insert smiley face with wink ; ) ....)

Quick question for Mr Green,
I have never seen an Ashland gun in the wild,
Yours appears to have a satin bead blast finish compared to the common matte stainless, is this true?
If so, is there any mention in any of the literature about that feature?
Iirc you had or have a 4" as well?
If so are any of the others you have seen or own satin finish?
Neat and rare variation (jealous).
Imo perhaps only second in K22 scarcity to the reported small test run of Stainless 4" Combat Masteriece revolvers (made during the Model 18-3 era?) That IIRC were Model marked as the then unused Model 65?
This is very fuzzy in this old guys memory so perhaps I am mistaken as my old notes on the subject were lost years ago.

Best regards from hot humid rainy South Florida.

Engine49guy said:

Quick question for Mr Green,
I have never seen an Ashland gun in the wild,
Yours appears to have a satin bead blast finish compared to the common matte stainless, is this true?
If so, is there any mention in any of the literature about that feature?
Iirc you had or have a 4" as well?
If so are any of the others you have seen or own satin finish?
Neat and rare variation (jealous).
Imo perhaps only second in K22 scarcity to the reported small test run of Stainless 4" Combat Masteriece revolvers (made during the Model 18-3 era?) That IIRC were Model marked as the then unused Model 65?
This is very fuzzy in this old guys memory so perhaps I am mistaken as my old notes on the subject were lost years ago.

Best regards from hot humid rainy South Florida.

Click to expand...

Good memory.

Yes, I have a four inch Ashland 'Special' Model 617.
There were 200 of these manufactured in 1991.




They do have the satin stainless finish.

Smith and Wesson refers to this finish, "w/glass bead finish".

I had a very scarce model that I chose to let go to someone willing to convince me to do so. (Ok, so I prostituted myself for the money.)

It was the Model 617, 4" no underlug, 10 shot with the aluminum cylinder. Had the most beautiful stocks. Combats, of course. They also had a soft, satin finish. Quite unique in appearance.




enjoy,

bdGreen

I dig it. Looks good in that finish and without the full under log.

I noticed that the letter describes it is a 617-1. The -1 does not appear in the crane.

NCBeagle said:

I dig it. Looks good in that finish and without the full under log.

I noticed that the letter describes it is a 617-1. The -1 does not appear in the crane.

Click to expand...

It doesn't in the 4" either.

Odd that the potential to 'run out of room' for the dash would happen to BOTH of them. Ha

bdGreen

When I started Project 616 I liked the look of the Ashland barrels and thought maybe I could find one of these 6”barrels to rebore. LOL. That’s why I ended up with a 4” underlug barrel to be rebored to 32.
Froggie

Just noticed something interesting that never blipped on my radar before,
your six shot 4" Ashland 617 has a pinned Baughman fs blade,
in the picture it almost appears to be SS but I somehow think it may be a blue blade that looks light from the lighting or flash ?
Either way what is odd is that the full underlug K22s in various lengths all have a pinned black Patridge blade,

In comparison the wide rib no lug 4" 17-6 and 17-5 all have Baughman ramp blades that do not appear to have a visible set pin, (could be polished flush or could be integral with the ramp).
Have you noticed any other 4" Ashland 617s with the same Baughman ramp blade?

On a side note I have one set of K finger groove SB target stocks with the satin finish and they are pretty,
Iirc have a satin set of RB fg Combats in both K and J frame size as well.

Engine49guy said:

Just noticed something interesting that never blipped on my radar before,
your six shot 4" Ashland 617 has a pinned Baughman fs blade,
in the picture it almost appears to be SS but I somehow think it may be a blue blade that looks light from the lighting or flash ?
Either way what is odd is that the full underlug K22s in various lengths all have a pinned black Patridge blade,

In comparison the wide rib no lug 4" 17-6 and 17-5 all have Baughman ramp blades that do not appear to have a visible set pin, (could be polished flush or could be integral with the ramp).
Have you noticed any other 4" Ashland 617s with the same Baughman ramp blade?

On a side note I have one set of K finger groove SB target stocks with the satin finish and they are pretty,
Iirc have a satin set of RB fg Combats in both K and J frame size as well.

Click to expand...

If you will look closely at the 'tool' package you will see, on the left end, the original front sight. Was swapped out and saved before I owned it.

Mystery solved.

I really like the satin finish on the combats. A lot of the shiny finish stocks look refinished with the wrong stuff. Ha.

I have a couple of J frames with the satin combats. They look good.

bdGreen

I remember when you first posted that Beauty 1 of 17 or 20 something if I recall correctly with the aluminum cylinder. Such an awesome gun. Those stocks were the Morado wood factory combats and set that 617 off. Heck maybe that was yours that I barely lost out on about a month or two ago at auction. Damn buyers fee was too rich after a while lol.

Eric

bdGreen said:

Good memory.

Yes, I have a four inch Ashland 'Special' Model 617.
There were 200 of these manufactured in 1991.




They do have the satin stainless finish.

Smith and Wesson refers to this finish, "w/glass bead finish".

I had a very scarce model that I chose to let go to someone willing to convince me to do so. (Ok, so I prostituted myself for the money.)

It was the Model 617, 4" no underlug, 10 shot with the aluminum cylinder. Had the most beautiful stocks. Combats, of course. They also had a soft, satin finish. Quite unique in appearance.




enjoy,

bdGreen

Click to expand...

617

Another semi-rare 617.

I was just wondering...why S&W never made a J frame 8 shot 335 or 635 kit gun.

Here’s a poor quality pic of an old shotgun news ad for the 3 Ashland 617’s.
The 6” Target and 6” & 4” Standards

Ashlands, all 6-shots

Top: 6” Target- <150
Middle: 6” Standard- 116
Bottom: 4” Standard- 200

Below are more non-lug, not Ashlands

4” 10 shot
Round butt- 17 produced
Square butt- 23

Just FYI, but there's a 4" Ashland for sale in the classifieds.

Weird that the advertisement shows the gun with a shrouded ejector rod like a Model 66 not the standard unshrouded rod they all have.

I know. The ad artist must not be a S&W guy.
Wondered if anyone would notice.

Seeing the ad makes me wonder why they'd go with an existing product but in stainless,
If these were a small special run you would think they would make them in a configuration not ever offered like a batch of 5" square butts and 3" round butts with a shrouded half lug barrel.
Reminds me of when the 17-8 heritage series was offered always wondered why no 4" was offered or better yet a version with fixed sights like the Model 45.