Smith 617-6 with failure to fire...

[neverenoughguns]

I took my 6" 617-6 out and had an issue. Out of 160 rounds, I had probably 13-15 failures to fire. Most of the time it was one round but at least once it was three rounds in the pistol that did not fire. May have been the same cylinder most of the time, not sure. I was shooting the bulk pack federal and remington ammo. Any suggestions? Has this been a common occurrence with some of the 617s?

(One photo shows the revolver after one round failed to fire.... The second photo shows some of the rounds that did not fire after I had placed them back into the loading block.)

[Chukar60]

I was going to suspect a problem with your main spring tension or the spring itself until you mentioned the ammo you were using. Federal bulk has been the worst I have ever shot for FTF rounds. Normally I can get them to fire if I load them back into the gun and move the round so the firing pin will strike a different spot.
Make sure your main spring tension screw is down all the way. If it is, try some different ammunition. Try something not in a bulk package. Maybe some CCI mini-mags. I have had very good luck with those.

[Alk8944]

The most common for mis-fires with S&W revolvers larger than J Frame size is the mainspring strain screw is loose, either from vibration or because someone thought loosening it would reduce the trigger pull! Very first thing is tighten the strain screw, it is supposed to be tight. Then re-try the gun and see what happens.

[neverenoughguns]

I just double checked and the main spring screw is all the way in....

[AzShooter]

Try some better ammo. I get 100 % reliability with CCI Mini Mags and Blazer. The ammo doesn't have to be expensive, just reliable in your gun.

[sfcjcl]

Main spring adjustment would be a primary cause, but don’t forget to clean very regularly. I’ve had a few misfires after firing for a while without a good cleaning.

[Alk8944]

Originally Posted by neverenoughguns

I just double checked and the main spring screw is all the way in....

Does the gun have a Wolfe "Power Rib" mainspring? If so the strain screw seats into the groove and is effectively too short. A longer strain screw is needed. If you reload place the cup of a fired primer over the end of the strain screw and tighten it, then re-try. A stock rimfire revolver should fire any factory ammunition dependably. in 60+ years shooting I cannot recall ever having a mis-fire with a rimfire except when there was either a gap in the priming or the priming was totally absent.

Is there excessive cylinder end-shake? Check the clearance between the cylinder and breech, shouldn't be more than .010". Sorry, first remark I forgot we were talking about a rimfire!

[HOUSTON RICK]

The first thing I would do would be to try better ammunition.

[Eddietruett]

Are the cylinder walls clean? I had a model 34 and bullets always fit a little tighter than I thought was needed and if I let carbon build up the bullets would not seat completely in the cylinder and I got some FTF just like a centerfire bullet where the primer was not seated. Take the gun home and clean the cylinders good and the problem would stop until it got real dirty again. I'm not sure why S&W .22 cylinders are always tighter than any other brand .22 I've ever tried. Maybe there is a reason, I don't know but every Smith .22 I've ever owned has had tight cylinders. Some you really have to force the bullets in.

[AzShooter]

[ I'm not sure why S&W .22 cylinders are always tighter than any other brand .22 I've ever tried. Maybe there is a reason, I don't know but every Smith .22 I've ever owned has had tight cylinders. Some you really have to force the bullets in.[/QUOTE]

My 617 had very tight chambers and would give me lots of trouble extracting cases and when it was dirty I had ignition problems.

I bought a Clymer Reamer from Brownells and reamed all my cylinders. After that I had no more problems.

You can send it back to S&W and they will ream it for you if you don't want to do it yourself.

[pharman]

Looking at your picture of the "fail to fire" ammo, it appears that the firing pin is definitely hitting the cases as it should...must be the ammo...appears the revolver is NOT the problem to me...

[Protocall_Design]

Federal bulk is not the greatest, but Remington .22 is about the worst out there. They typically have a high percentage that don't fire, and the ones that do won't shoot a group in my guns. CCI Mini Mags seem to be one of the best across the board for rifle, pistol and revo.

[neverenoughguns]

Thanks for input. Guess I will try different ammo before I get too terribly concerned....

[Ashlander]

My 617-6 was doing the same thing. I returned it to S&W and they changed the firing pin and strain screw. They were apparently a bit off spec. No problem since. While there is occasionally a rare dud, I am confident it's a bad round.

[lscocoa]

Picture shows solid hit and bad ammo . Turn it 180 degrees and try it again, it'll probably fire . Bulk ammo usually does this more .Remington gold bulk has been my worst followed by Federal for failure to fire. They say the primer mix either isn't enough or didn't spread evenly around the rim . I also have been finding Winchester 525 packs have multiple primed rounds minus powder and bullets . I did look at those for priming compound and some were uneven looking . I have 6 k22'sand one is a 617 and everyone has this problem with bulk ammo . This is my experience and hopefully yours not the gun , good luck and good shooting !

[catadjuster]

I had very similar issues with my 617-6 when it was new with ALL brands of ammo that I tried in it - from bulk pack to premium, $15.00 a box ammo. I called Smith and started to explain the issue, and had just begun to do so when they interrupted me and said they would send me a return label to send it back for them to look at it. They replaced the cylinder and crane (??) along with the firing pin. No idea why the cylinder and crane needed to be replaced, but there you go.

In any event, the gun now only has failure to fire with Federal ammo.

My advice would be to try several different brands and qualities of ammo before you make any decisions - especially try CCI Standard Velocity. That has always gone off for me since I got the gun back.

Oh - and when my Federals fail to fire, they have a pretty good dent in the rim - turn it around and it will go off on the next hammer strike, but to my mind, that round still failed to fire when you wanted it to do so.

[Doug44]

I have shot many rounds in my 617 without any problems. Good ammo and bad ammo. Clean gun and dirty gun. Even ammo that would not work in a pistol. Pull the trigger and it goes bang. Send it back to S&W.

[twodog max]

Strange but I have shot several thousand Federal bulk rounds in my 617 with no FTF. I think it will go longer between cleanings with Federal bulk. In my revolver Mini Mags dirty up and cause trouble the fastest. Go figure.

[H Richard]

One thing to look at is the Remington ammo. It has a horrible reputation for misfires, (bad application of primer compound on manufacture). This has been going on for years, and why Remington can't fix it just amazes me. My 617-6 has never had a misfire, but did have the extraction problems and it was reamed out along with all my other 22 revolvers.

[Amp]

Also agree, change ammo. I shoot Fed ammo without issue. Maybe a different lot number even will be better.