I've owned this 17-4 since new, never fired it, and now in my old age have become enamored of shooting 22's and wanting to shoot it now that the weather is warming, I just got around to checking cartridge to cylinder chamber fits to be sure I can eject fired cases without pounding the extractor. In the process, I found three chambers so tight, I could hardly push a cartridge in, never mind 'plonk' them.
Thanks to info here, I ordered a Manson finish chamber reamer, which is a month or more backordered.

Meantime doing this, I noticed a mark on each outer diameter of the extractor star between the chambers, all the exact same location. Touching them carefully with a fine point scalpel blade revealed them all to be a very slightly concave gouge, not extending beyond the OD of the star.
Question:
1. Is this an artifact from factory assembly?
2. Is this a maladjustment of the hand or other part?
3. The gun cycles, comes up and locks just fine. Should I be concerned about these marks?
4. If something should be fixed, what is it?
I'd sure appreciate any comments or advice before I shoot this and maybe make it worse.

Attached Images

	ejector star marks.jpg (91.1 KB, 99 views)
	Model 17-4 with presentation stocks.jpg (113.9 KB, 38 views)

Without handling the gun I can't really say what that is. The one possibility I can think of is the hand may protrude a bit too far out of the frame. The tip of the hand should not extend past the face of the breech. Your extractor does stand a little proud of the face of the cylinder by just a few thousandths leaving a slight edge exposed that the tip of the hand could be catching on. Those look to be wear marks where the hand catches on the ratchet. Revolvers do not have ejectors, you are the ejector. The part in the gun is the extractor, no matter how many times you may have seen the terms used incorrectly.

I had one of my own guns, a Model 12, bought used, that had the hand standing so far out that it caught on the cartridge rims and interfered with closing the cylinder. It was about 1/32" too long! Dressed it down flush with the breech and everything works properly. That part of the hand is one item that needs to be properly fit when the gun is "put up" as S&W refers to assembly.

I have no idea how that got past the range when the gun was function-fired. It should have been sent back from the range to the fitter to fix it! Maybe he didn't recognize the problem because he didn't use dummy cartridges to check it. There wasn't a problem when the gun wasn't loaded.

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

I cannot think or any mis-fit part that would cause those marks. Also, the marks are only on the star and do not extend to the cylinder face ... therefor I believe the marks originated at the factory prior to final assembly or from some activity that a previous owner performed while the star was removed. Ignore the marks and enjoy shooting that nice Model 17.

What comes to mind are tool markings from when the ratchet cutting tool was used. I see no other scratch marks and all the marks are in the same location. Without having the Revolver in hand, I can not operate it and see why it would have the markings in question here.

[QUOTE=Alk8944;141974698]....Revolvers do not have ejectors, you are the ejector. The part in the gun is the extractor, no matter how many times you may have seen the terms used incorrectly.
/QUOTE]

Duly noted - see edit.

Check under the extractor for anything that might be holding it proud of the cylinder recess first.

Then, if you put just a thin smear of dykem or maybe use a black felt tip pen to cover the marks and then cycle the gun a few times, you'll see if the hand is touching. Dykem should leave just a wee bit on the hand.

Those won't hurt anything. I'd just hit them with a spot of cold blue and move on.

I can tell that the factory reamer was worn out by the gnarly seats for the rim of the cartridge. I would smooth them out a bit when you're reaming the chambers. The reamer has a part on it that will do that. You don't need to take out all the marks, just get the high spots.

__________________
protocalldesign.com

Just speculation, but those marks could be from the edge of the barrette file used by the assembler when final fitting the ratchets. Each one of the marks seems to line up with the angle of the side of the ratchet that is altered during final hand fitting.


Carter

__________________
Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

I took all your suggestions and looked again very carefully.
The hand never projected past the recoil shield, and its operating point never got high enough to reach the height of the marks on the extractor.
I laid a barrette file on the ratchets, and sure enough, the file when laid on the filed edge of the ratchets lined up perfectly with every mark. All the smith had to do was elevate the file out of parallel with the extractor face about .015" - .020' and it would run into the outside edge of the extractor.
I think armorer 951 got it right on the money.
I lightly stoned the ratchet face, applied a little touch up blue, and as far as I can tell cyclng the gun, everything is just fine. Can't wait to get a reamer so I can shoot it.
Many thanks to all of you for your thoughts and advice. Is this a great place or what?

Attached Images

17-4 cylinder after ejector light stone, touch up blue.jpg (75.5 KB, 20 views)

Great! Glad that you found that the marks are not due to any mis-fit parts but appear to be only from the factory fitting process. Now you can enjoy that Model 17.