617-6 taking a trip to s&w

[n8nnx]

My 617-6 is going back for some work. It's about 10 years old and has always treated me good but in the past year it has been failing to fire and the spent shells are hanging up across the recoil shield. It's never been abused or dry fired. Any idea on why all of a sudden it's giving me grief? I should have asked this question before I sent it but I had the opportunity to send it so I did.

FYI- no I never changed any of the springs.

 

[Alk8944]

Before doing anything else, clean the gun thoroughly and tighten the strain screw and see what happens.


"the spent shells are hanging up across the recoil shield." No idea what you mean by this! A picture would help. All I can think of is incomplete extraction and that's operator error, not the gun's fault. The cleaning should cure this too.

 

[n8nnx]

I have cleaned it until it looks better than new. I already sent out the gun so I can't send pics, sorry. The gun locks up and won't rotate because the spent casings are sticking out and rubbing on the shield. The casings after they have been fired are deformed like there is too much gap between the casing and the firing pin.

 

[jstanfield103]

always fired 22lr ? or have you been shooting shorts. May have a ring built up in the cylinders from shorts if so. Just a thought.

 

[n8nnx]

I have ONLY used .22lr no shorts. And yes I checked the strain screw under the grip.

 

[H Richard]

I'm betting the chambers have a build up preventing full insertion of the live cartridge. Putting a brush on your cordless drill, with plenty of Hoppe's and slowly move it back and forth to scrub the chambers. Also, some Mothers Mag Polish can then finish it off.

 

[n8nnx]

That not it either. I throughly clean the cylinders after every range time. I always check to make sure the rounds seat before firing. They only back out after firing. That's if they fire at all!

 

[lscocoa]

Is this problem with different brands or one type of ammo ? Was there play in the cylinder like a forward / backward movement? I've had problems with ammo in the past and I had a 317 that did similar to your problem that I tried everything till it went back, which they replaced the yoke and cylinder . So I'm intrigued as to what they do/ find , so let us know. I've got several k22's I shoot and one is a 617-6 4" that I can't say a round count anymore (10,000 plus) so yep, I'm curious! Good luck!

 

[Fishinfool]

I'm thinking it could be "end shake". Too much forward and backwards movement by the cylinder creates a head space issue. Cushins the firing pin blow, and might account for empties backing out and tying up the gun. Does the gun have a lot of rounds thru it?

If that is the issue, usually it is an easy fix with shims.

Larry

 

[n8nnx]

The gun doesn't feel like there is any endshake. Unfortunately I sent it in so I can't double check it. I should have waited a bit before sending it in. Ugh
I have tried cci, federal, agulia, and others with the same results. I have another 617-6 and it works great with the same ammo. The one in question is about 10 years old with under 7-8k rounds through it.

I will keep this post updated once I hear from smith & wesson.

 

[Dave686]

You did the right thing in sending it in. No point in chasing your tail when the pro's will fix it for free.

It will be interesting to see what they find. But I will tell you, they aren't real big on going into detail on what they did, so you might have to call them after you get it back to get the whole story.

 

[n8nnx]

I will keep the post updated as soon as I know anything.

 

[n8nnx]

Got the gun back today. All the note said the did was repair the yoke and replace the hand. Whatever that means.

 

[n8nnx]

Got the gun back today. All the note said they did was repair the yoke and replace the hand. Whatever that means.

 

[n8nnx]

Just got back from the range, I couldn't wait! Not one failure to fire! It worked as it did before! Thank you S&W repair center!

 

[Protocall_Design]

Sounds to me like it was getting carbon and powder residue under the extractor, from when empties were ejected. You need to push the extractor out and clean under it with a toothbrush every so often with any revolver, more so with a rimfire.

 

[n8nnx]

I always keep the area under the extractor clean as I can. Would that have caused the failure to fire?