Model 317 .22lr

[roadrunnerh]

Hello everyone! I just registered with this forum, and this is my first post. I'm from Pittsburgh, PA and own the following: 22A, 642, 60-15 3 inch barrel, and a beautiful 1975 Model 28 with 4" barrel.
I was wondering if any of you fire the 317 with regularity. The owner of a local gun shop steered me away from buying one saying that due to it having an aluminum cylinder, it wasn't a gun to put a lot of rounds through. I really wanted one since my carry gun is the 642 and with the 317 being a J frame (and .22lr being cheap) I thought the 317 would be a good training / practice piece. I ended up buying a Taurus M94 with 2" barrel - AND HAD PROBLEMS WITH IT. Right out of the box the cylinder was binding up....
Was the shop owner correct? Will the 317 hold up to lots of firing? Does it really matter that the cylinder is aluminum? Is this just a gun to keep with you when your fishing and want something light weight? Thanks for your information!

 

[roadrunnerh]

Hello everyone! I just registered with this forum, and this is my first post. I'm from Pittsburgh, PA and own the following: 22A, 642, 60-15 3 inch barrel, and a beautiful 1975 Model 28 with 4" barrel.
I was wondering if any of you fire the 317 with regularity. The owner of a local gun shop steered me away from buying one saying that due to it having an aluminum cylinder, it wasn't a gun to put a lot of rounds through. I really wanted one since my carry gun is the 642 and with the 317 being a J frame (and .22lr being cheap) I thought the 317 would be a good training / practice piece. I ended up buying a Taurus M94 with 2" barrel - AND HAD PROBLEMS WITH IT. Right out of the box the cylinder was binding up....
Was the shop owner correct? Will the 317 hold up to lots of firing? Does it really matter that the cylinder is aluminum? Is this just a gun to keep with you when your fishing and want something light weight? Thanks for your information!

 

[Mule88]

Ive never owned one myself yet. But Ive never heard of anyone having any problems with it. You'd have to shoot a really lot of rounds I believe through this gun to have any problems. Maybe someone here on the forum that has one will chime in and give you some personal info. Also welcome to the forum, alot of great info on here.

 

[Revolver King]

I will only say I had one didn't like (trigger)it sold it and bought a J frame 63 and love it.
And oh yes welcome to the forum.

 

[ENH]

Mine has several thousand round through it. It is very good practice for your 642. Buy it and enjoy.

 

[SuperMan]

I and three friends have the 3" with adjustable sights model and one of them also has the 2'...we shoot them often and have had no problems...

Bob

 

[Chappy]

I've had a 3" "kit gun" 317 for about 2 years now. My son's and I have put at least ten boxes of the Federal 550 count bulk HP rounds through it. That's over 5000 rounds, and it has no problems. I replaced the rear V notch sight blade with a white-outlined square one. It's very accurate once you get used to how light it is.

Regards, Chappy

 

[roadrunnerh]

Thank you for the feedback everyone! I was hoping that heavy use would not be an issue and it certainly helped to hear from owners who did not experience any problems!

 

[Dog Easy]

Your gun shop owner is wrong. I have thousands of rounds through the 317 with no problems. I try to tell people all the time that tons of rounds down range is what makes the Smith and Wesson trigger get good and then thousands more will make it real good.

Ask him if it is so bad, can you buy it at a good discount price and "take your chances"? One word of caution, do NOT use any product such as gun scrubber on the clear coat finishes. Other than that, shoot that puppy till the cows come home.

One more word of caution. After shooting the 317 a lot you will start looking fondly at the 617 and then the 686 and it just never stops after that.......................

Shoot safe, John

There should be a national holiday for John Moses Browning!

 

[KRD]

Before purchasing my 317, I sent S&W an email and asked if I could shoot all type of ammo in the 317, including the hyper velocity ammo. Here is the answer:
"You can shoot any of them but extended use of the hypervelocity can causes accelerated wear"

Given that statement, I shoot only the standard high velocity ammo in mine and have had no problems.

 

[owenwd54]

I have a 3" 317 and shoot it a lot .I love this little revolver and would not think twice about buying another.

 

[Loco Weed]

Welcome to the forum!
I had a 3". Really bad, mediocre sights. Heavy trigger pull. The pistol was so light it was difficult for me to hold steady. Sold it within two months and will never buy another.

 

[roadrunnerh]

Isn't heavy trigger pull an issue with vitually ALL rim-fire revolvers - kind of nature of the beast? I know the Taurus M94 .22lr trigger pull is very heavy in DA. I kind of expect this from the 317 as well...

 

[JudgeColt]

The M317 is one of my favoriate .22 revolvers. They are not fragile. As others have stated, shoot them all you want. Smith's warning about hot ammunition seems like excess caution to me. The gun will handle any .22 ammunition without problems or excess wear.

The finish may be (is) a bit fragile, but, since the gun is alloy, losing the finish due to extended carry will not present a rust problem.

The double action trigger pull is VERY heavy in the 2-inch guns. I have been going to replace the main spring with a standard spring from a steel-frame .22 J-frame, but have not taken the time. I also plan to replace the hammer with a standard hammer, but it is not a big deal.

If you want a .22 target pistol, buy a different gun. If you want a light .22 carry gun, it is hard to beat a M317.

In regard to the Taurus, many people choose Taurus .22 small frame revolvers as a less expensive alternative to a Smith, and the recent guns are very high quality, with no problems out of the box. Since Smith dropped the wonderful M63, the Taurus comparable models, with their nine shot capacity, have been the choice of many. The Taurus 941 is the only stainless 2-inch, 9-shot revolver on the market today.

 

[RAMS]

JudgeColt:

Smith's warning about hot ammunition seems like excess caution to me. The gun will handle any .22 ammunition without problems or excess wear....
If you want a .22 target pistol, buy a different gun. If you want a light .22 carry gun, it is hard to beat a M317.

Normal high velocity ammo didn't seem to hurt my early 3" 317's accuracy, or anything else, for a few years. But then I started putting a lot of Stingers through it, as well, and added at least an inch to group size at 25 yards off bags with my usual high velocity and standard ammo.

As someone once said, only accurate guns are interesting, so I sold it to a woman who wanted it for a purse gun with Stingers. It had a nice trigger and she had no need for target accuracy.

You're right, judge, when you say, if you want a light .22 carry gun, it is hard to beat a M317. But if you really do want to beat it, do what I did: buy a M351 (11 oz. 22 Mag) and plink with WRF's, but otherwise carry full house Mags.

 

[JudgeColt]

Well, in at least one M317, hyper velocity ammunition apparently did damage to the gun. I wonder how?

 

[R*E]

Originally posted by JudgeColt:

The double action trigger pull is VERY heavy in the 2-inch guns. I have been going to replace the main spring with a standard spring from a steel-frame .22 J-frame, but have not taken the time. I also plan to replace the hammer with a standard hammer, but it is not a big deal.

I replaced the original rebound spring with a Wolff 12 lb spring. Made a world of difference, the gun is very easy to shoot.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=659098

 

[RAMS]

Well, in at least one M317, hyper velocity ammunition apparently did damage to the gun. I wonder how?

S&W engineers must know--they have seen more than one example of (alleged

) Stinger damage to .22s with old steel metallurgy as well as the newer aluminum alloy M317s, but that's an entirely different topic with serious, far-reaching repercussions.

It can be assumed that there is a good reason for S&W's warning regarding overuse of Stingers in a M317. On the face of it alone, any round that produces 38Spl-like energy from a rifle should raise caution flags about frequent use in the petite little M317.

That being said, anyone who thinks a M317 might occasionally have to be used for self-defense would be wise to carry Stingers.