If they would only make that gun with three changes, please
dump the lock
dump the full lug
make it blued

 

I believe that is called the Model 17. Six vs ten round cylinder.

 

I have my rat hole money in my pocket and always ready to buy a 617 if I can find one in person. I saw a six shot 617 in about 2010 and I thought it was priced to high so I passed even though it was in good shape. I’m still kicking myself for not buying that one.

I’m hesitant to buy a new S&W revolver sight unseen. I saw a 617 6” for a good price on consignment a few years ago but didn’t want a 6”. Maybe some day, congrats OP looks like you got a Dandy!

 

Not long after I got my ffl (was only because I'd was opening my gunsmithing business), I decided that I wanted a 6" 617 and was going to order one. When I mentioned it while a having a meal with a few of my old gun club friends, one of the guys asked if I'd get him a 4" 617 while I was at it. When both revolvers arrived, I was so taken with the proportions of the 4" gun that I was wishing that I'd have gone that route instead of getting the 6" bbl. Over the next few months, I learned that my 6" 617 was a very good shooter, and my friend was equally pleased with his, so I quit thinking about getting a 4" model for myself. But every time I see a photo of the 4" model, it still kind of trips my trigger...and reminds me of trading the 4" Combat Masterpiece M17 I had years ago. Wish I'd have hung onto that revolver. I bought it new, and right away was not happy with it - the forcing cone leaded up pretty badly with every few cylinders of firing, and ejection was so hard that I had to wear a glove or use a block of wood to knock the empties out with the ejector rod. I called the nearest S&W approved warranty repair shop, explained the issues I was having, and sent it off to them. When it came back, the letter they included said that they'd re-cut the forcing cone and polished the chambers, which fixed both issues, and improved the accuracy substantially. And I've regretted trading it for whatever I thought I wanted more ever since...

 

I've had a 4" 617 and a 6" 617 for almost 40 years. Both incredible guns. Both accurate and never an issue with either one. Both of mine are the no dash first runs. I will admit I prefer the 4" due to the weight of the full underlug. The four inch 617 feels almost identical in weight to my 6" model 17 which I also enjoy.

Of course you can't talk about these without throwing a Diamondback in the mix. The weight of the 4" 617 is on par with the weight of the 4" Diamondback.

 

This gun has taught me to be comfortable and good at shooting Double action!
Put a red dot on it!
weigand rail!

 

I bought a 617 no dash years ago and it shoots great. I have had the model 17's and 18's and 4" 617's along with many 6" 617's. I love them all but settled on my 6" as I didn't like the feel of the 4". I also cut the underlug off and contoured it. It turned out real well. I have a 1953 target masterpiece, pre model 17, that I dearly love too.

 

Mr. Flatlander, with your talent, you could mill the lug off and make that 6" into an Ashland clone which would weight like a 4"er. Notime2

 

They discontinued them in the late '80s or early '90s, I forget exactly when. But for a brief window of time, they offered the M17 with a 4" barrel. I was fortunate enough to acquire one during this time; it's shown above in post #8. The major difference between this gun and the original M18 is the 4" 17 has a heavy barrel, like a Model 19 .357, whereas the 18 had a thin, tapered barrel like the Model 15 in .38.

Still on the website.
I had one of the newer ones about 15 years ago.

 

Where? I see the 17 Masterpiece with 6" barrel, and the 48 in .22 Magnum with 4" barrel, but I don't see the 17 .22LR with 6" or the 18 at all.

 

My 617-6 4" is set up for steel challenge, but I haven't started shooting it in that manner yet.

My trigger was as awful as yours out of the box. I cleaned up the inside, changed the mainspring to a Wolff Power Rib with an extended Wolff mainspring screw, changed the trigger rebound spring to a 13 pounder, and polished up the mating surfaces on the trigger rebound slide. It's now an excellent trigger with 100% reliability with quality ammo.

As for the grips, I like the factory grip, so I'm going to stay with it.

For a red dot, I chose the ADE 6moa because I like a big dot for speed shooting. The mount is from Weigand.

 

deleted info not relevent

 

Nice write up! My 4-inch shoots really tight groups at 15 yards with a variety of reasonably priced ammunition. I went and brought a 6-inch and it shoots almost as well. I did have the same "grind off the underlug" impulse as the poster above. My smith convinced me that buying a Ruger GP100 was actually the cheaper way to go. The GP100 is a nice revolver too. But the S&W shoots a bit better and has a nicer trigger out of the box. Hope it shoots well for you. Safe shooting!

 

I like Hogue wood grips on my 617's for speed shooting sports, I find they fill my hand better and seem to keep the sight more stable than the rubber grips. I think the 4" full lug has the perfect balance for me.

Here are some of my .22 revolvers, the 617-6 4" 10 shot and the 617-2 6" 10 shot are pretty much the only ones I use for speed sports like SCSA and bowling pins.

 

I like Hogue wood grips on my 617's for speed shooting sports, I find they fill my hand better and seem to keep the sight more stable than the rubber grips. I think the 4" full lug has the perfect balance for me.

Here are some of my .22 revolvers, the 617-6 4" 10 shot and the 617-2 6" 10 shot are pretty much the only ones I use for speed sports like SCSA and bowling pins.

I’ll have to try the wood grips. I have a feeling that I’m going to need a bit more diameter than the factory ones and I do like the look of those Hogues.

I’m hoping to have it back from the gunsmith in the next week or so. I dropped it off in early August, so it’s his busy season.

BTW - Your speedloaders worked great in my 6” for the Rimfire Falling Steel matches. Everyone else was shooting bottom feeders and were amazed that the speedloaders even existed, much less how well they worked.

 

Well, got it back from the gunsmith today and, well, I’m a bit disappointed. While the new RevUp trigger feels much lighter, no matter what I do, I’m getting, at best, 8 out of 10 rounds to go off. I’m going to keep adjusting it and hoping that I can get better reliability. The gunsmith said he had it set for the same CCI I use, but no luck in my hands.

I did notice that the ejector rod is coming unscrewed very quickly. Is blue Loctite the way to go here?