When getting a used older S&W (or any gun) you can get burnt. I have a 19-3 K gun I just love so I got a K17-2 and it was junk. I got scammed by a bad seller. Just be careful you can get a great gun and a bad gun buying used. Price doesn't seem to matter up to a point. The quality of digital pictures can be part of the issue, a speck of dust can look like a gouge or the photo can hide a serious flaw.
S&W 22LR Revolver
- Thread starter Challenger2010
- Start date
I never did any cleaning at the range. Last time I put 200 rds through my 617-6. After 50 copper plated Federal blue it got sticky. Another 50 rds of copper plated Federal blue it got a bit better. Then I continued with the 100 rds of CCI MiniMag box. After the first 10 shot the ejecting got back to normal. Even inserting the cartridges into the chambers became smoother.
I am sure it will get worse with a dirtier ammo, like white box Winchester, Golden Bullets etc.
The .22LR Remington "Bucket o' Bullets" is crap. Haven't found a gun that will shoot it except for my Henry "Golden Boy" which eats everything. Tried it in my AR15 with CMMG .22LR conversion unit and it jammed frequently - not enough poop to pop.
FWIW...... While I love my Colt and Smith revolvers my Browning Buck Mark has performed flawlessly with a variety of ammo for 1,000's of rounds. I really don't see it as being much, if any, less reliable than my S&W K-22 or my Colt OMT. Perhaps you were thinking of .22 versions of 9mm semis when you commented on .22 semis having so many issues? I know my experiences with that type of .22 haven't been very positive.
Turkinator
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Onterrible
I know for myself, nothing is quite as satisfying as loading up a cylinder one at a time. I find personally at the range it actually is a lot quicker for me to load 10rds into my 617 than to load .22lr into a magazine too. And as .22 brass isn't really worth keeping (unless you swage your own jacketed bullets), it feels great to slap that ejector rod down after a full cyclinder dumping the brass everywhere.
Further to this I also found that due to the rather tight "match grade" chambers that some of the cheap ammo won't even chamber. And upon measuring the ammo it was no wonder. The ammo was larger by a couple of thousandth's than the SAMMI spec for .22LR. With the current appetite for rimfire ammo I think a lot of the factories are using the stamping dies for the brass for a lot longer than they should. And it shows with over size bodies and sloppy forming of the rims on the cheap bulk ammo all too often.
As a result I find I CAN use the occasional bulk ammo in my 17 but mostly it requires decent quality "boxed" ammo instead of bulk bricks. And never mind even thinking about using that cheap and junky bucket o' bullets.
As for loading the revolvers it's amazing how good you can become after a while at picking up two or even three rounds at a time and splaying them in your fingers quickly so you can load two or three chambers at the same time.
By the way. Another very cool rimfire revolver option is the Ruger Single Six or Single ten. Also Pietta makes a nice 1873 in .22LR in both 6 and 10 round versions if you can find them. I'm pretty secure in recommending the Pietta option based on my Pietta center fire '73's and how well they have served me for 8 years now. And others I shoot with have them and no one seems to run into any issues with them.
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
My old 17-3 shot Winchesters and Federal bulk ammo well. Remington Thunderbolts were very hard to eject, requiring a sharp tap on the ejector. Painful after a few cylinders so I brought a short piece of 1x2 spruce to tap the ejector. May have been a bad batch of Thunderbolts.
Accuracy with all types and brands were great, except for the T-bolts which sounded erratic in their pop. I honestly got bored with my 17 being too predictably accurate. and traded it with an almost new Glock 17RTF.
Accuracy with all types and brands were great, except for the T-bolts which sounded erratic in their pop. I honestly got bored with my 17 being too predictably accurate. and traded it with an almost new Glock 17RTF.
I cringe when I have to use any really significant force on the ejector. And that certainly would include needing to press on it or rap it with a stick. So I would avoid any type of ammo that sticks anywhere near that badly.
My reasoning is that sticking in that way is not always consistent. So that could mean a lot of unbalanced loading on the ejector star. And the center shaft ain't all that big in diameter. And a bent center shaft would really mess up a revolver owner's day. So if I can't eject it with some moderately firm pressure from my thumb then it's time for cleaning. And if that isn't enough it's time for different ammo. Better safe than sorry.
My reasoning is that sticking in that way is not always consistent. So that could mean a lot of unbalanced loading on the ejector star. And the center shaft ain't all that big in diameter. And a bent center shaft would really mess up a revolver owner's day. So if I can't eject it with some moderately firm pressure from my thumb then it's time for cleaning. And if that isn't enough it's time for different ammo. Better safe than sorry.
Amen to that! I recently bought a nice blued Single Six convertible without the transfer bar off the EE. The gun was 'as new'. Bit of a pain to load and unload compared to my S&W 17s, but since I'm a CAS competitor, I can live with it.
- Location
- Manitoulin Island
My Colt Officer's model revolver will start to get stiff on the cylinder axle after a couple of hundred rounds. My Browning medalist Semi-Auto will start to FTF or FTE after 100. This depends to some degree on the brand of ammunition.
Some of the stuff is cruddier than others. Premium brands work better. Revolvers do go longer, because the speed of chambering and ejection on Semi-autos makes crud buildup more problematical.
Some of the stuff is cruddier than others. Premium brands work better. Revolvers do go longer, because the speed of chambering and ejection on Semi-autos makes crud buildup more problematical.
My fav type of HG's are revolvers. However, when it comes to .22lr revolvers I find them boring.
I've owned both single and dbl action .22lr revolvers and they always get sold off. I only own one rimfire (now) for those days I'm in the mood for simple plinking…a Ruger MkIII 4.25"bbl Standard model. It's never jammed on the cheap ammo but like others have mentioned I've had issues loading/un-loading revolvers with cylinders that had tight tolerances.
I've owned both single and dbl action .22lr revolvers and they always get sold off. I only own one rimfire (now) for those days I'm in the mood for simple plinking…a Ruger MkIII 4.25"bbl Standard model. It's never jammed on the cheap ammo but like others have mentioned I've had issues loading/un-loading revolvers with cylinders that had tight tolerances.
I've had a 617 for just over a year. I've put just over 5.5K rounds though it. I shoot it every weekend almost. It's the first gun I let people use when introducing newbies to firearms.
I've found the main reason cases get stuck in the cylinder is heat. I shoot it so much each range trip it gets HOT! If I just leave it, go for a drink/washroom break/shoot the #### with people, it cools down and ejects fine. The tolerance's are TIGHT, so the cylinder heating up and expanding causes cases to be tight.
I clean it about once a month, due to high usage. Still looks new. My only complaint is the black on black target sights. I know others love them, but I hate em. I need to take the time and swap out the front sight at least.
It's one of the .22's I put in the hands of every customer new to firearms who walks in the store.
"Here's all the .22's.. This is the one I recommend, here's some other great ones as well.. Here's why on each... blah blah blah.."
Very rarely do they buy it as their first, mainly because of cost. But it's something most experienced shooters can agree on.
It's worth the cost.
I've found the main reason cases get stuck in the cylinder is heat. I shoot it so much each range trip it gets HOT! If I just leave it, go for a drink/washroom break/shoot the #### with people, it cools down and ejects fine. The tolerance's are TIGHT, so the cylinder heating up and expanding causes cases to be tight.
I clean it about once a month, due to high usage. Still looks new. My only complaint is the black on black target sights. I know others love them, but I hate em. I need to take the time and swap out the front sight at least.
It's one of the .22's I put in the hands of every customer new to firearms who walks in the store.
"Here's all the .22's.. This is the one I recommend, here's some other great ones as well.. Here's why on each... blah blah blah.."
Very rarely do they buy it as their first, mainly because of cost. But it's something most experienced shooters can agree on.
It's worth the cost.
Have a 60's Era 17, also a 34. Both feed and fire reliably. Also have Colt, Dan Wesson, Beretta, Ruger, Erma, Walther and Browning 22's. Most reliable to date has been a New Frontier Colt. The OMMT probably would be second. I'll give nods to the Ruger Mk 2 as well. FWIW. - dan
- Location
- West Quebec
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
Much as a liked or even loved my SW 17, if ever I buy another 22 revolver, it's gonna be this.
As a kid, I knew Remington Golden Bullets to be of very good quality. In my experience, recent manufacture Golden Bullets are so poor in quality that they've cause feeding problems in everything. If the failures-to-feed aren't enough, there are misfires (because of missing priming compound), split cases (?overpressure?), and they don't slide into clean revolver cylinders either (they need to be pushed in). I doubt very much that any revolver will improve your experiences with sub-standard ammunition. Oh, it'll be memorable all right, but not with the kind of memories you'd want to have.
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