S&W 617 22cal accuracy??

K

k in AR

New member
Need ideas, what ammo is best for accuracy & funtioning in a "late" model 6" S&W 617?
My wife just got a "like new in the box" at a very nice price & I'm trying to save some time with my research.

Also I notice that this gun really doesn't have much of a forcing cone, if any, is this ever an issue?
thanks, k
 
I bought a 617 2 years ago that would only fire American Eagle brand .22's and CCI mini mag's. Everything else would fail to fire between 2 ond 4 shots per 10 round cylinder. Rather than send it bact to Smith, I traded it off. When it did shoot it was very accurate with both of the above. FWIW, if it had been a 6 shot or a 4" barrel I would have kept it. I didn't care for the feel of either the 10 shot or the 6" barrel. The failures to fire were just an added annoyance. Hope yours works better than mine did. I bought mine with the intention of using it as a cheap substitute for my Smith model 19, but since it had a totally different feel than the 19 it was counterproductive.
 
Funny you should ask, I just shot a bunch of ammo out of my 617-4 (with S/S cylinder) while clamped into my Ransom rest.
I have put 1,000 rds of the bulk Federal stuff from Wal Mart along with another 500 rds of various stuff and I have had zero problems with functioning.
As far as accuracy goes, the most accurate ammo I shot was that Mexican Aguila stuff. I have some standard velocity for shooting in my first edition Colt Woodsman and tried some in the 617. I put 10 rds into 0.490" at 25 yds. This was better than anyting else I had including CCI Green Tag. For easier reading I will list some results below. Remember these are 10 shot(1 cylinder) groups at 25 yds which is more shots than are usually used for groups.

Aguila standard velocity - 0.490"
Aguila Subsonic - 1.225"
CCI Green Tag - 1.150"
Winchester X22 - 1.325"
CCI Mini-Mag - 1.660"
Remington HV solid - 1.300"
Remington Bulk JHP - 1.260"

For all around shooting the Remington bulk JHP stuff Wal Mart sells is proabably your best bet.

NJW in AZ
 
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