New S&W Model 317-3, 22 LR, 3" barrel...

[sakeneko]

It came in today, so I am now *officially* the owner of two guns. (And a half interest in a Mossberg 500 shotgun.) The new gun is a S&W J-Frame with a 3" barrel, and as such closely matches the dimensions of my carry gun, an S&W Model 60-10. It is an airweight, weighing half as much as the carry gun when unloaded (12 oz). The trigger, when dry-firing, feels almost identical to that on my Model 60, however. I suspect that the lighter gun will be nicely matched by the lighter recoil of 22LR ammunition, although I have yet to fire it.

We'll take it shooting tomorrow, when I can test both the Remington target loads I bought *and* the Winchester "SuperX" hot (for 22LR) loads. I'll post a range report sometime in the next couple of days.

I'll be using it primarily for target practice; I've decided that my poor vision should not prevent me from regaining my target shooting skills, especially at short range.

 

[KyJim]

Congratulations on your new .22. The three inch barrel has a decent sight length while being very handy.

 

[dennis228]

Good luck with your new 317. I have the same gun. Caution though about dry firing. Should not dry fire the 317. Can cause damage. At least use spent casings or snap caps. Its a great little carry around pocket gun. Quite accurate too.

 

[sakeneko]

Why is dry firing not recommended for the 317? I've got snap caps, so practicing with them isn't a problem, but I thought that dry firing was safe with any modern S&W revolver?

 

[dennis228]

This is a topic of discussion on another website today. Quoting from that site:

Hop on over to the S&W website.

In the FAQ's under "Customer Support" you'll find this:

Can I dry fire my S&W handgun?
Q: Can I dry fire my Smith & Wesson?

A: Yes, except for the .22 caliber pistols which includes models 22A, 22S, 422, 2206, 2214, 2213 and 41.

.22 caliber revolvers such as models 17, 43, 63, 317 and 617 also should not be dry fired.

Q: Why can't I dry fire my .22 pistol or revolver?

A: Dry firing a S&W .22 pistol or revolver will cause damage to the firing pin.

 

[stevejeff]

dry firing

Open the cylinder and dryfire.

 

[sakeneko]

Okay, then any modern *centerfire* pistol can be dry-fired, but don't do this to a rimfire.... Didn't know that. Thanks for the information -- I'll take the few seconds to load it with snap caps before I practice with it.

Finally got it out and shot it this weekend. My husband and I went offroading in central Nevada on mostly BLM land, where there are plenty of good places to shoot. We picked a canyon where some locals have an informal firing range -- good backstop, noise doesn't bother other people, anybody out there knows to expect people shooting. The 317 feels light in my hand and lively to shoot. Surprisingly I could feel the gun kick even though it's a .22; I guess a 12-oz Airweight will kick with anything at all. It's fun to shoot. I didn't shoot well with it, though; I think that the sights were off fairly badly. I'm going to have my husband use the laser bore sighter to align them properly.

The only real concern I have is that the ejection rod was sticking for some reason. I had to shove it several times before it would dislodge the expended cartridges every time I emptied the gun and needed to reload. Either the ammunition was overpowered for the gun, or there's something not quite right with the ejection. Since I was shooting standard Remington .22 target ammunition for the most part, with one round of Winchester Super-X, I don't think that the problem could have been the ammunition.

I'm going to take it to a local gunsmith and ask him to check it out to be sure everything is okay. Maybe something didn't get aligned *exactly* right at the factory.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

SW has a warantee - I wouldn't let a gunsmith tinker with it first. Might look for one that is an official repair station. Call them.

How's the trigger pull. The one I had, had a really stiff pull.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Congrats on the new double-deuce,,,

Anyone who is familiar with my threads at all,,,
Knows I'm all about the .22 LR cartridge,,,
Cheap trigger time is a good thing.

I'm with Glenn on the gunsmith thing,,,
I would maybe let a smith look at the gun to diagnose it,,,
But if it actually has something wrong with it, the S&W warranty fixes it.

As far as the dry-firing thing goes,,,
There have been several threads here recently,,,
It seems there are as many saying no as those saying yes.

My take is, why chance it,,,
Buy some snap-caps for each caliber,,,
Snap-caps are cheap and for sure won't harm your handgun.

The reason most people say not to dry fire a .22 rimfire handgun,,,
Is because in many cases the firing pin (or hammer) impacts the cylinder or breech face.

But again, why chance it,,,
Snap-caps are cheap insurance.

But with a .22 rimfire ammunition being so cheap,,,
There is no real need for dry-fire practice,,,
Just load up on real ammo and shoot it!

Last I bought was a bulk pack of Federal at WallyWorld,,,
550 rounds into $19.87 (including tax),,,
Equals 3.6 cents per round,,,
Go shooting my friend.

 

[kle]

sakeneko = rice-wine cat?

The only real concern I have is that the ejection rod was sticking for some reason. I had to shove it several times before it would dislodge the expended cartridges every time I emptied the gun and needed to reload. Either the ammunition was overpowered for the gun, or there's something not quite right with the ejection. Since I was shooting standard Remington .22 target ammunition for the most part, with one round of Winchester Super-X, I don't think that the problem could have been the ammunition.

Could've been the ammo you were shooting; I find that in most cases, I like Federal ammo (specifically, the stuff that aarondhgraham mentioned) for all of my .22s--it feeds well in my semi-autos, is decently precise in all my guns (revolvers and semi-autos), and doesn't exhibit problems with sticking-cases that other ammo seems to do. I think it's because the Federal stuff seems to have thicker brass than the other ammo.

But with a .22 rimfire ammunition being so cheap,,,
There is no real need for dry-fire practice,,,
Just load up on real ammo and shoot it!

$0.00 is cheaper than $0.036. I dryfire all the time with my .22s, and I don't buy snap-caps for them, either. I do use spent .22 casings, though (and only those from one of my wheelguns, which seems to have slightly tighter chambers than my .22s, and so produces spent .22 casings that fit in all of the other guns). When the casings wear out, I'll discard them and 'make' a new set of snapcaps. If I'm not too lazy, I'll even mark the spent casings with permanent marker to make them easily distinguishable from live rounds while they're chambered.

 

[sakeneko]

Thanks, guys. I actually was going to have the gun smith tell me if he thought that there was something wrong with it. If he says yes, I'll definitely send it in for warranty repair. Why pay for S&W and not take advantage of their fabled customer service?

Aaron -- there is a need for dry fire to practice when you are at home or can't get to a place where it is safe and legal to shoot. There's no way I can afford to spend the half hour it takes to get to the nearest good place to shoot every evening so that I can have five or ten minutes practice. You guys who live in the country and have a range on your back forty (or in the city five minutes from a good indoor range) have it easy.

kle -- yep, except in this case a name in honor of a cat I once knew whose name was Sake. Sake as a kitten was known to face down fighting dogs; she was this utterly fearless little Siamese. Great cat.

I doubted that it could be the ammunition I was using because I used two different types of ammo from two good, reliable manufacturers whose .38 special, .38 +P, and .357 are quite reliable in my carry gun. But I guess that's possible, and the gunsmith that I was going to have check the gun out will doubtless want some of each to test fire it with.

 

[kle]

From what I understand, all .22s are finicky when it comes to ammo--most people will recommend that a shooter try as many different kinds of .22 ammo in their gun until they find one that works best for them, whether it be reliability (feeding/ignition), cost, consistency (precision/accuracy), dirtiness, or any combination of the above. For me, and all of my guns, that's been the Federal stuff...and actually, I don't like most other manufacturers.

In my 17-8, which features an aluminum alloy cylinder like your 317, even spent Federal casings stick sometimes, but not nearly as badly as other ammo. The worst was Winchester SuperX or XPert or whatever it was--I had to whack the ejector rod against the table a couple times before the rounds would pop loose. Plus that stuff was absolutely filthy.

The Remington stuff (Golden Bullets and Thunderbolts) was better, though ignition seemed to be unreliable and the rounds left more carbon/lead/wax deposits on the gun, making it harder to clean.

In all, the one brand/ammo I keep coming back to is the Federal bulk stuff. It's good enough for me to actually compete with in Conventional Pistol matches, and it's reliable enough that I might get one or two true duds in a brick of 550, and only a handful that need a second try to light off.

 

[sakeneko]

Thanks, Kle. I'll get some federal bulk ammo next time I'm at the store and see if it makes a difference.

 

[sakeneko]

BTW, I just spoke with Smith & Wesson customer service. The guy there told me that my problem is a known issue that they call "hard extraction", and with a new gun is *definitely* cause to return for warranty repairs. So I will just be sending the gun back to them.

Thanks for all of the advice!