S&W 317 .22 revolver

[longship]

Who has experience with this gun and is willing to share it. I suppose I'm most interested in the LS configuration with the 3" barrel. An eight shot light weight .22 revolver sounds like a lot of fun to carry and shoot in the woods (not for defensive purposes mind you). I don't particularly like a lot of recoil but I'm not recoil sensitive and I find as time goes on I like my equipment to be as light as is reasonably possible.

Your opinions on the function of this revolver would be much appreciated.

 

[M1911]

longship:

Just got one a couple weeks ago. Very light. No recoil at all (but then, I shoot a compact 1911 and don't mind that, so I might not be a fair judge). Unfortunately, the front site does need a fair bit of light to work. Reasonably accurate, but with that big front sight and short sight radius, it isn't a target piece.

The DA trigger pull from the factory is horrendous. I put in reduced weight hammer and rebound springs, plus polished the rebound slide. That improved it a lot.

M1911

 

[Bigronjur]

I have the first 317, 1 7/8" BBL, Uncle Mikes Bootgrip. very fun gun dont even know you are carying it till you need it. With CCI Stingers ive taken out many a Wabbit.

 

[longship]

Thanks for the info. I like it's really light weight but I'm sorry to hear that the trigger is less then great. I'm seriously considering finding a 317LS to trade my Ruger P90 for. I know, .45 to .22 ?!?, but I've got .357 and a 9mm so I don't really need another expensive mouth to feed. ; )

 

[M1911]

Longship:

A gunsmith can do a spring job on it for small dollars, if you're not up for doing it yourself. The SA trigger is not bad. It's the DA trigger that is overly heavy.

M1911

 

[labgrade]

I dunno bad triggers. We've two 'em (the 3" adj sight model) & a buds got another. I think part of the "bad trigger" bit is due to the gun's light weight - does try to move around a bit. Actually, the three I've shot aren't too bad at all. DA's a tad heavy for such a light gun, but SA's just fine on ours - they're about 3 yrs old.

Sitting, back braced, shooting off knees & single action, bud & I were tearing up soda cans (the 12 oz size) at ~75 yards. No, not a target gun, but after finding the ammo it likes, it'll do quite well for small game 'n such to fairly respective distances.

I pretty much quit carrying a pistol when I had a rifle in my hands, but the 317's my "always" woods gun now.

Nice li'l package.

 

[cuerno de chivo]

Got a 317LS snub nosed model. Trigger pull isn't horrendous on mine IMO. Light weight and no recoil. It is currently sitting in Hoppes in order to be thoroughly cleaned. I intend on selling it some time next week. Need to make up for an auto that I just bought.

 

[Nighthawk]

My wife got one a few months ago, when she decided she needed to learn how to shoot. She really likes it. The DA pull on it seems a little heavy, but is fairly smooth. I agree with labgrade, the light weight may make it harder to shoot DA. I put some bigger grips on it and that seemed to help. The SA pull is ok. She's got about 800-1000 rounds through it, no problems at all.

With the low recoil and blast, she can shoot a lot of rounds without developing a flinch or some other problem.

 

[longship]

Whoops! I just realized that I've been talking about the LS version but I'm actually interested in the 3" bbl version which is the "kit gun".

 

[M1911]

longship:

My comments are about the "kit gun." Like I said, SA trigger is ok, but the DA trigger is heavy.

M1911

 

[Blue Heeler]

The DA in a .22 has to be heavy.It's hitting a brass case--it's not setting off a light Federal primer.There is nothing you can do about it either.Get it as light as you can,slick the trigger,and then learn how to shoot the heavier trigger.
When you can cope with the heavy pull you graduate from being a rifle shooter to being a handgunner--just my opinion.