Setting up a 617 for competition

[AzShooter]

This weekend I plan on working on my S&W 617 and set it up for Steel Challenge matches. I intend to do the trigger and to ream out the cylinders. Right now some ammo is so dirty that it's almost impossible to extract the empties after shooting.

I bought an APEX hammer because I can get a light trigger with it. I am going to use the lightest spring that comes with the hammer. I have no problems with trigger reset. I also know I have to polish the rebound slide and trigger. Hammer is polished enough.

How light can I set the trigger hammer fall to insure all my brands of .22s will fire? I know how many ounces it takes for my 9 mm s, About 36 oz. But .22s require more force.

Right now I'm at 8 lbs double action. I want to see how light I can get it and still be 100 per cent reliable.

 

[DaleA]

An S&W 617 is one of the guns on my 'bucket list'. Please be nice to yours and let us know how it all comes out, unless of course it comes out badly then keep that info to yourself and never post here again.

Good luck!

 

[g.willikers]

How light can I set the trigger hammer fall to insure all my brands of .22s will fire?

There's really no telling.
Steel Challenge doesn't require the kind of accuracy of some other competitions, so a stiff double action trigger isn't as much of a hindrance.
And fortunately, you can throw out the worst of the five runs.
With all the .22 ammo choices, the best approach might be to try as many types of ammo you can and let the gun tell you.
And then buy all the ammo of that same brand and type as you can find.

 

[MrBorland]

I ran my bone-stock 4" 10-shot 617 in some Steel Challenge, and did really well with it, mainly due to it's reliability. JMO, but if you run a revolver in rimfire Steel Challenge, you do it for the reliability (and if you just simply like shooting a revolver). If you lighten the action and start getting into reliability issues, you might as well run a MkIII or Buckmark.

As far as lightening the action, I've had it done on a vintage K-22. I haven't measure the pull (I'm at work at the moment, and I can do that when I get home), but my guess is that it's around an 8lb DA pull, and it does have reliability issues when shooting some ammo DA. CCI is very iffy, but Federal (mostly) lights off. With an Apex hammer and a smooth action, you might not have issues, but that's just a guess, and you'll likely have to experiment a bit.

As far as sticky chambers, there are no reloads on the clock, so sticky chambers are more an annoyance than anything else. On a 617, the chambers tend to be tight, so I make sure they're squeaky clean when the match starts, and I avoid particularly dirty ammo (e.g. Remington).

If I were to modify my 617 for Steel Challenge, I'd likely just swap out the front sight for a fiber optic. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to mess with mine, as it shoots great.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...ream out the cylinders..." To what end? If the empties are sticking it's not going to be fixed by reaming the cylinders to be excessively oversized. If the ammo is dirty, change ammo.
"...to insure all my brands of .22s will fire..." You must try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your revolver shoots best before you fiddle with it. The price of said ammo means nothing. Even then there's no guarantee of anything.
Nor does changing the hammer do much if you haven't had a proper trigger job done. Hammers require fitting by a smithy too.
36 oz. is a bit over 2 pounds. A 2 pound trigger on a 9mm is not safe.

 

[NoSecondBest]

Every brand of .22lr ammo has some type of oil or wax on it and some brands are worse than others. Reaming out the cylinder is a fool's errand. You'll end up ruining the gun and accomplish nothing. Clean it more often if you're using bullets with a lot of wax on them. You have a lot to learn about rimfire ammo and guns. Don't ruin the gun as part of your learning curve. I've shot over three hundred thousand round of 22lr in my shooting competition days and know that cleaning is under appreciated by most shooters. "Fixing" the gun for a problem that doesn't exist is just wrong. Clean, clean, and clean some more. I used to clean my gun just before every match and frequently during practice sessions. Learn something about revolvers and chamber throats while you're at it. Making them loose only causes problems in most cases. There's a logic in the diameter of the bullet, chamber, forcing cone, and barrel dimensions. Good luck in your shooting.