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My wife bought a used Smith & Wesson 317, which is a .22LR 8-shot revolver with a 1 7/8" barrel. It supposedly had only been taken out a few times with no more than a couple hundred rounds fed thru it, and the condition seemed to support that upon visual inspection. However, once we got it out to the range, it was not performing 100%. An average of 3 out of the 8 rounds in the cylinder would not fire in double-action mode. Firing the gun in single-action, however, resulted in a successful discharge every time. We tried Federal, Remington and CCI ammo, and still the double-action mode would average about 3 rounds that did not fire. There didn't seem to be a pattern as to which three, either...sometimes it would be evenly spaced between successful discharges, and sometimes 2 or 3 failures would be in a row. Looking at the firing pin strikes on each cartridge, they definitely appeared to be very light, with some being a barely noticeable dent, not the well-defined crater that my Ruger Single-Six typically produces. Our gunsmith has looked at it and tried to make a few adjustments, to the spring tension I believe, but says it is still not 100%. His next move is to see if replacing the firing pin will help. I had considered sending the gun to Smith & Wesson, but since my wife is not the original owner, it doesn't appear that it would be covered by the warranty.
Has anyone else come across an issue like this in a fairly new .22LR, especially an S&W, and what was done to correct it? Thanks in advance!
Has anyone else come across an issue like this in a fairly new .22LR, especially an S&W, and what was done to correct it? Thanks in advance!
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