Smith & wesson 317 anyone?

[pull the trigger]

Does anyone have one? Hate it, like it? What do they go for. Only one on GB to compare a price to. 3" with adjustable sites I am looking at.
Thanks!!

[Lefty Red]

I had one, its the alloy framed/j frame 8 shot for S&W right?
Very disappointed with it. Bad trigger and poor groups. Ended up trading it for two Rough Riders for the kids. They shot better!

[RJM52]

I have one...love it but don't shoot it a lot...and yes it is the 3" with adjustable sights.

As to accuracy being so light it is somewhat hard to hold still... That said ammo makes a BIG difference. For a long time I used nothing but Federal Bulk in mine. At 10 yards they would all stay in a 3" circle target I use. After firing a couple of cylinder full of the Federal I changed out the target and tried some Winchester PowerPoint 40 grain HPs I had with me....and it made a 1" cluster at the bottom of the circle... That is all the ammo I have used in the gun since but my supply is getting very low...

Bob

[HATCH]

I had one. It was the snubbie.
It was my trainer as it had the same site picture as my other larger caliber J frames and I could use the same holster.
I changed the spring in it and it was decent.
It liked MINI-MAGS mostly. Cheap bulk ammo had misfires. This was due to the lighter trigger and hammer springs that I installed.
With MMs it was 100% so thats what I kept in it mostly.

[MtGun44]

I have one, had to change the rear sight, same as the 329 - that shallow V-rear with no real vertical
reference was horrible for me, and the round top front isn't ideal either. After putting a proper rear blade
and a square topped fiber optic front on it, it is just fine. If the sights suit you, they are good quality, I
just don't like the V-plus round top fiber dot sight picture at all. It is quick and if you can adapt to it,
you'll love it without changes. This like the old British double rifles, apparently, but I don't like it.

It is not really a target pistol but reliable, unbelievably light and handy to carry around and is just fine for
normal .22 chores or fun plinking at the most common 10-15 yd plinking ranges. With the wax lubed ammo
it tends to crud up pretty quickly, but so do all .22s with the external lubed stuff. With plated ammo it stays
cleaner. At 12 yds with ammo it likes (like all .22s, it like some far better than others) all will be in 1" or so.

Bill

[snowwolfe]

I owned one and consider myself a decent shot with any handgun. But for the life of me I could not shoot that revolver well. Tried about 6 different types of ammo and the best I could do was 4-5 inches at 25 yards from a solid rest.
They might be accurate but they sure are hard to shoot well!

That being said, I think it would be a good piece to carry if you knew all your shots would be 10 yards or under. Now my go to trail gun is a Ruger SP101 8 shot with the 4 inch barrel.

[rintinglen]

The one I shot was half as accurate as my M-63--4 inch 15 yard groups versus 2 inch. Now, maybe different ammo would have helped, but I found the gun to be too light for best results with a trigger that heavy. Light is good for carrying, but this gun is a little too much of a good thing. Despite the superior sights on the Smith, my brothers 22 LR Ruger LCR is as or more accurate than the 317. Short answer, I won't be buying one. The 24 ounce weight of the 4 inch Model 63 is not that burdensome.

[pull the trigger]

Man these are some seriously mixed reviews. Anyone know how much they normally go for?

[Kestrel4k]

Sorry I don't have anything for the last query, but while I like my 3" 317 I have found it to be the most ammo-sensitive gun I've ever used, both with regards to accuracy and POI - so a lot of testing is in order to give the best opportunity for it to perform adequately.

I tested ~ a dozen different kinds of inexpensive .22LR with mine and found that it liked new-production Rem TB's best of all, grouping 4 shots into an average of 1.3/4" at 25 yds from a rest.
(Over all the brands tested, 4-shot groups ranged up to over 4.5" with group centers / POI varying 6" vertical and 4" horizontal.)

I admit that it was a rather frustrating handgun until I knew that I had to keep to the same exact ammo as it was always a surprise where the POI was going to be the next time I had different ammo with me.

Edit: I do have the older front ramp rather than the fiber optic front sight, which I think helps somewhat with mine.

[pull the trigger]

Thanks Kestrel!!

[MtGun44]

Lightest handguns are ALWAYS more ammo sensitive. Tight and consistent grip
is far more critical as the gun will move a LOT more in recoil - WHILE THE BULLET
IS STILL IN THE BARREL which can massively change POI and group.

I have several "ultra light" pistols and each is very challenging to shoot well.

Bill

[pull the trigger]

Lightest handguns are ALWAYS more ammo sensitive. Tight and consistent grip
is far more critical as the gun will move a LOT more in recoil - WHILE THE BULLET
IS STILL IN THE BARREL which can massively change POI and group.

I have several "ultra light" pistols and each is very challenging to shoot well.

Bill
I have heard of sight blades being really tall on old slow six shooters because recoil raised the gun before the bullet was out. So what your saying makes perfect sense. Thanks!

[MtGun44]

And why target pistols are HEAVY and in many cases they have available
weights to add even more weight.

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.607991327446861074&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

See the bump under the barrel at the front? weight. And it is just a .22, but
weight helps holding stability and recoil jump during the boolit-in-barrel time.

The same amount of trigger jerk will move a light and short barreled pistol much
more than a heavy, long barreled one - less inertia to resist the unwanted force.
This is in addition to the issues with recoil and grip.

Bill

[kweidner]

I couldn't have said it better myself. The Ultralight series will tell on you. I have the 357pd in 41 mag. Got it off a guy who said it was the least accurate 41 he'd seen. I stole it and after a high learning curve and a bunch of load development including a custom mold designed for it, it's one of my favorites.