QuercusMax
03-17-2012, 03:48 PM
I thought it was about time I caught up with the 19th century and got a revolver, so a few months back I bought a Smith & Wesson 617 6" with a 10-round cylinder.
Long guns aside, this is about as far from being a Kahr as possible. Being large, heavy, and a .22, it's obviously not a carry weapon. I'll report on it here anyway, since I know a few of you have interests that extend beyond Kahrs.
I've had it out a few times now, and have run an entire 525 box of Federal Champion through it. 525 bangs.
Here are a few impressions (you long-time revolver guys might find this elementary):
- At 44 oz empty, it's heavy. (In comparison, my MK9 Elite weighs in at a paltry 23 oz.) Solid steel with 6" barrel heavy. Since this is a .22, this results in almost zero recoil - almost like an air gun.
- In double action mode (this is a DA/SA gun), the trigger is really heavy. Seemed much heavier than my friend's 686 I shot a year ago, which was OK. I don't have a way of measuring it, but it's faaaar too heavy for my tastes. In single action mode (pull hammer back for each round), the trigger is very nice, although not quite as nice and light as some of my SAO guns.
- Accuracy was as good as I can shoot (nothing to brag about). I was able to get reasonably good groupings at all my usual target distances right from the beginning.
- Being a revolver, the reloads naturally pace one's shooting. No temptation to load up a bunch of magazines and blaze through them fast. 10 shots, reload, repeat. I also don't wind up with the ground littered with brass.
- Cleaning is naturally different as well, and very easy. Many people complain about how dirty .22 ammo is, but when cleaning the barrel (wipe with Hoppe's #9, then brass bore brush, then dry patches), only the first dry patch came out dirty, with follow-ups virtually clean. In contrast, the chambers (all 10 of them) were very dirty, and required multiple wet/dry cleaning cycles, although easy enough to do. One other thing I liked about cleaning it is that there weren't any hard-to-get-at places that automatics have lots of.
- Yes, it has the S&W lock on it because it is new production. Doesn't bother me because I'm never going to lock it, but some people seem to really get worked up about this.
Overall, the 617 provided a very pleasant shooting experience for me - at least in SA mode. I'm looking forward to taking it out to do a comparison with my BuckMark or Beretta 87T sometime.
Here's a picture. I'm thinking it would look even nicer with some wood grips.
Long guns aside, this is about as far from being a Kahr as possible. Being large, heavy, and a .22, it's obviously not a carry weapon. I'll report on it here anyway, since I know a few of you have interests that extend beyond Kahrs.
I've had it out a few times now, and have run an entire 525 box of Federal Champion through it. 525 bangs.
Here are a few impressions (you long-time revolver guys might find this elementary):
- At 44 oz empty, it's heavy. (In comparison, my MK9 Elite weighs in at a paltry 23 oz.) Solid steel with 6" barrel heavy. Since this is a .22, this results in almost zero recoil - almost like an air gun.
- In double action mode (this is a DA/SA gun), the trigger is really heavy. Seemed much heavier than my friend's 686 I shot a year ago, which was OK. I don't have a way of measuring it, but it's faaaar too heavy for my tastes. In single action mode (pull hammer back for each round), the trigger is very nice, although not quite as nice and light as some of my SAO guns.
- Accuracy was as good as I can shoot (nothing to brag about). I was able to get reasonably good groupings at all my usual target distances right from the beginning.
- Being a revolver, the reloads naturally pace one's shooting. No temptation to load up a bunch of magazines and blaze through them fast. 10 shots, reload, repeat. I also don't wind up with the ground littered with brass.
- Cleaning is naturally different as well, and very easy. Many people complain about how dirty .22 ammo is, but when cleaning the barrel (wipe with Hoppe's #9, then brass bore brush, then dry patches), only the first dry patch came out dirty, with follow-ups virtually clean. In contrast, the chambers (all 10 of them) were very dirty, and required multiple wet/dry cleaning cycles, although easy enough to do. One other thing I liked about cleaning it is that there weren't any hard-to-get-at places that automatics have lots of.
- Yes, it has the S&W lock on it because it is new production. Doesn't bother me because I'm never going to lock it, but some people seem to really get worked up about this.
Overall, the 617 provided a very pleasant shooting experience for me - at least in SA mode. I'm looking forward to taking it out to do a comparison with my BuckMark or Beretta 87T sometime.
Here's a picture. I'm thinking it would look even nicer with some wood grips.