S&W317 “kit gun” with a 3″ barrel has long been an object of desire for me, for all kinds of subjective reasons. I could never quite justify buying one for myself. A week ago, good friends gave me theirs as a gift.
A couple of days ago, a good neighbor on whose property I sometimes do photo shoots told me he had some ammunition for me. Talk about great timing! “Some” turned out 600 rounds of 22LR that sat in his basement for some time. I haven’t even seen PMC Zapper since the late 1990s!
And yesterday, a package from Rob Leahy (Simply Rugged Holsters) arrived with a holster to fit the kit gun. It fits better than most gloves!
Now I just have to take advantage of the lovely weather we’ve been having and hike in the woods with the little .22 and a bag lunch. Being me can be pretty good at times!
Let us know how the trigger feels. Most rimfire DA revolvers have fairly stout triggers to ensure ignition.
Factory 317 can be stiff. This one has been improved and feels smooth, not too heavy at all.
Back in the Early Pleistocene I had a Model 35 Kit gun with 6″ bbl. Had to sell it for fripperies like food and rent, more’s the pity.
Three gifts in a week? Remember the old adage, “once is accident, twice is coincidence but three times is enemy action”? Not enemy action, but it seems some coordination was going on.
And seriously – nice Smith. Kind of like that one myself.
You clearly have some great friends. Don’t let that one slip out of your hands. Unless you want to give it to me.
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I have the identical model. One of my favorite back-country guns. Weighs less than 11 oz fully loaded. I put a pair of clip-grips on it and shove it into my front jeans pocket, and it carries like a dream.
Only problem is that it’s a bit hard to hit with. There’s so little weight that it dances around under normal muscle tremors quite a bit. I had a friend fall in love with it and want to buy one for each of his daughters because that revolver takes so little effort to have with you in the field. Then he shot it, and discovered that despite a couple of state-level bullseye titles, he couldn’t hit a tin-can reliably with it at 20 yards. It truly is an expert’s gun when trying to hit field targets at distance.
Awesome to carry, though.
FormerFlyer
You have some very kind friends. I have a couple of those Leahy holsters – very nice.
My only rimfire snub nose (2″?) is a Taurus 941UL .22 Magnum. Man is it loud – .38 Special snub nose report. Extremely light recoil – its a keeper, I love the .22 Magnum.
Beautiful gun, and one heck of a gift! I was looking at one and the price was just a bit more than I wanted.
I ended up getting a Ruger LCR .22lr which is not as nice, or as light, but about half the price.