Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Review: Pinnacle of Rimfire Revolvers?
We took the S&W 617 Mountain Gun out for an extended spin to see if this premium rimfire revolver is worth your hard-earned money.
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- Pros & Cons
- Specs & Features
- Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Backstory
- Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun: Accuracy & Reliability Analysis
- Ergonomics: Fit & Feel
- Improvements We’d Like To See
- Who Is It For?
- By the Numbers
- Upgrades & Accessories
- How We Tested Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
- Final Verdict on the Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Pros & Cons
Pros
- Gorgeous aesthetics
- Superbly balanced
- Great capacity
Cons
- Less than stellar accuracy
- Sporadic light primer strikes
The Bottom Line
The Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun is a particularly dapper revolver that feels great in the hand. While the gun isn’t cheap, it is cheap to shoot. A gun like this would be a prime candidate to be an heirloom gun, but a few quality control issues hold it back.
Ammo is getting really expensive across the board.
Everybody wants a gun that is cheap to operate, but not everyone necessarily wants a cheap gun.
The Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun is supposed to be just that --- a premium firearm that you can be proud of, but doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to operate.
But does this attractive rimfire revolver live up to the hype? Join me as I go over my 500-round experience with the 617 Mountain Gun and give you my thoughts on why it may or may not be the gun for you.
Table of Contents
- Pros & Cons
- Specs & Features
- Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Backstory
- Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun: Accuracy & Reliability Analysis
- Ergonomics: Fit & Feel
- Improvements We’d Like To See
- Who Is It For?
- By the Numbers
- Upgrades & Accessories
- How We Tested Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
- Final Verdict on the Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
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Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Specs & Features
Specs
- Caliber: .22LR
- Action: Single/double-action
- Capacity: 10
- Barrel Length: 4.125”
- Overall Length: 9.46”
- Weight: 36.1 oz
- Frame Size: K-Frame (medium)
- Country of Origin: USA
- Includes: Plastic hard case, cable lock
Features
- Tyler Gun Works high-grade walnut Bear Hug Grips
- Gold bead Patridge-style front sight
- Adjustable rear sight
- Stainless steel frame and cylinder
Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun Backstory
The original S&W Mountain Gun started as a collaboration between elite competition shooters Tommy Campbell and Ross Seyfried.
Both men sought to create the “perfect” outdoors revolver that was powerful, shootable, and packable.
They settled on the larger N-Frame revolver in .44 Magnum but chose a much lighter, tapered-profile barrel and a round-butt grip. And in 1988, it became a reality.
The resulting Mountain Gun proved popular, with S&W doing additional runs in 1993, 1994, 1999, 2002, and 2005. Different calibers were also offered, including the K-Frame 617 .22LR variant.
In 2025, Lipsey’s distributor partnered with S&W to revive the Mountain Gun. They brought these guns back in their original configuration with no internal lock.
Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun: Accuracy & Reliability Analysis
The 617 Mountain Gun is a lightweight, medium-frame,10-shot field revolver chambered in .22LR.
While I suppose this could find some niche use as a gun to dispatch small varmints while hiking or camping, it seems more like a fun little target shooter to me.
With both roles in mind, I grabbed six types of ammo and set out to run through 500 rounds of simple accuracy tests at distances from 7 to 25 yards.
Accuracy
After my first shots, it was immediately apparent that the gun was shooting low and left (insert bad shooter joke here). Even in single-action, this was the case with every ammo type I tried.
The adjustable rear sight made it simple to get things relatively dialed in, although I had to move the sight further right than I’d like.
After settling in around the 250-round mark, I conducted some accuracy testing in single-action. I shot five 10-shot groups at 7 yards, using a different ammo type for each group. Below are the results.
I am a big S&W revolver guy; I have 10 of them. So it pains me to say that this particular 617 was less accurate than any of my other Smith revolvers, including my J-Frame snubbies.
It seemed like no matter what I did or what ammo I used, I’d get a few fliers every group. This was even the case when shooting off a rest. While the accuracy wasn’t terrible, it doesn’t quite hold up to the K-22 rimfire Smiths of old.
As expected, recoil is almost non-existent. It is an absolute pleasure to shoot in that regard.
Reliability
About every three cylinders, I’d have at least one round fail to ignite. This occurred in both double and single-action, resulting in 12 rounds that didn’t go off.
I had the most failures with the Winchester and Browning ammo, and the only ammo that didn’t suffer a failure was Federal Punch.
It is no secret that .22LR can be finicky. But the amount of dud rounds across various ammo types seems to suggest that the hammer be lacking just a tad bit of “oomph."
A bit of light reading shows that I am not the only one who has encountered this issue.
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Ergonomics: Fit & Feel
Without a doubt, the best things about the 617 Mountain Gun are how it feels in the hand and how it looks.
Frame
As I always say, K-Frame is best frame. The medium frame, combined with the tapered 4-inch barrel, is amazingly balanced. It just feels right.
These Tyler Gun Works Bear Hug grips that come with the gun were beautifully figured, well-contoured, and fit perfectly.
While I normally prefer orange or fiber-optic front sights for functionality, the Patridge-style gold bead front sight is a good fit here. It helps complete the classy, svelte overall look. The adjustable rear sight is simple and easy to use.
Externally, the high-polish stainless finish looks great, and the cylinder fitment and release feel good.
When loading and unloading the cylinder, I noticed that rounds were tending to stick in three of the 10 chambers. Nothing truly got stuck, but it did require extra force to fully seat the rounds, and a strong rap on the ejector rod to make sure they came out cleanly.
Trigger
A five-pull average on my Wheeler digital trigger gauge showed an average double-action trigger pull weight of 10.7 pounds, with the single-action weight right around 4.8 pounds.
The double-action pull is smooth, with no noticeable stacking. While the single-action pull was very clean, I would like to see a slightly lighter pull weight here. I firmly put this trigger in the “good” category, with the potential for it to get even better with higher round counts.
Improvements We’d Like To See
I’d have liked to see better accuracy from this gun. However, I do want to note that Chris Baker over at Lucky Gunner got 1-inch groups at 25 yards with his 617 Mountain Gun, so this could have been a one-off.
What doesn’t seem to be an isolated issue is the light primer strikes. A tweak to the springs or hammer mass could potentially fix this issue and greatly enhance the reliability.
Lastly, I’d like to see a bit tighter quality control. Given the price of this gun, I’d rather not have some overly-tight chambers and sights that need a fair amount of adjustment out of the box.
Who Is It For?
I see two distinct types of people who might be interested in this gun.
This would be a viable tool for anyone looking for a lightweight, high-capacity revolver to handle snakes and other small pests while outdoors.
It also has the potential to be a great range choice for someone looking for a high-end range toy. Assuming you get an accurate one, you are looking at a devastatingly handsome, superbly balanced revolver with no recoil that is dirt cheap to shoot.
By the Numbers
Reliability: 3/5
I had more light primer strikes than I would have liked, even taking into account the finicky nature of rimfire rounds.
Ergonomics: 4.5/5
Other than maybe adding checkering to the grips, I have no complaints. This gun feels absolutely amazing in the hand.
Accuracy: 2.5/5
I struggled to get consistent groups no matter what ammo I used. I also had to adjust the sights more than expected.
Customization: 2/5
There are a few things out there, such as trigger job kits, aftermarket grips, and red dot mounts, but there isn’t much else. This is a gun that doesn’t really necessitate modification.
Value: 2/5
$1,100 to $1,200 is a steep price for any non-competition rimfire gun, in my opinion. If this gun were issue-free, I could see it as an heirloom-type gun that reasonably commands that price.
Overall: 3/5
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Upgrades & Accessories
Loading 10 tiny rimfire rounds one by one can get super annoying. Luckily, Speed Beez makes outstanding 10-shot speedloaders that can help reduce those long reload times.
If your eyes aren’t what they used to be, or you simply want to be fancy, then you can easily mount a red dot using the TK Custom SW Mini red dot mount.
Although .22LR isn’t an earthshattering round, it is still not hearing safe. Grab some ShellShock Protection EXO PRO electronic earmuffs to keep your ears safe and comfortable.
How We Tested Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
I fired 500 rounds through this revolver using the following types of ammunition:
- CCI Mini Mag RN 40gr
- Winchester CPHP 36gr
- Browning Performance Rimfire CPHP 36gr
- Remington Thunderbolt LRN 40gr
- Federal Champion CPHP 36gr
- Federal Punch Personal Defense FN 29gr
Accuracy testing was conducted at various distances between 7 and 25 yards. Groups were shot in single-action, both freehand and using a pistol rest.
Reliability was tested by firing all ammo types equally in both single and double-action modes.
Meet the Experts
This article was written by Pew Pew Tactical Editor, Wyatt Sloan. Wyatt is an NRA-and USCCA-certified instructor with previous experience as a competitive shooter and 10 years of home-based FFL firearm sales. Wyatt personally owns over 200 firearms, including over 20 revolvers. He grew up learning to shoot on Smith & Wesson revolvers and has remained a lifelong fan of them ever since.
Final Verdict on the Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun
If I were to sum up my time with the 617 Mountain Gun into one word, it would be “potential.” She’s fun, she’s sexy, but she has a few issues.
With a bit more quality control, I truly believe that the outstanding ergonomics and killer looks of the 617 Mountain Gun could make it a match for the S&W rimfire revolvers of old.
What are your thoughts on the Smith & Wesson 617 Mountain Gun? Is it something that interests you? Let us know in the comments below! Looking for other rimfire options? Check out our roundup of the Best .22LR Pistols!