Well the good folks at Yellowstone Gateway Sports in Bozeman, Montana finally came through with a new Varmint pistol for me. I do not recall if I posted on this board the strange situation I had befall me in mid December of last year!

I had been shopping for several months for a good deal on a Smith & Wesson Model 647 revolver in caliber 17 HMR! I had been seeing them on occassion in my travels for anywhere from $529.00 to $569.00. On December 19th 2,004 I was shopping at the Yellowstone Gateway store in Bozeman and spied a nice Model 647 there priced at $539.00. I checked its timing, fit and finish and was impressed with it. At that time a Smith & Wesson factory representative approached me and stated that these revolvers in 17 HMR were all especially accurate! This "fact" I had previously become aware of by my perusal of many internet sites as well as several in person conversations with 647 owners. The S&W rep also told me that the pistol was on sale that day for $50.00 off the marked price! And they were throwing in a very nice high quality S&W clip style folding knife! I jumped at this deal and threw down my hard earned greenbacks!

The next day I went to my local range with my new prize and wanted to put this revolver through its paces with two kinds of ammo and see what it liked and see how it grouped before I mounted a scope on it. The main reason I bought this pistol was to have it along on my upcoming Ground Squirrel Hunts for use on the "close ones"! Several of the ranches I Hunt Gophers on are really "plagued" by the Gophers and they want them all shot! I have been passing on the close ones for years and needed a good rimfire pistol to cut down on the close in ones also.

At the range with my 647 I put up large target at 25 yards and rested the pistol in one of my Dog-Gone-Good large clamping style "X" bags. I took careful aim with the open sighted S&W and fired it single action at the dot in the center of my large target. I touched the wonderful trigger and the 647 discharged. I immediately was sprayed in the face with what I assumed was unburnt powder. It stung but I had my Zeiss shooting glasses on and no harm! I was intent on the wonderful crisp light S&W trigger and holding as fine a target picture as I could! I fired again and more face stinging! Not to worry I readjusted my shooting posture and extended the pistol and X bag further from my face! More firing, but now less stinging! (Fool at work here - do not disturb!) I fired 6 rounds and ventured forth to check the target for tiny 17 caliber holes! No holes in the large target at all but I did notice a small cluster of tiny bullets keyholing in the target backing board to the right of my target. I thought, someone was having real problems with their firearm to produce those keyholes!

I went back to the firing line and loaded the 647 with another brand of 17 HMR ammo. Maybe these would be "on target"? I fired those six rounds and checked the target. No holes in the target but there appeared to be more keyholing bullets in the cluster to the right of my target! Gee I thought that could not be me keyholing could it? I went and double checked the barrel marking on the 647 - yes I had brought home a 17 HMR and not a 22 Magnum revolver and I looked at the end of the barrel and it appeared to be a 17 caliber and not a 22 caliber hole! Not to worry I will place a target at 10 yards and get this "inherently accurate" revolver on papaer!

The 10 yard target fired with 6 rounds of Remington ammo literally sent a chill up my spine! Something was dreadfully wrong as the 6 rounds made a grapefruit size pattern - all the bullets though WERE keyholing! The chills turned to panic as I realized something was very wrong here. I checked the ammo, I checked the crown of the barrel, I checked the gap of the barrel and the cylinder, I checked the caliber on the side of the barrel again, I checked the lock up of the cylinder, I dry fired the pistol empty while holding the cylinder to feel for movement! I did everything I could think of to solve this puzzle!

Then, gentle Varminters, like a moth drawn to a lethal flame - I loaded that 647 with some more ammunition and fired it six more times! There is a special God that watches over fools - I am now convinced!

Those last 6 rounds keyholed into the target also and I packed up and headed home. Puzzling on my situation all the way home. The first thing I did was retrieve my Wally Siebert bore inspection tool. I cleaned the barrel quickly then inspected the bore. Imagine my horror and amazement when through the magnifying lense of the bore inspection tool I could see no rifling what so ever! This pistol had a hole in the barrel and no rifling at all! I became dizzy once I realized that I had been firing ammo down a barrel that had no rifling and no where for the bullets to expand into to properly slip down the barrel without creating a weird pressure situation!

I recleaned and rechecked the barrel! Still no rifling at all! Hmmmm.

I took the psitol to my friend the local gunsmith and showed him the keyholing targets and asked him what he thought. He immediately (without prompting) suspected a barrel problem and proceeded to inspect the pistols barrel. He burst into laughter and literally shouted "theres no f-ing rifling in here". "Its a smootbore"!

He had never seen such a situation in all his years of military service and additional private sector smithing and a lifetime of firearms handling!

I had my witness and I took the pistol the next business day back to the nice folks at Yellowstone Gateway Sports in Bozeman, Montana (110 miles each way!). They were as dumbfounded as I and the gunsmith! They were very apologetic and tried to find another pistol right then at their Livingston store. No luck, The gun department personnel even called the owner/manager at home right then (this was a day or two before Christmas) and advised him of the situation. He/they gave me the option of a refund or a replacement or sending the pistol back for repair! I relayed that any of the three would be fine but I did want to have a 647 online by Ground Squirrel season come spring. They helped me send the pistol back to S&W along with my letter of explanation and a sample of the keyholing bullets in a target!

The pistol needed to be shipped next day air and the folks at S&W got the pistol and I am not sure what they did. I can not imagine a barrel getting drilled and inspected (hopefully) then rifled and inspected again (hopefully) then fitted to a frame and inspected again (hopefully) then test fired (hopefully) and yet getting out of the factory with no rifling!

Now in my letter of explanation (required by S&W for warranty acceptance and work) I relayed to S&W that I now own about 2 dozen of their revolvers and had owned at least 50 in the past and in addition carried and used professionally their revolvers for nearly 30 years and never once had a malfunction. So I was surprised at this "oversight"!

Anyway yesterday (March 27th) I picked up a brand new Smith and Wesson Model 647 in 17 HMR caliber with 8 3/8" barrel! I did a new form 4473 as the serial number was of course different on this new pistol.

Even after 3 months of doubt, worry and dread over my situation I am hoping that tomorrow when I head for the range this new pistol will shoot accurately! Like so many other people have reported. I have a scope for the pistol now and a set of Leupold rings and bases. But I think I will test fire it before mounting and lapping the rings and bases!

I mean what are the chances of buying a S&W pistol new from the factory with no rifling? 1 in a million? 1 in 10 million?

The lesson to be drawn from this incident is do not be a fool like I was - if you notice ANYTHING odd when firing a firearm, stop shooting and seek the reason and do not resume fire until the situation is solved!

I consider myself lucky and stupid for my slowness to properly assess my range situation and hope others can learn from my 1 in a million type situation.

The rifling on this new Model 647 is pronounced and easily seen with good lighting and an open cylinder with white background. Something I did not check on the first pistol.

Heres hoping my new, NEW pistol is a typical reliable and accurate revolver from the folks at Smith & Wesson!

I will have a range report soon.

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Hey VarmintGuy. I followed your earlier posts with intrest and have thought about it since, glad to hear it's resolved. As I mentioned awhile back, in the shooting test I read on that critter the author said it was the most accurate revolver he'd ever shot--PERIOD! Hope yours shoots as well. I too am working on the new, (at least to me) short to medium range hand gun. Mine is a recently aquired Anschutz Exemplar .22 Hornet. I mounted a 3X12 Burris Ballistic-Plex and it's the most accurate handgun I've ever shot. (albeit a real short bolt action rifle with a pistol grip) We (my wife and I) also have Government model and a Slabslide model Rugers tweaked with Volquartsen triggers and Bowen Arms small game sights. The well heeled Montana gopher erradicater certainly has need for 25 to 125 yard close carry gopher popper (that Hornets doing the damn-damn on em out to 200 or a little better) I'm bettin you found yours!

Montdoug: Sure sounds like you and your Mrs. have some fun in store for this spring and summer seasons! Good for you and enjoy!
Now don't you hesitate to give me heck for being so imbecilic in my handling of the original S&W pistol puzzle! I deserve it and need the reminder of safety first - obviously!
By coincidence I saw an Anschutz pistol sell from this same store in Bozeman last year. It was in caliber 17 HMR and as I recall was in the $400.00 range. Is that a repeater model or a single shot - your Anschutz 22 Hornet?
What a neat rig that must be!
Someone on this forum a couple years ago suggested I try the 35 gr. Hornady V-Max bullet in my Ruger #1-B 22 Hornet to see if that would cure its accuracy troubles and it did. In addition this bullet is real deadly on Varmints! If you have not already done so please try these in your pistol.
Had a great day in your town yesterday doing the Gunshow and the sport shops! Figuratively - stole some antlers there at the show and some more on the way home while in Alder, Montana! I bid on two Rifles at the Gunshow but they both sold out from under me (a Ruger 77/17V and an older but mint condition Remington 700 in 243 Win.). And I did not even see in time a mint Remington 40XB-BR in 22 Remington BR. It sold for $850.00 just as I was walking up to that table. I already have two of those but at that price I would have had a third! Did buy lots of small items there in addition to the horns.
The wildlife and the scenery from Dillon to Bozeman (went the back way through Alder and Ennis) and the isolated spring snowstorms in the mountains made the trip worthwhile in itself! In Alder I stopped and renewed acquantance with an 82 year old trapper and Hunter. He is still running a trapline and harvested Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, Whitetailed Deer and 3 Bobcat this past season! It was just wonderful to see him again and visit after not running into him for 5 years or so!
Saw lots of Squirrels along the roads sometimes in the snow! Was travelling east toward Bozeman when a westbound pickup (with wet fresh mud on the sides!) full of Elk sheds and a 4 wheeler ATV went by. I spun a U-ie in the highway and followed him stealthily til he committed to his next shed Hunting canyon and I filed that info away for later use!
Just a glorious day in Montana to be alive! Watching the Sand Hill Cranes mating and the myriad of wildlife! It almost made me wish the trip to Bozeman was further than 110 miles!
Whats with the price of gas these days?
Have a good season and wish me luck!
Hold into the wind
VarintGuy

varmitguy, I missed your early post I was on vacation. Glad to here you didn't get hurt & thanks for posting it's a good reminder to us all. Keep us infromed on the new 17 as it is of interest to me. I can't beleave S&W let that get by quality control or lack of in your interest. I am a fan of S&W so I don't like to here things like that. Good luck And again thanks for reminding us of gun saftey it's not easy to tell people of are stupidy but it also shows we all need reminders from time to time.

My Anschutz is on the 54 action, same as a 1730 Meister grade Hornet I have, the mod 54 Exemplar was discontinued in about 1985, too spendy I think, the .17 HMR they are making now is on the 64 action, cheaper but still a dandy. Mine is a left handed bolt which is perfect for right handed shooters off a bench, cock and load with the left hand and shoot with the right it has a Harris S-Bipod on it. I have used the 35 V-Max in my Hornets and K Hornet, and due to it's coeffecient which is about that of a ping-pong ball I prefer the 40 V-Max and the 40 grain BlitkKing, their length requires single shot shooting but most of my varmint rifles are single shot by choice so to me that's not a problem. The 35 is quite dramatic up close but falls off quickly.

I hunt elk up the Ruby from Alder beautiful country that.
How did that .17 revolver shoot? I passed on the opportunity to give you a litle grief on your shooting faux pax because I'm sure were I shooting it about the last thing I'd of thought to check was if maybe they'd forgotten the rifling. Not the kind of thing a guy sees often, still I did notice you were doing what you should with eye protection etc, good for you! A small caliber site I frequent recently had a thread on a fellow looking for a reduced load in a .17 Remington using Blue Dot, he's now fighting to save his vision. My understanding is he'd had one blow back in his face and cause damage, then a few days later he tried the load again and this time it was catastrophic--- he wasn't wearing eye protection either time. Tragic but foolish and so prevetable. Keep me posted how that S&W shoots. Sure purdy, and I love them .17's!

Montdoug: The "Ruby"! Ohhh yeah! Lots of beautiful country down there!
I am saddened and sickened by our fellow shooters misfortune, of which, you posted! I hope his vision is not permanently harmed! Yes that is a tragedy!
I have a wonderful friend from Issaquah, Washington who was a dedicated Deer Hunter and did reload, but just the 20 or 40 rounds a year he needed for his 264 Winchester Magnum to sight in with and go Hunting. I never learned what the exact problem was but his loads caused head seperation of his old 264 brass and the result was some brass schrapnel had to be removed from his eyeball!
Now, here is the unbelievable part!
A month later he resumed fire with the same situation apparently still intact and got more schrapnel in his eye! The eye surgeon really gave him and his wife hell over that! He is lucky to have his vision in that eye!
Lets hope the Blue Dot experimenter is as lucky as my friend and does recuperate fully!
Lets all be careful out there!
Book maximum is more than enough for me!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I shot my NEW, new S&W Model 647 today at the range. It functioned flawlessly and the single action trigger is splendid! Accuracy wise it was able to shoot several 2" groups at 25 yards (in a 5 MPH puffy crosswind). This with both Hornady and Remington ammunition and wedged in to my "X" bag.
I mostly just wanted to test the pistol before I go ahead and mount the rings, base and scope on it.
Overall I am really pleased with it! Two other shooters were at the range today and both admired the pistol and liked its balance and feel. They were not impressed when I answered the inquiry about its cost ($479.00)!
Can't wait to pistolero some of those "close in" (20 to 50 yards) Ground Squirrels that I hate to waste my Lilja 10/22's barrel on or my Ruger 77/17V's barrel.
Yeah I will pick'em off with my "roscoe" (urban youth of the 1970's slang name for revolving pistol!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy