I agree with the rest of the guys. It's a gun which just begs to be enjoyed. And being a .22 caliber in a frame that is built to resist even .357Magnums you will not produce any wear of any consequence regardless of how much you SHOOT IT.
Looks like I'm going to be enjoying it and shooting it as often as I can while taking care of it after every range trip.
Don't just take care of it AFTER the range trip. Proper care is an around the clock situation that starts with proper storage that resists rust and extends to proper handling from the moment you pick up the gun and pack it up for a range visit.
Keeping it in good condition means you take along a hand towel or similar to lay it on while at the range. I've seen some nasty stuff embedded in the mats or wood tables at the ranges I've been at. I tend to not set any of my guns down directly on them. And for those ranges where you'll be putting your guns down on any concrete it goes without saying that you want to bring along a mat of some form of your own.
I prefer towels because I can wash them more frequently than a lot of other options. The back side picks up the grit you're trying to avoid so any mat or towel you use needs to be able to be washed frequently.
So a hand towel for handguns or an old bath towel for rifles goes with me to the range each time.
One thing you will also need for your 17 is a .22 bore brush on a short extension to use to clean out the cylinder chambers part way through a longer session. The chambers are snug on these guns. It's part of what give them their accuracy. I find that the ammo gets hard to load and eject after around 40 to 50 rounds through the gun. A pass with the bore brush restores easy loading and ejecting for another 40 to 50 rounds.
The cheap bulk box ammo will also tend to stick in the chambers sooner than properly packaged ammo. And generally the properly packaged ammo shoots better too since the bullets don't get banged around and become loose in the casings.
You want to exercise great care in cleaning the bore when you do clean it. A rod with a crown protector is a must. If the rod skips off the rifling at the crown your accuracy will suffer in time. A brass or plastic cone shaped protector on the rod does a lot towards avoiding this issue.
I also tend to prefer using a proper sized .22 patch jag and cloth patches and only use a bore brush on the barrel if I see any signs of dullness in the steps of the lands which indicates some lead in there. If the rifling steps are clean and sharp after a cloth patch or two then the bore brush does not get used.
