General Geoff
Member
So I finally took my new 63 out to the range and put about 300 rounds through it. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.
Before I purchased the 63, I've only owned two .22lr handguns: A Walther P22 which I sold to a friend after discovering how finicky it was on cycling, and then later I picked up a Ruger Mark III 22/45 Hunter, which I still have and enjoy shooting. But I wanted to get a .22 revolver for the sake of simplicity and reliability with any kind of rimfire ammunition (no need to worry about failures to feed or extract). The Ruger has been very reliable, but it still gets hung up once in awhile; no fault of the gun, it's just the nature of shooting rimfire. So anyway, I ordered up a new model 63 after doing some research on current production Smiths (I was originally going to get a 617, but I did want something a bit smaller, and once I discovered that S&W is making a new 63, I jumped on it).
I was honestly expecting slightly worse groups than I've been getting with the Ruger Mark III, at least when shooting double action. Much to my surprise however, I seem to be more accurate with the 63 than the Ruger. Throughout the range session, I never once had a failure to fire, or any other issues with it. The double action pull was very smooth, much better than my friend's Taurus model 94 (though I did pay about twice as much for this gun as he did for his).
Yes it has the internal lock, no I'm not really bothered by it. The gun points very well for me, the sights seem to line up naturally when I bring it up to eye level. The stock rubber grip is comfortable, though I'm looking into replacing it with cocobolo grips (started a thread on that a couple days ago). Here's a picture of it at the range after expending my limited ammunition supply. Nice and dirty, the way a working revolver should look:
And here's two videos:
Me shooting the 63
Picture of a target being shot from ~10 yards, two handed, double action
So in summation, this revolver was worth every penny I paid for it ($699), and I'm very happy with it. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to add a .22lr revolver to their collection.
Before I purchased the 63, I've only owned two .22lr handguns: A Walther P22 which I sold to a friend after discovering how finicky it was on cycling, and then later I picked up a Ruger Mark III 22/45 Hunter, which I still have and enjoy shooting. But I wanted to get a .22 revolver for the sake of simplicity and reliability with any kind of rimfire ammunition (no need to worry about failures to feed or extract). The Ruger has been very reliable, but it still gets hung up once in awhile; no fault of the gun, it's just the nature of shooting rimfire. So anyway, I ordered up a new model 63 after doing some research on current production Smiths (I was originally going to get a 617, but I did want something a bit smaller, and once I discovered that S&W is making a new 63, I jumped on it).
I was honestly expecting slightly worse groups than I've been getting with the Ruger Mark III, at least when shooting double action. Much to my surprise however, I seem to be more accurate with the 63 than the Ruger. Throughout the range session, I never once had a failure to fire, or any other issues with it. The double action pull was very smooth, much better than my friend's Taurus model 94 (though I did pay about twice as much for this gun as he did for his).
Yes it has the internal lock, no I'm not really bothered by it. The gun points very well for me, the sights seem to line up naturally when I bring it up to eye level. The stock rubber grip is comfortable, though I'm looking into replacing it with cocobolo grips (started a thread on that a couple days ago). Here's a picture of it at the range after expending my limited ammunition supply. Nice and dirty, the way a working revolver should look:
And here's two videos:
Me shooting the 63
Picture of a target being shot from ~10 yards, two handed, double action
So in summation, this revolver was worth every penny I paid for it ($699), and I'm very happy with it. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to add a .22lr revolver to their collection.