I bought this last August 2011, and JUST LOVE IT! Have fired over 600 rounds of 38 Special and 250 rounds of 357 Mag, without a hitch of any kind. Only complaint at all are the sights, which are difficult to see, but I don't shoot for groups in "the ring", only man sized silhoette targets. My groups are in the body and/or head where ever I want them to go. Possible improvement suggestion is to put the orange optical sight like on the Public Defender.

Gun is great, just as described. Have not shot it yet but looking forward to it. Ordered on a Fri. and it was delivered on Tues. Buds was great, price and speed!

Very fast shipping from Bud's to the FFL dealer (Trent Nelson in Mt. Horeb, WI... nice guy, good transaction). As far as the gun is concerned, I have put a 50 round box of cheap Blazer 38 special and a box of 357 Remington UMC Semi-jacketed through it. The Blazer ammo was surprisingly good, had one 'jam' with the Remington ammo where a brass shaving got caught in between the cylinder and the barrel and completely locked the gun up. Very strange... had to find a tiny screwdriver and poke out the brass shaving, then I was good to go. The blued steel finish is very easy to get dirty. Gun is very hard to aim, the fixed sights are pretty much useless. I've shot quite a bit before so I don't think that the problem lies with me. Otherwise, the grip is very comfortable if not a bit small for my hands (I'm 6'2 so smaller people might not feel the same way). The seven shot cylinder is a neat 'plus' to this gun as well. One drawback I found to the cylinder is that with the rounds being so close together, sometimes you really have to work at ejecting the spent casings. Overall it seems like a good gun for the price, fun plinking with it and possibly down the road get my CC license. Light and small enough to carry with you all day.

So just went to the range same day i got it and put 50 rounds in 6".

Great little gun. It handles magnum loads without a whole lot of recoil (110 gr hollowpoints). Price a definate plus!

Seems to be an all around great gun for a great price. Handles recoil nicely. Seems to be accurate enough. I was hitting the target some at 25 yards, but this is the first pistol I've owned, so I'm sure I need practice. Realistically, in a self defense scenario, your target will be much closer than 25 yards. No complaints from me. As far as Buds Gun Shop service, they were quick to do their paperwork and ship my order and kept in touch with me. No hassles whatsoever.

Another fine sale and happy customer. Got the 617 today and fired about 50 rounds and was very happy with the weapon. Only change I made was a set of hogue grips because of my big hands. I used a set for a 627 taurus. Thanks again Buds