I bought an early Model 17 with the 6" barrel back in the early '70's and packed it around for a few years, but honestly I thought it was too heavy as a K frame and only being a .22. I traded it off for a Model 34 with the 4" barrel and a J frame and have been happy with that choice ever since. A .22 handgun is not a long range piece and while the 17 was accurate, anything that I could do with a pistol, I could do better with a rifle. The piece went in for Armaloy plating which made it look like a stainless Model 63, but mine was much smoother I thought than those early 63's that I looked at. Depends what you want to do with it, but that M34 has sure worked better for me.

My other auto is a .45

The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory