Persephone ..... Daughter of Zeus !
I have a same era 17, a new 617. Each purchased for either range fun then and now..... and or squirrels when I was stationed in Michigan .
Also have three of the super light and accurate 317’s that are in my small personal survival kits that are either in my go bag, the kit on my boat and ATV. Those are very very good “kit tools” to produce pot meat in a pinch.
Stay Safe.... Merry Christmas !!!
I started researching the Model 17 series. Man, what a lot of variations built on that platform, some of which must be pretty rare. And I paid less for my "old timer" than the MSRP for the current S&W "classic series".
I also studied the collecting of the S&W Model 36. While I knew the 2" snubbie with round butt is the most common, there were models with barrel lengths to 5", square butts, odd calibers and finishes, etc. Most sought after by rabid collectors.
I also took my snubbie Python to the range for a feeding of 125gr practice ammo. While it's still a massive and heavy revolver, the lack of 4" of heavy barrel puts all that weight much closer to the hand. The resulting recoil and muzzle rise was similar to my "airweight" S&W .22WMR snubbie, meaning nearly nothing at all.
There's a lot to be said about full-house loads in a super-light revolver, but it's mostly swear words when it comes time to shoot it. If you can lug that weight around all day, a heavy snubbie pays off in comfortable shooting, rather than flinching. :)