S&W MODEL 647 VARMINTER Thomas C. Tabor
THE VERMIN DEADLY
The S&W Model 647 Varminter comes equipped with a red dot/green dot optical sight, iron sights and a bipod.
The legs of the bipod can be easily folded rearward (as shown here), or by reversing the mounting, they can be folded forward.
The testing and review of the S&W Varminter began on the open plains of Wyoming shooting prairie dogs.
walk on a path less traveled and the com- pany’s new Model 647 Varminter perfectly fits that objective. This is a unique and im- pressive stainless six-round double action revolver, which comes all-inclusive with a 12-inch barrel for long-range performance, a red dot/green dot optical sight for ac- curate shot placement, a bipod to steady those long shots and many other favorable shooting attributes. My first exposure to the S&W Varminter came a short time back when I was invited to a Wyoming prairie dog shoot. Like far too many hunting trips, it is too short to suit me and before I knew what was happening I was on a plane heading homeward. Even though we were able to rid the ranch of a vast number of nuisance prairie dogs during our stay, I wanted to expose the Varminter to a bit more shooting. So upon arriving home, I made arrangement to have a Model 647 Varminter shipped to me for a different type of powder burning activity. A few weeks later I began my second tier of test- ing, this time on my private rifle range. Without a doubt, when it comes to
S
rimfire handgun cartridges, the 22 LR rules supreme. For some unknown reason to me, while rifles chambered in 17 HMR have soared in popularity over the last decade, when it comes to handguns the 17 HMR has lagged pitifully behind the 22. The S&W Varminter is the exception
mith and Wesson has been known to occasionally take a
Adding the extended eye relief Weaver pistol scope made longer shots a bit easier.
and is currently offered chambered only for 17 HMR. Even though the red dot/green
dot optical sight that Smith & Wesson includes in the Varminter package is a great benefit to many shooting situations, a decision was made by our sponsors of the Wyoming shoot to swap it out for a Weaver 1.5-4x20mm handgun scope. Un- doubtedly, the logic behind this change in optics was that the magnification of the Weaver, while a bit on the light side, would provide an edge when it came to the longer shots. Overall, the combination worked out great and came with the side benefit of providing me the opportunity to test both the Varminter and the Weaver in one fell swoop. Because of this I decided to use the same setup for the range-testing portion of my review. Switching sights back and forth was extremely easy because Smith & Wesson had the foresight to machine in, as an integral part of the barrel, a Picatinny- style rail. The Japanese-built Weaver came in
glossy blue finish, which I thought pro- vided a nice contrast to the stainless steel finish of the Varminter. It was set at the factory to be parallax-free at 50 yards and had a Dual-X style reticle. The optimum eye relief for this particular scope is 24.13" to 18.58" and it had a field of view 19.4' to 8.9' at 100 yards. Overall, I thought this scope was a perfect match for this handgun, particularly when longer-range shots were
called for. It performed its duties perfectly in every aspect and was optically superior to many other similar style scopes. Never- theless, the red dot/green dot sight also is a great sight, particularly when shooting at closer range, as is the Varminter’s built- in conventional iron sights. Possibly what would make this combination even more versatile would be to equip both optical sights with quick release scope rings, like the QRW mounts made by Leupold & Ste- vens. In this case, the shooter could switch back and forth between all three types of sights without having to make any sighting readjustments. Like all double action revolvers,
when shot as a double action, the trigger pull was quite stout, measuring 11-pounds 5-ounces (five-pull average). But, when shot in a single action style, I found the trigger pull to be smooth and considerably more to my liking. In this case a five-pull aver- age came in at a conservative 3 pounds, 14 ounces. Obviously, this style of handgun really isn’t intended for rapid-fire shooting, and for that reason I believe most shoot- ers would opt to fire it as a single action, particularly when varmint hunting and when precision shot placement is called for. The S&W Model 647 Varminter is
a distinctive appearing handgun, and in my opinion a very attractive one. With a weight of 54 ounces it is moderately heavy, but unlike most rifles chambered in 17 HMR, it had just enough recoil to
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