I inherited a S&W K-22 Masterpiece that did the same thing. A gunsmith looked at it and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Dry fired perfectly every time he said.I had a smith 317 and hated it, would start having a sticky cylinder after 2-3 shot. I’d go with the stainless 63 if it were me, but they are not cheap at all. Otherwise the 3” lcr 22 is nice enough
OPPS! You don't dryfire any rimfire with a fixed firing pin on the trigger.
Looked at it myself finding dimples from the dryfiring on the cylinder that created a space and some that had probably been there previously that set back the cartridge to the point it created binding as the cylinder was rotated.
Took a small manual deburring tool to clean them up and it shoots just fine now with no binding.