22a/22s---accurate in the extreme. Mine will literally shoot circles around all my other .22's(Ruger- Mark II and .22/45, Buckmark(all 4 of them) Kadet conversion, Ceiner conversion and High Standard Sport King.
Warts:
22a- Aliminum version-painted on finish- will eat recoil buffers and slides. Lots and lots of reports on their not holding up to 10's of thousands of rounds. Weak points seem to be; slide, recoil buffer, rear lug of the barrel/ramp assembly.
22s- Stainless steel version- bit stronger, still same loose fit design- eats recoil buffers and slides. Mine has a few thousand rounds and every trip out I have to stone down the sharp burr on the slide that the slide stop raises. No big deal but an annoyance,, a couple of quick swios with a stone and it's gone. The major problem is the plastic buffer. Mine eats one every 200 rounds. So far (knock on wood) I haven't busted off a rear lug. Since I have 2 additional barrels, I swap them out a lot more often than most people would remove the barrel assy. I'm super extra careful to take my time doing it,,,,have a feeling it's just a matter of time though till I bust one. All three barrels needed a lot (1000?) of plated ammo to smooth out the bores. I've noticed this is a trait of all of the recent S&W products I've bought in the last 3 years,,a Model 66, a Model 617, and all three barrels for my 22s.
Gems:
Did I mention accurate??? I shot a real nice sub quarter/half dollar sized 50 shot hole using my Ruger Mark II slabside w/scope at 50 yards. The bulk of the hole was 'bout an inch or so,,maybe less,,maybe more,, I didn't really measure it w/some random flyers. I took the scope off and mounted it on the 7 1/2" barrel of the Smith, sighted it in,,,scared the be-jesus out of a couple of giant horesflies sitting on the backstop,
then dumped 50 rounds through the center of the hole the Ruger made w/out any of them going outside of it.
Interchageable barrels...I have one Bull barrel, open sights, One Target barrel Red Dot, and one Target barrel scoped. Definate cool factor to see them arrayed in the carry case. Definate cool factor to swap them out for different needs. POI doesn't change too much when switching.
Recommendation:
Good second or third .22. My idea of a .22 is a knock about, shoot it a lot, run the heck out of it plinker. The 22a/22s just doesn't seem to be robust enough to fill that bill. It isn't "Bullesye Accurate" enough, nor is it adjustable enough to make a serious target grade pistol. Good all around, bet you can't hit that,,,bet I can sometimes shooter? Oh yeah! You'll win more than a few free beers with one
Just keep something more robust,,like a Ruger, or more refined like a Buckmark or more formal, like a Smith 41 for serious stuff.
FF of 8 out of a possible 10.(fun factor) because of the interchangeable barrels and excelelnt *sticky grip*.
(pardon the spelling errors)
