S & W Mod 22A-1

[Telcotech]

Just picked up this semi-auto this past wkend, mounted a laser-aim red dot , boresighted it, then hit the range for some shootin'. Everything worked great, got er dialed in at 30-35 yrds., and had no problems w/ several dif. brands of .22 ammo, from standard velocity to some CCI Stingers. She's not as accurate as my H.S. 103 tour., but that was expected. I pretty much bought it so I had a semi that would handle all brands, & velocity levels of ammo......not restricted to standard vel. which is the case for the H.S., plus the legendary S&W cust. serv.
My ques.....where is a good source for grips for the 22A besides the $75 target grips that S&W sells? and if anyone has experiance w/ the S&W grips, how did you like them and did you feel they were worth the $$.
Thanks

[UncleFudd]

Just a word of caution, before you spend any more money, shoot your 22A for a while. Get some serious rounds through it first.
Unless you have somehow purchased a one of a kind, you may begin to have problems with serious use.
I sincerely hope yours is the exception, (it would be the first) and that you are able to use it as you intended and for many years to come.
Unfortunately, this has not been the common experience with these models.
This is as I said only a word of caution before you put a lot of money in "personal touches" making it fit your desires for a long term shooter.
Good luck and stay safe.

UF

[jacksonco]

I have a SW22a with a Tasco Pro-Point red dot sight on it. My wife bought it for me and it has been an exceptional pistol for me. I have put about 1000 rounds through it with no problems. I am still on the original buffer. Mine came with extra buffers.

[UncleFudd]

Jeff;
I am very glad to hear that you have a good one as I hate to see good people spend money for quality firearms and then have problems with them.
If you have a good 22A as you say, then cherish it as yours is certainly not the norm. I wish it were different but it is not.
I have also wished the very best for the original poster as well and my word of caution costs nothing and is meant in good faith with no malice of any sort.
It is based upon my professional experiences with this model of pistol by this company in particular.
There are many others who have also had unpleasant experiences as well as those such as yourself that have just the opposite.
However, after renting or attempting to rent these guns as well as selling them through my store, the problems became so great it caused me to remove them from the rental counter and from my retail sales as well.
I simply refuse to sell an inferrior product (knowingly) to my customers.
I did all this at the time with full disclosure to the management people at S&W at the time.
I wanted to be certain they knew they were producing a problem gun and charging a premium for them and what the problems were that I and my customers had experienced.
I only wanted to caution this gentleman before he spends a lot of money on excellent aftermarket products until he is certain that he has a sound platform that will do as he wishes for as long as he likes.
If he is comfortable already, then by all means he should go forth and buy and install all the neat things he would want to do as all of us do at one time or another with every gun we own.
I think it is like owning a Harley we always do things that are unique to us and it is called "personalizing".
Good luck and enjoy your gun(s) every, one.
Stay safe.
UF

[Telcotech]

Thanks Uncle & Jack for the replys and words of wisdom....hopefully I have a keeper in my 22A-1!! So far a total of 375 rnds. thru it without a hick-up....but I think I'm goin' to heed the advise of UncleFudd and get several hundred more rnds thru this pistol before I start praising it. Jack....mine also came w/ 3 extra buffer's and 2- mags.
Uncle....what kind of issues did these .22's have? or are there to many to list? Frame trbls, feeding trbls, mag. issues, slide trbls.....what kind of problems have your cust. and yourself had w/ these gun's?

thanks,

TelcoTech

[Stryker11]

Does anyone know the general sight adjustments when using the 22A at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards?

[22WRF]

I like these grips better than the rubber ones

[PPK 32]

Originally Posted by UncleFudd

Just a word of caution, before you spend any more money, shoot your 22A for a while. Get some serious rounds through it first.
Unless you have somehow purchased a one of a kind, you may begin to have problems with serious use.
I sincerely hope yours is the exception, (it would be the first) and that you are able to use it as you intended and for many years to come.
Unfortunately, this has not been the common experience with these models.
This is as I said only a word of caution before you put a lot of money in "personal touches" making it fit your desires for a long term shooter.
Good luck and stay safe.

UF

+1 Had one and sold it. On a positive note I will admit it fired just about anything. After one trip back to S&W and having the bottom of one mag fall apart, I got rid of mine. Hope you have better luck than I did.

[davem]

i have one and a few years back the frame broke while my son was shooting it. nothing happened just WTF?. sent it back to smith .fixed it all up and couple thousand rounds later NOT a problem. 2 teenage boys can send a lot of 22 ammo down range, considering they shoot in our back yard and at camp.

[Tom Militano]

I had a 22A, couldn't get the sights adjusted enough to get it zeroed. I sent it back to the factory and six weeks later I got it back. All they did was bend the rear sight bridge. They finish was flaking off and it still shot all over the place. I didn't sell it, I gave it away, case and all. It was the biggest piece of junk I've ever owned.

[22WRF]

I guess you either get a good one or a bad one, Mine a early one and a shooter no problems other than it eats up recoil buffers. I guess that's why they give you a couple of extra's in the box.

[UncleFudd]

TELCOTECH;
Sorry for the delay, I have been out of town and no access to a puter for a couple of weeks.
In answer to your question and I think you have some of the answer in the box. Buffers. They eat them and to some it is a sign of weakness. Other items and the most prevalent was of course accuracy with the factory sights. I never got one out of the box that was ready to shoot without adjustment to the sights and it is not easy to adjust these and this of course wakes it even more difficult to get it right.
There were frame issues with cracking but that was not all that common.
I think the real buster was the fact they will not shoot if you do not keep them squeaky clean. I mean in the middle of a competition, I have seen them quit feeding or extracting until they were cleaned and lubed. This is or was very disconcerting and it made many people very uncomfortable. That problem is exacerbated even more now than back then due to the poor quality of so many of the 22 ammo producers. Especially those that come in the 500 round boxes or "value packs". I have at least 5 of those boxes full of ammo that customers have walked in and given to the range as they were so dirty they would not shoot them through their guns. Some of these have only 50 to 100 rounds gone from them.
I suspect if you tried to use this ammo in your gun it would quit in less than 100 rounds.
Anyway, it was enough that I decided not to sell the gun as I did not want to have the bad feelings from customers.
I have tried to maintain a situation over the years with my customers that they are never pressured to buy a gun in order to ask as many questions as they want or need. I want them to always get answers and buy the gun if they so decide any place they can make their best deal. It has worked very well for over 35 years and I am sure I have never lost a dime as a result.
So it is or was easier for me to help them buy the gun from one of the shops in the area if they were bent on having the 22A and then helping them overcome the problems. It made me the good guy in the pecking order.
I have seen some very well set up 22A pistols that are functioning to this day and very well I might add. Those who have one that is working for them are as proud as they can be and rightfully so. But only in my experience as I cannot and do not speak for an entire population of gun owners, it was or seemed to be that the majority of the ones I handled had problems that should not have been present with a firearm made by what had always been a quality manufacturer.
You may very well have an excellent pistol that will give you no problems. I sincerely hope this is the case. But you will be wise and no poorer for having taken the time to put a few hundred rounds through it prior to spending a lot of money for after market devices to "personalize" your pistol.
That was and is my only recommendation.

Enjoy your gun(s) and stay safe.

UF

[like it all]

I have owned a 22A for about 10 yrs. It has had multiple problems , but I must tell you that S&W has what must be the best customer service I have ever seen.
My pistol was purchased when I had a lot of free time and I could practice 1-2 hars every day. In the first 6 months I put 5000 rounds through it, when the frame cracked. Sent it back and 10 days later it returned with a new frame and the old serial #. Continued to use it daily for another 3 months(500 rounds weekly) when the firing pin let go. 10 days later it returns with a new slide holding the new firing pin and a new teflon buffer pad. The pistol devours any kind of long rifle ammo, though not a tack driver is acceptable with certain brands. It hasnt made the trip to S&W for about 7 years now, and seems to be holding up. Its an inexpensive pistol and I take it when I'm doing anything that might damage my markl I or 2245.
I would inquire if the S&W warranty follows with the gun, if so customize away. If not , get a ruger.

[Telcotech]

UncleFudd-
I completely understand, and I myself, if I owned a business such as yours, would run it with the same commitment to my customers as you have. In this gun business, when cust. have many dealers to do business with, one guy p.o'd w/ a purchase....can really effect you.
I too, was away for 10 day's, had a nephew that took the vow's in LasVegas, so it looked like a good time to visit 'sin cty' for the 1st time....all I can say is "what a place"...there's just too much traffic and way too much 'stuff' going on in that town for me....but the wife and I did enjoy the trip and as a bonus, I hooked up w/ a fellow friend/classmate that I haven't seen in 38yrs. That was the highlite of the trip for me.
But anyway, do appreciate your comments, and completely understand.
BTW....toook the 22A-1 out to the range on Sat. and pumped 1200 rnds thru it....I shot the snot out of it, fed it everything in .22 rimfire I had.....not a hick-up. Granted, it not quite as accurate as my H.S. 103 Tour.......but it appears I can feed it any ammo I like and it will fire it....Like i said earlier, I did put a Laser-Aim red dot on top and accuracy is acceptable.....1.5-3" grps at 20- 30yrds..from a pistol rest ..and that was the reason for the purchase...had considered the Sig/ Mosquito....but it was a $100 higher and it just didn't feel/fit as good as the 22A..and I had heard of some issues w/ it also. Plus I was aware of S&W's great cust. serv...
I saw an episode on Shooting Gallery the other day and they had a segment on about making your own grips for a 1911, put on by Midway, didn't look that difficult....ssooo...maybe this winter I may give that a try....will post pics if I get that accomplished.....

telcotech....

[Tom Militano]

Telcotech, I'm glad your satisfied with your 22A-1, but I have to disagree with the great customer service comment about S&W. They had my 22A for six weeks and never repaired or changed anything, just bent the rear sight. Mine wouldn't fire one single magazine of anything I tried to feed it without a failure to fire or failure to extract, plus the sights wouldn't allow you to zero the thing. In my opinion S&W has gone downhill. I own several of their older firearms and they are great, but not the newer stuff.

[Telcotech]

Tom-
Maybe I was mistaken by the comments I've heard at gun shows and also from the gun shop in Iowa Falls, Ia that sold me the 22A-1. That comment being that no current mfg of firearms can touch S&W's cust. service.(That was a selling point) I must have rcv'd a good one (22A-1) and hopefully will not have much trbl. w/ it. But, I've heard good things about Ruger, Colt, also....I own several Ruger's....rifles/pistols but never have any issues w/ them. I've also owned several S&W revolvers over the yrs w/ never an issue. Hoping my luck continues w/ this purchase.....also realizing that in this market you won't get the best quality at a $250 price point.....and I surely don't expect it to have the fit and finish of a mod.41, or Diamondback, or the Hamden H.S.'s...this was bought basically to set alongside my Ruger 10/22 behind the back seat of my p-up.

T-T

[like it all]

My 22a saw decades of use in a few months, it did fail ,but S&W stood behind it and made good. You should get years of use out of it, with reasonable care. Don't forget that this model takes interchangable barrels, which can be ordered from Smith directly. Take down is a breeze with this model, making thorough cleaning a snap.

Have fun

[Joe M]

We have two S&W Mod 22A-1's and have had no problems (as yet) with about 500 rounds through each one. Our serial number's do fall within the recall range, so to be on the safe side I believe I'll send them in.

We do like our pistols. We've not had any issues with them and have found the sights to work well for our plinking needs.

If there is a head space problem with these pistols I'd kind of like to get that taken care of to be on the safe side.

[Waldo Pepper]

Well any time one can buy a 22 pistol for $200 range and shoot 5000 rounds through it, you have got your money's worth for sure. One MkIII Ruger I had was so problematic that I got rid of the gun, worst $250 I ever spent for a gun. That said they build a good gun, but at 10,000 they are about junk if thay last that long. Sure some will last longer depending on how you maintain them, but average is 8 to 10 thousand rounds I would guess. Here again that is a lot of gun for the money. People who think these guns last forever and can shoot 10's of thousands are just wrong, and Ruger & S&W knows that for sure. But in all honesty how many people here buy a cheap 22 pistol and expect to shout 500 to 1000 rounds a week through the gun?

Most people will only shoot their 22 auto pistol 500 to 1,000 rounds a year maybe, then as they either loose intrest in the gun or hobby they put the gun away, trade it off or sell it. I have a 50n year old Ruger that has maybe 1000 to 3000 rounds fired at most, and it hasn't been shot in over 10 years. It is so loose and worn as to be funny, but it shoots.

[Teejay9]

Originally Posted by Waldo Pepper

Well any time one can buy a 22 pistol for $200 range and shoot 5000 rounds through it, you have got your money's worth for sure. One MkIII Ruger I had was so problematic that I got rid of the gun, worst $250 I ever spent for a gun. That said they build a good gun, but at 10,000 they are about junk if thay last that long. Sure some will last longer depending on how you maintain them, but average is 8 to 10 thousand rounds I would guess. Here again that is a lot of gun for the money. People who think these guns last forever and can shoot 10's of thousands are just wrong, and Ruger & S&W knows that for sure. But in all honesty how many people here buy a cheap 22 pistol and expect to shout 500 to 1000 rounds a week through the gun?

Most people will only shoot their 22 auto pistol 500 to 1,000 rounds a year maybe, then as they either loose intrest in the gun or hobby they put the gun away, trade it off or sell it. I have a 50n year old Ruger that has maybe 1000 to 3000 rounds fired at most, and it hasn't been shot in over 10 years. It is so loose and worn as to be funny, but it shoots.

My ol' 53 was getting pretty loose, so I sent it to Ruger. They put in a new bolt and refurbished all the innards safety, sear, disconnect, springs, etc. Cost me a little over $100, but it's like a brand new (I didn't have them re-blue) 1953 Standard. No complaints. Looked at the S&W and said "pass." TJ

[Waldo Pepper]

Originally Posted by Teejay9

My ol' 53 was getting pretty loose, so I sent it to Ruger. They put in a new bolt and refurbished all the innards safety, sear, disconnect, springs, etc. Cost me a little over $100, but it's like a brand new (I didn't have them re-blue) 1953 Standard. No complaints. Looked at the S&W and said "pass." TJ

I called and checked with Ruger about my 59 model and decided to pass, it needed bluing also. Main reason I passed is I actually wanted something else to shoot and thought the grandson would rather have it as is with all the wear and tear from a teenager on the gun.

Since I have a 22/45 with a small fortune invested in the gun that my old Dan Wesson 722 (SS 22LR/WMR) revolver still out shoots I decided on something different. I guess I could also replace the barrel/receiver on the 22/45 but then I would no longer have a Ruger except for the frame. I just bought the S&W because I liked it and wanted a cheap 22 plinker that was reliable and fair on accuracy. I would have rather had a Browning, but the Browning with top rail was $150 more so I passed.

[Teejay9]

I quite understand, Waldo. I just love the look and feel of the original Ruger Standard Auto. It's kind of like an old war bring back. TJ

[Waldo Pepper]

Originally Posted by Teejay9

I quite understand, Waldo. I just love the look and feel of the original Ruger Standard Auto. It's kind of like an old war bring back. TJ

Ain't that the truth. I bought a 4.5" MkII and I love the way it is like the old Standard was before a 14 year old kid started carrying it in the woods in '59, it just feels like the same gun and I shoot it the same way as I did the old one. Never used the sights but a couple of times, almost always was point and shoot. Lot of water moccasin had there heads shot of like that with the old Standard, and the Mk II is the same way. I had a 6" Standard that I just traded off that I could not hit a barn door with from 10 feet, also it was so hard to get apart and back together you had to have a hammer and punch, plus a rubber mallet. But most of all it just didn't feel right to me, after 50 years of the 4.5" Standard the 6" just felt strange and was probably why I could not hit anything with the gun.

[Teejay9]

I love the feel of that 4 3/4. So well balanced. I bought a 6" in the '80s, but didn't like it as much. Went back and got a Standard MKII 4 3/4. I DO like the feel of my MIII Bull barreled Target, though. TJ

[Waldo Pepper]

Originally Posted by Teejay9

I love the feel of that 4 3/4. So well balanced. I bought a 6" in the '80s, but didn't like it as much. Went back and got a Standard MKII 4 3/4. I DO like the feel of my MIII Bull barreled Target, though. TJ

Ain't we a pair, have two alike.

I also have a 22/45 5.5" Davidsons Limited Edition with Fluted Bull Barrel that I also like to shoot and have spent some bucks on with a replacing all springs with Wolff Springs, Volquartsen Extractor and complete Volquartsen trigger job (1.5lb & no creep) plus I had the bolt jeweled. It has the Hi Viz front and adjustable white V rear sight, but I have a Millet SP1 mounted.