Purpose of Smith Model 48?

[Char-Gar]

A 22 Mag handgun will give the basic performance of a 22 LR in a rifle. Maybe that is useful to you and maybe not.

[square butte]

I like the Federal .22 mag - 50 gr game points

[Three44s]

A 22 Mag handgun will give the basic performance of a 22 LR in a rifle. Maybe that is useful to you and maybe not.

A six in. or longer tube in a revolver kills somewhat better in the 22 Mag than a traditional HP in High Vel 22 or in a rifle.

Not by leaps and bounds but enough that the field results are visceral. It comes back to better bullet construction in the magnum cartridge.

The biggest draw back I find with the rimfire magnum is that each gun with respect to accuracy, be it long or short barreled tends to not favor the same ammo. If you have more than one 22 Mag you find that one likes this and the next likes that. Both of my Smiths like the Winchester 40 HP and so does my Marlin SSV rifle. I am lucky there because I like that slug on delivery.

I have tried the super high velocity light weight hp loads and they certainly kill small varmints with big cavitation but the accuracy results are not up to par. In a rifle I could not justify shots on ground squirrels past 65 yds while standard loads like the Winchester 40 gr hp constantly hammers diggers to a 100 and more.

My six in. Model 48 Smith I have no trouble with diggers at past 60 yds. ....... that is before my eye balls fell off a cliff.

My mod 48 six incher is super mint so drilling and tapping is out of the question. My 8 3/8” mod 48 .... not so minty. Maybe I should talk to a gunsmith on that one?

In Contender I have a 22 Mag 10” and that one wears a scope. But since I found a MGM K Hornet ..... it steals the show lately.

Three44s

[Drm50]

I have a few dozen S&W revolvers from 22lr to 45colt and just about everything in between. The
48 is the most accurate 22mg I have shot. I have owned several of them as well as Ruger & Colt
SAs with extra cylinders. I don't keep them as I have no real use for 22 mg. in a handgun or rifle.
For a guy who needs a little more than a 22lr for some purpose and doesn't load or have other
CF guns that will fill the need a 22mg will do it. A S&W 48 is never going to be worth any less and
the price on older S&Ws just keep going up. You can't loose if you buy right , if you don't like it
you can at least break even.