S&W 22A-1 recent acquisition

[tazman]

I recently picked up a S&W 22A-1 with the longer barrel for practice and target shooting. It is used but looks new.
This picture isn't of my pistol but it looks like this one.
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I have some extra magazines on hand from a previous purchase so It worked out well.
This one is a shooter. I am getting about 2 1/2 inch groups at 10 yards with it using Federal Auto Match. This is as good as I get with any handgun I own unless I use a rest and an optic. I may put an optic on it just to see what it will do since it has a rail built into the top of the pistol.

I haven't tried any match ammo through it yet but I will.

I have run over 400 rounds through it so far with one failure to eject and two failures to fire. Both the failures to fire were from a bad cartridge. These were NOT light hits. Turning the cartridge and hitting it again would not fire it.
Not certain why I had the failure to eject. It stove piped on the way out but the slide had gone back far enough to pick up the next round in the mag. I pulled the empty out and made sure the slide was closed and it fired ok.

This one has a much better trigger than the first one I had. So far I am happy with it.

[ShooterAZ]

I bought a box of the Federal Auto-Match to try in my Marvel 1911 conversion and, had similar problems with it. As you probably know, some 22's are finicky with the ammo they like. Mine shoots best with Eley Match Pistol, but it ain't cheap. My go to for practice in 22 target pistols is good ol' CCI Standard Velocity. It's not match ammo, but it sure works well for me.

[dverna]

I had one but never really liked it so sold it. Mine was not ammunition sensitive and accurate enough for plinking. Never benched it. I had a Ruger and High Standard and preferred them.

[blazing lead]

I had one for a few years before selling it to fund another project. It was a very accurate pistol but the one I had required frequent inspection, maintenance and parts replacement. There is a buffer/recoil spacer (part 33 on schematic) that would wear out after a few thousand rounds. The firing pin springs would break and loose coils leading to the firing pin cracking around 5-7 k rounds.(I was on my 3rd one when I sold it)and the slide insert (39 on schematic ) was made out of plastic and the channel the firing pin rides in got chewed up when the spring / firing pin failed on one occasion. A quick call resulted in getting the replacement parts but I’m not sure if they still have them as this pistol has been out of production for awhile.

[georgerkahn]

I won one of these (with a "free" ticket with dinner price) at a NRA Banquet (I was a "Friend of NRA" worker at time) in 2012 -- a no-dash model, s/n UDA4xxx. To be quite frank, I was ever so excited to have won this -- I'm generally of the "if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" frame of mine -- but, from my first trip to range with it I was not very happy. Something I have yet to "put my hand on" re its feel in my hand while shooting, and reliability was well below that of my S&W model 41. Range buddies agreed, and upon others suggestions bought a (S&W) longer barrel for it. Things improved, but the pistol still was not my first choice to take out -- happy to find someone who wanted it. (As I won it -- any prce would have been a profit ;) ) Since, I learned that Smith & Wesson made quite a few improvements, but general performance issues and poor sales resulted in their discontinuance of this model -- I think in 2015 (?).
Perhaps of great importance is that a safety recall was done on some of these -- you may reference https://www.smith-wesson.com/safety/recalls/model-22a-pistols-safety-recall -- to check if this affects yours.
In any case -- good luck and best wishes! With the "hyphen" in your model number, I'd wager yours is an improved model.
geo

[JeffG]

I have the same 22A, was my first real target 22 pistol. Its been a great shooter. Altamont grips and a Truglo dot.
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[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I had a 22A, and while I really liked it when I owned it, it was finicky with ammo. Federal lightning was my goto plinking ammo for years and years in other guns, but the 22A didn't like it. The only cheap ammo it really liked was CCI blazers and CCI standard vel.
On a whim, I decided it was a real good beginner handgun my daughter, so she got it for Christmas one year, that was a big surprise to her husband. She shot it enough to wear out a ejector or extractor or something, I don't remember?

[Drm50]

I had a 22a when 1st out. I didn't like it at all, nothing about it. I traded it off 1st chance I got. Not near the pistol the 422/622 series is. I got enough 1st rate 22 pistols to shoot. Why waste time with 2nd rate stuff. 22a is just another plastic plinker.

[Texas by God]

I agree on the 422/ 622 series. I had a 6" 422 and loved it. A buddy had a 22A and I couldn't warm to it- neither could he and it went down the road.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[tazman]

As I understand things, the early versions of the 22A had issues in several areas that were corrected in later versions.
The only ones I have experience with are the later versions and I can't fault the ones I have. They work as well as the Ruger Mark II target model I had and are easily as accurate.
Some time back, I ran tests on both the Ruger and the S&W from a rest with an optic on both. The group size was identical. I wish I still had the pictures from that test.

[Drm50]

I'm not into Rugers after original Mk 1 Target. I've had several newer ones on trade and only shot them to make sure they ran. Had 5" bull barrel guns that shot very well. As far as construction the MK-2s seem as well made as originals. The 22a I had was made nowhere as well as the Ruger. The Ruger will be shot by your great grand kids and passed on. Don't believe a S&W 22a is that kind of gun. I'm a S&W nut but not too interested in any of their 22 auto pistols, except m41.

[tazman]

I took the S&W 22a-1 to the range today. I put a cheap red dot sight on it and shot it from a rest at 15 yards. I found it likes Federal Auto-Match, Federal, HV Match, and CCI Standard Velocity. The Federal HV Match and the CCI Standard Velocity shot the best.
I had a little trouble getting the dot centered. I think it might do better for me if I used a scope to get a finer aim but this was good enough to tell that the gun is very accurate.
Here are some pictures showing ten shot groups at 15 yards. The dime is there to give you an idea of the group size.
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[steve urquell]

I took the S&W 22a-1 to the range today. I put a cheap red dot sight on it and shot it from a rest at 15 yards. I found it likes Federal Auto-Match, Federal, HV Match, and CCI Standard Velocity. The Federal HV Match and the CCI Standard Velocity shot the best.
I had a little trouble getting the dot centered. I think it might do better for me if I used a scope to get a finer aim but this was good enough to tell that the gun is very accurate.
Here are some pictures showing ten shot groups at 15 yards. The dime is there to give you an idea of the group size.
257832257833

Shooting pretty good. Hope it gives you many hours of trouble free, fun shooting.

[onelight]

I took the S&W 22a-1 to the range today. I put a cheap red dot sight on it and shot it from a rest at 15 yards. I found it likes Federal Auto-Match, Federal, HV Match, and CCI Standard Velocity. The Federal HV Match and the CCI Standard Velocity shot the best.
I had a little trouble getting the dot centered. I think it might do better for me if I used a scope to get a finer aim but this was good enough to tell that the gun is very accurate.
Here are some pictures showing ten shot groups at 15 yards. The dime is there to give you an idea of the group size.
257832257833
tazman that is a great that little thing shoots.
I find the easy way fo me to get get a group that size is a one shot group with a .32 8-)

[hpdrifter]

I have one and have always wanted to improve the grip. Can't seem to ever figure out how.

It shoots ok enough, but I wouldn't call it a target pistol.

[tazman]

I have one and have always wanted to improve the grip. Can't seem to ever figure out how.

It shoots ok enough, but I wouldn't call it a target pistol.

I understand where you are coming from.
Grips are a very personal thing. If the grips don't work for you, you will never be satisfied with the pistol. I have sold pistols that worked and shot well enough because the grips didn't work for me.
I am happy with how mine works and feels.

[maxfam]

I have recently purchased a few pairs of grips from Altamont. Very high quality.

[tazman]

I have recently purchased a few pairs of grips from Altamont. Very high quality.

I was unaware anyone made grips for this pistol. Thank you for posting.
Those grips look interesting.

[tazman]

I took Both of my S&W 22A-1 pistols to the range today and they continue to perform well.
I did find out that neither likes most of the "target" loads as far as function. I get multiple failures to feed or eject with nearly any of the slower ammunition. Just not enough power there to work the action. Accuracy is great, however.
With any of the high velocity ammo and the CCI standard velocity, both pistols performed flawlessly. Not certain why the CCI works as it is rated at a lower muzzle velocity than some of the ammo that failed, but it does. Even with a dirty pistol.
I also took my S&W 17 and 617 with me as well. They both performed as you would expect and really didn't care what ammunition was used in them. Without spending some time shooting them from a rest, I won't be able to tell what ammo they prefer, particularly since I don't have the means to put an optic on them at this point.

[reddhawkk]

I have both the S&W 22A-1 and a Ruger with 5" bull barrel. I believe both shoot equally as well but I personally do better with the S&W. The Ruger prefers CCI standard velocity and that is all I have shot through the Smith. I know its not a model 41 but I got it for a really good price, didn't expect a whole lot from it, am seriously surprised by it. Its a great little pistol.

[Andyd]

I bought a used S&W 22A around the turn of the millenium when my sons were young teenagers and got more interested in shooting. I have a lot of nice firearms and wanted something inexpensive for the kids to learn on. Over the next seven years, we shot over 110,000 rounds through that gun. We had firing pins break regularly around every 20,000 rounds, the old style sight rib claw broke around 40k and the frame cracked around 60,000 rounds. I changed all springs and the gun continued running on its original magazines. My oldest son has the gun now and has fond memories of his childhood attached to it.

Change the buffer when it starts looking mangled and your gun should last for a long time!

The Nill grips did cost more than the whole gun.

https://i.postimg.cc/4xrBYgnP/SW_22A_l_(1).jpg (https://postimages.org/)