GUN TESTS GRADE: A (OUR PICK)

$286

The barrel is fixed. We liked the takedown; twist a lever and pull the slide back and up. The S&W is finished in a nice, dark anodizing on aluminum slide, and the frame is black polymer. The safety is ambidextrous. The slide lock is left hand only. The M&P22 features an adjustable rear sight. The pistol features a light rail that allows mounting modern lights and lasers. The rear sight was rated the top sight of the test by all raters, with one comparing the sights to the legendary Bo-Mar brand in efficiency. The sight appears more robust than the plastic Glock sights. The front post is a good design for accuracy. The slide is reasonably easy to rack, and the grip was rated the best of the test. While the shooter might feel a slim-line 9mm recoil more with such a thin grip, the size was deemed nearly ideal for most hands. A sore spot was the trigger action. The trigger breaks at 7.6 pounds, heaviest of the test. Despite this, we were able to do good work on targets. During the combat-style phase, we included firing at pine cones, dirt clumps on the berm, and other small targets. The pistol proved fast handling and came on target quickly. The safety is positive in operation, and the trigger, while heavy, is smooth and breaks clean. The pistol was controllable and accurate and produced good, tight groups on paper and wasn’t difficult to use on small targets at known and unknown distances. A counterpoint to the performance of both the Glock and the Ruger rimfire handguns came when the final of the initial 700 cartridges were fired. There were no gun-related malfunctions. The pistol never failed to chamber, fire, or eject. There was a single failure to fire. The cartridge had a good indent on the case rim. We wrote this off to the vagaries of rimfire production. The CCI subsonic cracked off when we re-chambered it, ensuring the firing pin hit a different area of the cartridge-case rim. Firing off the benchrest for accuracy, we learned the S&W M&P22 could produce good accuracy. With five-shot groups of 2.0 to 3.3 inches, the pistol is accurate enough for training and informal target practice. A 22 understudy doesn’t need to be much more accurate than its centerfire counterpart, but both the Glock 44 and the S&W 22 are more accurate than their closest 9mm counterparts.

Action Type	Blowback, single action
Overall Length	6.7 in.
Height	4.8 in.
Max Width	1.2 in.
Weight Unloaded	15.3 oz.
Weight Loaded	17.1 oz.
Slide Material	Aluminum
Slide Retraction Effort	9.5 lbs.
Receiver Material	Polymer
Front Strap Height	2.3 in.
Back Strap Height	3.25 in.
Barrel	3.6 in.
Grip Thickness Max	0.9 in.
Grip Circumference	5.15 in.
Magazines	(2) 10 round
Rear Sight	Adj. windage and elevation, white dot insert
Front Sight	Post with white dot
Sight Radius	5.4 in.
Trigger Pull Weight	7.6 lbs.
Trigger Span	2.55 in.
Trigger Travel/Reset Travel	0.24 in., 0.5 in.
Safety	Manual Safety/Trigger Lever/Magazine Safety
Warranty	Lifetime
Made In	USA
Telephone	(800) 331-0852
Website	Smith-Wesson.com

Our Team Said: The pistol is more compact than the Glock and enough larger than the Ruger to improve accuracy. We like the safety system. The sights are excellent. No gun-related malfunctions. Buy this one.