Once upon a time before 1976, an old Bulleseye and I were testing some 22 LR bullseye guns. He had a Ransom rest, and we tested a few S&W Mod 41's and a few High Standard semiautomatics, many reworked by Clark Custom Guns, that belonged to other club members.

They all shot great, but the gun that suprised us the most was a S&W K 22 with a 6" barrel.

At 50 yards it never shot a group bigger than a quarter.

It was Most impressive.

They are impressive and most shoot really well. The one you tested shot extremely well and it would be a joy to shoot. My K22 is accurate but I don't think it would match that one. Now my 17-4 with 8 3/8 barrel might be close because it thinks it's a rifle and is the most accurate of my S&W 22 caliber revolvers.

The K-22's are wonderful guns. I can't shoot a lick anymore, but this oldtimer still makes me look halfway decent...

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I lately shelved my model 41 and am using a K-22 in a bullseye league. For some reason I find it easier to shoot a good score (at least in slow and timed fire) with the k-22. my slows are in the low to mid 90's as are my timed strings. my rapids are hovering in the high 80's.
It seems the k-22 is a bit more forgiving of slight misalignment of sights and I actually think the tirgger is better than my 41.

I'm no bullseye shooter. However, I've "competed" against my wife -- who is one helluva shot -- my 617 4" against her Model 41 7" -- and I've held my own at distances out to 25 yards. The K-22 in all of its iterations is one incredibly accurate handgun.

That was a great shooting gun! I have never had a Ransom rest to toy around with, but over the years I have wished I did, many times. As others have said, that gun is probably twice as good as most I have owned. Most of my K22s were good for 1.25" or 1.5" at 25-yards and once in a while a little better. The best one I've ever had is a 4-screw model that will consistently do better than that (right around 1"). I still have it and it would be my first choice of any .22 handgun if I have to try to hit something on demand.

I'm still bummed that mine had to go for more important things at the time. I will get another "one liner" again.

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Go big or stay home

same for me also. i take my k-22 to the range and the younger set kinda wonders about the olde fart. that's ok. the k-22 makes me look really good. some of these guys would do as well with a handful of rocks as their new auto pistol.

Funny how us old farts migrate to 22LR revolvers in our later years. I shoot a few of my defensive weapons at the range every trip but I always end you shooting a 22LR S&W revolver for a longer time then with the rest with either a k22, Model 17, Model 617, or a Model 41.

not sure I qualify as an old fart, but find my self shooting revolvers a lot more, the occasional 1911 and only modern autos for those events that require it.

another thing i notice about some of us old farts is our choices for defensive firearms gets really low tech. i am talking j-frames and pump shotguns. people seem to like autos and carbines these days but my j-frame is always with me (unlike many people and their full size auto) and my 590 is always in my truck. the 590 is not very space age but very easy to hit with while under stress. mind you i would not want my 590 stolen but that event would sting a lot less than losing a $1400 ar.

Only my Ruger MK-II Competiton Target with a scope shoots nickle size groups at 50 yards with good ammo.

But like many of you I prefer my K22 or my 17-3 to my more accurate Ruger.

If I could have only 1 22 handgun, (which I hope never happens), It would be my 17-3. It is just a sweet gun. If there was every a near perfect 22 handgun it is the K frame 22.
What would make it absolutely perfect is if they made them in 5" barrels!

John

An interesting test would be shooting a half dozen prewar and a few early postwar and then later, maybe even the evil "model number guns". I have no idea if the old fashioned craftsmanship would compare favorably with more modern methods.

I've never owned a machine rest, with Ransom the best known but several other makes should perform similarly. Might be a fun project.

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Dick Burg

last nights bullseye league score 277/300 with the k-22. The model 41 is collecting dust!

Before my vision started to go (15 years ago), my uncorrected was 20/10. At that time, I was shooting 200 to 400 rounds of 22 and 38 3 days a week. I found I could get a lot of bullets into a little red circle at 25 yds with any decent wheelgun (including a beat-up Ruger that looked like a refugee from a toy sixgun rig for a small boy, but somehow shot like a champ). The only gun I ever noticed to shoot remarkably better than the others was a Smith 22 Perfect (T Frame) single shot made in 1917, a really ugly looking gun that could reliably hit a dime at 50 yards. It had an insanely tiny open iron sight.

Since my eyesight seems to no longer be getting worse, I thought I'd start shooting again, so I bought this (1947):

http://www.imbe.net/~phil/revolvers/k22_right-side.jpg

I think the K-22 is a really pretty looking good shooting gun... But maybe not as pretty as this?:

http://www.imbe.net/~phil/revolvers/...right-side.jpg

Old Fart, now just wait a minute. In my younger years when I had time to hunt squirrels with a .22, my M17 was always with me. It shot as good in the woods as it did at the range and if I would do my part a bushy tail had to be on a dead run to get away. I don't get to hunt so much anymore but the M17 will still do it's part in any game.

I have made a number of called head shots at 50+ paces with the 17. It is hard to beat. Also have a M18 and M48. They are just as accurate.
Here is a pic of my M18. I'll post the other when I get back home.

I certainly qualify as an "Old Fart", not much of a shot, but have fun trying. Every range session starts with the K22 to get the confidence up, and after other .38 / .357 revolvers have had their target time I return to the K22 to close out the day on a high note.

I'm still looking for a second sweet .22; either an 18 or 617. A local store has two Model 63s that are tempting. Anybody care to comment on how the kit guns compare to the 17 & 18s for range shooting enjoyment?

Hmmm, I wonder why my 17-4, K22 CM (4"), and 63 are the guns that usually wind up going to the range with me. I don't think of myself of being in that "Old Fart" age range, (even though my son has addressed mail to me that way), I'm only 70.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I have shot way more .22s from K22s and Model 17s than I have from CM .22s and Model 18s, but I can volunteer this: If I wanted to hit a small target at any distance with a .22 revolver, I would consider the K22s to have a 2:1 or maybe even a 3:1 advantage over a Kit Gun (in terms of the size of the target).

At 15-yards, I might expect to hit a quarter with a K22 if there is plenty of time. No way I would expect to do that with my Kit Guns, though I might get lucky once in a while.

If you want a hiking-trail gun, maybe then buy the Kit Gun, but if you would just like to have another nice shooting S&W .22 to go with with the K22 you already have, might as well go looking for a nice CM .22 or Model 18.

having owned or fired several j frame and k frame 22's I can say my experience is similar to M29since14- the k frames seem to shoot much better than the j's- which hasn't stopped me from wanting another j frame 22!

I came on to my K22 late in life,the first one I had ever ran across. I get a kick out of sitting on the deck out back and wearing out coke cans sitting at the back of my property line, about 55-65 yards distance. I am amazed that I can do that with my nearly 63 year old eyes with a pistol that was made when I was in the second grade, 1957.

Reb

My 1 liner is one of my most accurate guns, makes me look like I know what I'm doin. Not too fussy abt what it eats either. Larry

I bought a factory new model 63 upon my ETS. I hit the turkey silhouetts with each pull of the trigger. During college I ate rabbits, not Top Ramen like the non hunting students. My 63 must be that 1 in 1,000. It's very accurate. I didn't know about throats, cylinder alingment, etc., as I do now, or I may have passed on the model 63 then.

I have had several model 63's, (5 or 6), and only one was what I would consider accurate. The others would shoot OK but I couldn't hit very well with them.

On the other hand I have had 5 model 17's or K22's. Only one shot OK, the rest shot great.

I had a model 18 that was a great looking gun but it shot terrible. I have had 4 617's, one a 4", and they all shot great. One was a 10 shot IL gun and it shot real well, but not as good as my 4" & 6" 617 no dashes.

My 4" & 6 " 617's I have now I can hit the 22 size swingers with at 40 yards! The guns must have internal lazer guiding because I know I can't shoot that well anymore!

John

I'm afraid my pre-war .22 would skew the average toward the "wretched" side as far as accuracy goes. Have yet to find an ammo it likes. Bore and chambers look good, timing's OK, but it's the least accurate .22 revolver I own, ever since the RG went away...

At 67 I don't yet consider myself an old fart but most days my body
reminds me i'm no longer a young fart. I'm on my third K-22, this one
a pre 17 from around 1953. I plan to keep this one just because. The
first two were passed on to new owners because neither were any more
accurate than other 22s I owned, particularly a bull barrel High Standard. My pre 17 isn't either but it's gonna stay. The 1981 edition
of Gun Digest contains an article by Kenneth L. Walters on 22 target
handgun accuracy. Groups were fired using a Ransom rest " using
nearly 50 handguns and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition ".
A variety of semi automatic handguns were used as well as S&W
revolvers with 4", 6" and 8 3/8" barrels. Very interesting information
and conclusions offered by the author. On result however for us S&W
revolver fans is that the 22 revolvers, accurate as they may be, can
not equal the accuracy of good 22 auto loaders.

There's just something about the older revolvers and this I think is very true when it comes to the K22. These things were made differently from todays modern machinery, made with the touch of true craftsman. I'm 66 but still shoot better with revolvers than semi autos. This K22 was made in 1953 and given to me by a close friend recently. I just love a relaxing afternoon at the range with this revolver.

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Any time I go to the range, I ALWAYS warm up with a 1952 K-22. I find that I shoot more with it than any other Smith I have. It seems to digest anything and everything and still punches holes in the paper. I like it a lot!

Blessings,
Hog

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Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

That may well be the best article ever written in the firearms performance genre. Fortunately for "dreamers", each barrel length showed some variation within each category. So the dream is to find the best shooting individual firearm for it's class.

Both are more accurate than me, but this OF has gotta say he shoots his M41 more accurately than he can shoot his K22.

The M41 trigger is a woonnnderful.

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Professional Trainer

I'll have to look for that article. Sounds interesting.

I think that conclusion is indisputable, but it does not account for the fact that some of us find it possible to shoot our K22s just as well as we shoot a good semi-auto. That is likely an indication that the shooter is just an "average" marksman () but it is usually the case for me. I attribute that to the K22's trigger, which is about as close to "perfection" as anything I know that has to do with firearms. (Fans of the plastic-fantastic will have to forgive my impertinence. )

Like MajorD, I never let my ability to hit with the J-frame keep me from admiring the little gun. It is just about perfect for the woods loafer or river runner. I rarely took a K22 afield unless I planned to do a lot of shooting. The Model 34 always got the honor of "just tagging along."

I have owned several 22 target auto loaders in the past including a S&W 41 with 5 1/2" barrel but the best groups I have ever fired with
any handgun were with one of the High Standards I have owned. A
5 1/2" Supermatic Trophy with the bridge rear sight. I was a lot younger
then which helped i'm sure, but I shot groups of around 1" at 50yds
from sandbag rest. I wanted to squirrel hunt with it but the weight
and bulk with thumb rest grips discouraged that idea. All of the target
weight autos I have owned have been sent on down the road and I
have several lighter ones just for plinking. I have two 2" J frames, a
34-1 and a pre 34 and I also live in Indiana but if i'm out in the woods
with only a hand gun I prefer something with a little more horsepower
like a 9mm, 357 or at least a 4" 38 even here in tame old Indiana.

I use my Model 17-6 a lot in bullseye so I had my gunsmith test a variety of 22 ammo from a Ransom Rest at 50 yards to see what it likes. I use CCI Standard (#0032) in my autos (Marvel Precision) and get accuracy on par with Eley TenX. But you'll see from the photos below that while the Model 17 really likes Eley TenX, it shoots Federal Gold Medal Match (#711B) almost as well. However, since I don't have a lot of the Federal, I keep that for matches and shoot the CCI for practice. My scores with CCI are on par with the Federal; however, I do see more variance in the CCI ammo. Sometimes I'll get a shot that is definitely less powerful than the others and invariably it will be out of group, which is what I think happened in the CCI group shown in the first photo. You'll also notice that except for the Federal groups there is always one slightly out of group, down and to the left at 7:00. I might have one chamber out of synch with the other 5 but frankly not enough to make me go to the trouble of finding which one it is. My scores are in the high 840s, low 850s and steadily going up so until I start shooting like Zins, I'll keep it the way it is. By the way, I shoot double action is sustained fire. I was never able to teach myself how to thumb the hammer in Timed and Rapid.







Keith

I have both a 6" K22 (Model 17-4) & a Colt 6" .22 Diamondback & while I do like the Looks of the Colt when it comes to accuracy the S&W will outshoot the Colt anyday,I also have a S&W 41 of the 3 it's the most accurate.