As the title says, I just bought a new New M&P 22 Compact. It might be a stretch to say I NEEDED it, but I had my reasons.

I already have three .22LR handguns. A Ruger Mark IV for target practice, a S&W Model 17 for serious target practice, and a Walther P22 for plinking and fun.

I had to do a real lot of work on the P22 before it would shoot reliably, but once I got it running, I realized it's a lot of fun to shoot. It's good that it's a lot of fun, but since it has a zinc slide, shooting it so much is sure to end up with a cracked slide the P22 is so infamous for.

It appears to me that S&W took the Umarex design and turned it into what the P22 should have been.

Reading this forum, I came across the words "reliable", "plinker", and "fun" more times than I could count. I also saw the reference to 13,500 rounds through one.

If I want 1 1/2 inch groups, I pull out the Model 17. But I'm looking forward to the M&P22 to give me many years of plinking fun. Not to mention trying to slip a almost 12" long revolver in my pocket. It also cost a lot more than the M&P 22.

I'm looking forward to shooting the little M&P.

I just went over 500 rounds in mine and everyone has been a blast.



just be careful if you use Thunderbolts; they leave a lot of lead in the bore.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I'm glad to see it wasn't just me. I fired a bunch of Thunderbolts in mine and the barrel was so caked with lead you could barely make out the rifling. Only Mini-Mags or Golden Bullets from now on. I did lap the bore on mine with JB Compound which helped a little, but I noticed the bore still has slight tooling chatter marks which I think exacerbates the problem.

I have a brick of Thunderbolts that I can't get rid of. I've even tried to give them away.

I have cycled more tha 2000 rounds through ny 22 compact at the target range, plinking on a friend’s farm, and while hiking in placesmI could shoot it without getting hassled. I have never had any kind of failure with it. I have fed it since day one with a diet of ONLY CCI ammo: mini mag RN and HP and Velocitor. It is a good gun so I only shoot good ammo in it.

I have a theory about the Thunderbolt and semi-auto pistols. They leave the same residue in my SW22 Victory as well but they do not leave deposits like that in my revolvers.

My theory is I shoot the auto's faster than the revolvers and the barrels heat up more and that causes the residue.

I have half a brick of Thunderbolts left and what I do on a range outing is shoot no more than ten thunderbolts out of every 50 rounds. That really cuts back on the lead build up. I should be out of them sometime in 2018.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Are these NEW thunderbolts? I have shot them over the last 20 years with little leading out of 22 rifles. I would shoot 200-300 at a time.

My experience is a few years old. I never had issues with them.

I used to shoot them all the time back around 20+ years ago, and aside from being dirty I had few problems with them. But then I bought two bricks of Thunderbolts during the recent .22 ammo famine when I couldn't find anything else. I had a hell of a time getting through them, as they caused jams and leading galore. Several cartridges even had badly deformed bullets that appeared to have gotten mangled during the seating/crimping process. I won't buy any more of that stuff if I can help it. Of all my pistols though the M&P 22c leaded the worst. It's not as bad with good ammo like Mini-Mags, but with the Thunderbolts I was getting even more lead in my barrel than what Targets Guy pulled out of his in that pic above.

Same experience I had and also why I was so surprised the issue arose with the barrel leading.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Just ordered the same pistol, really looking forward to getting my hands on it!

Thunderbolts caked up my 22C barrel as well. I called SW to see what the deal was, and the first thing the rep. asked was if I was using Thunderbolts......Got rid of what was left of them. Haven't had issues with any other brand.

I still have half a brick of thunderbolts. I didn't know about the lead in the barrel but they made the rest of the gun at least twice as dirty as any other .22 ammo i have used.

I've had this M&P for nearly 2 years and have encountered two parts failures. First, just short of 10,000 rounds, the firing pin broke. S&W replaced it under warranty. Now, some 3,800 rounds later the slide has cracked/broken all the way from where frame meets slide on left side, to where it meets the frame on the right side. Crack/break was about 1 inch from end of slide/barrel.

I had a .22 compact barrel lead up with Browning BPR

I sold my Beretta 87 and regret it, but wasn't willing to spend the $ to get a new one again. Did some research (watched about a dozen you tube reviews) and decided SW MP 22 Compact was the way to go, then a quick google turned up a $250 deal at Palmetto State Armory, and 10 minutes later ordered it - last Thursday. It should be in this week - really excited about getting this and getting to the range with it once all my NY State paperwork is done!

My FIL lives in NY, and was interested in grabbing one in the PSA sale after shooting mine, but ran afoul of the SAFE Act's prohibition on threaded barrels.