Any thoughts on the 351PD. I have one coming in the next few days. And have ammo because of a M&P .22 mag purchase.

You will love it. Light, accurate, fun to shoot. I would never sell mine.

Perhaps the SA trigger pull will be ok. I had the 351C and the DAO trigger was terrible. Maybe with enough practice I could have hit something with it, if it was close enough. After one trip to the range it went for something else. You may have a better experience with the 351PD.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

"Perhaps the SA trigger pull will be ok. I had the 351C and the DAO trigger was terrible. Maybe with enough practice I could have hit something with it, if it was close enough."
I have one, and the above statement is correct. DA is HEAVY, required for rimfire rounds !

DA on the 351C pull is heavy and takes some getting used to. After that, it's fun to shoot.

Note that my first one, bought used, had a problem where after a couple of cylinders of ammo were shot through it the shell casings became almost impossible to eject. I tried various brands of ammunition, but it made no difference.

I sent it back to the factory and they replaced it with a new one. THAT one had light primer strikes about 3 out of ten times. I sent it back and they repaired it.

All of which is to say that a hard trigger pull with a particular gun may be the gun, not just the way it's designed.

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I picked up a barely used 351C not long ago and have only been to the range with it once, and loved it. It was very fun to shoot and shot well for me.
I have carried it and it is very, very light. I did purchase some of the Hornady PD ammo for carry purposes.

I had one, and loved it. It had a light-for-rimfire trigger pull, was totally reliable and shot well. Someone offered me way more than I thought it was worth, so I sold it to get money for another project. I wish I had never sold it.

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351PDs are a smidge blasty and certainly loud but almost no recoil. Not a plinked, but more of a serious gun for some limited use cases.

With the prodigious trigger pull, it is hard to make a tack driver. Likewise, the front sight with the huge fiber optic doesn’t help with distance accuracy, but is sure easy to see.

Had one and gave it to a friend. Mine was inherently inaccurate. Performance otherwise was excellent.

He sent it back to S&W and somehow they solved the accuracy problem. I was pissed at myself but moved on. I really like the .22 magnum caliber.

We must have some pretty dainty trigger fingers around here. Do the rimfire J-frames have a heavier trigger pull than the centerfire examples? YES. Does the heavier pull make the gun unshootable in DA? NO.

I enjoyed my Model 351c very much. Super light. Fun to shoot. However, I traded it for something unusual. Nothing wrong with the gun. Just saw a good trade opportunity.

Bought the 351c from a local gun shop. A lot of light strikes at first. Apparently, the previous owner swapped the stock spring for either standard J Frame or lighter. Had to switch it back to a stock 351c spring. No subsequent problems. Here is a threat about the spring swap: Model 351c, Needed Spring Swap Back to Original

I've had my 351c for 10+ years with no issues. Maybe that's because I only run Speer Gold Dots in it, but no sticky ejection or other issues. Very lightweight and very safe to carry - you aren't going to accidentally pull that trigger. The sights are perfect for a short distance gun, and even useful at longer distances. I sometimes have to "walk" the bullets to the target on longer shots - miss by 12", then by 5" then hit the target - but that's what the extra rounds are for, right?

No non specialized gun (Model 52 for example) that is fussy about ammunition has "no issues." Being fussy about ammunition in a commonly produced firearm is in itself an issue.

I tried several different 22WMR brand rounds in my first 351C and cases stuck every time. That included Speer. S&W didn't send it back to me and tell me to pick better ammunition. They sent me a notice that my 351C had an "unrepairable" issue and sent me a brand new replacement. Which had a light firing pin problem which they fixed.

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Can open, worms everywhere.