I picked up a new-to-me 22a-1 with a 5.5 in barrel today. I was curious if there were any owners past or present who had any major nags or praises, tips or recommendations on these pistols. Anything I can do to prevent headaches or any upgrades that are a must have? It is new to me but it has been fired plenty. Test fire date is 4/3/06 and it has definitely had plenty of rounds through it but doesn't look anywhere near worn out yet. Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.

Congratulations on your purchase. The 22A-1 is perhaps one of the best but underrated .22 pistols. My 22a-1 has proven to be an accurate and reliable gun and is one of my most enjoyable .22 firearms. The only thing that you will need to watch out for is the recoil buffer (small plastic piece clipped on the rear of recoil spring rod). After many rounds it will become worn and deformed from the battering it takes. S&W will send you a few if you ask politely.

Very nice plinkers fun to shoot , to my knowledge the only upgrade are the wooden grips or you can order different length barrels from Smith & Wesson , check out You Tube lots of good info there on this pistol

I have a relatively new Talo edition 22A-1 and like it a lot. I belong to a local indoor range that is home to several smallbore bullseye leagues and some of their better pistol shooters shot groups rivaling their match guns with my lowly 22A.



My sole gripe is with the magazines. The round tab that you hold down to add rounds to the magazine is painful to use. Get yourself one of these: ADCO Super Thumb Mag Loader Single Stack 22 Rimfire Target Pistols - it's the best $4.09 you can spend on that gun!

Some people feel the grips are too large but I have medium-sized hands and don't mind them.

Ed

I came up with a homemade mag loader aid for my 22A. Seems to work fine and much easier on the fingers.

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I've had over 6 different pistols in my life including Ruger and S& W and my 22A1 has the smoothest trigger yet. It's almost a touch and go. I can unload a mag of ten in a few seconds, but not now with the Ammo shortage(smiling).

That's a beautiful pistol, Ed.


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Thank you. Having owned and shot competitively a High Standard Supermatic Trophy from back in the early 1970s, I see a lot of design similarities between the two guns. The internal lockwork may differ but the basic design including how the barrel is attached and the rear sight not being mounted on the slide are common to both.

I think they are darned hard to beat for any money and they're American-made to boot.

Ed

I have the 7" barrel target a-1. The front and back sites are all black. I wish I knew where to get some night sites or fluorescent .

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Other sights must be available from S&W as mine has a white dot on the front sight and a vertical white line under the rear sight's notch.

Ed

My stock 22A1 came with a 4 pound 8 ounce trigger pull. This gun is very easy to fully disassemble. I found it was easy to bend the trigger spring back, to reduce pressure, and I also bent the sear leaf spring slightly, to reduce pressure. I polished the sear and hammer engagement faces and coated them lightly with a antiseize grease. My trigger pull is now a smooth 3.0 pounds (measured with a Lyman digital trigger pull gauge), with a crisp break. There is about 1/16 of trigger take-up, and about 1/32 inch of over-travel. I do not like the trigger shape, it is too rounded. That is my next job, to make a flatter trigger, without all the hook, especially at the bottom. I will eliminate the over-travel, when I revise the trigger. Over-travel causes me to slightly pull the muzzle, but without over-travel, the muzzle stays rock still. The take-up doesn't bother me, as I pull the trigger to the sear pick up, and then slowly squeeze the trigger to break.

I have seen a video where the person rounded the sear edge, to reduce the trigger pull. The problem I have with that is the stock sear engagement is very shallow with the hammer. Rounding reduces the engagement friction, as there is less surface area to rub against, and would reduce the trigger pull. The issue by rounding the sear face edge is you risk that the sear may not catch the hammer, and end up with a full auto 22. If the impact of the firing pin into the casing does not cause full auto, then the gun is non-functioning. The other problem is you could end up with a hair trigger pull, just a slight trigger movement and the sear releases.

There are five ways to reduce trigger pull:

1. Polish the sear and hammer engagement faces.

2. Reduce the trigger spring tension.

3. Reduce the sear leaf spring tension.

4. Reduce the hammer spring pressure.

5. Round the edge of the sear face.

Number 4 above, could result in light hits. I have stated the problem with #5.


Bob

My 22A-1 has a trigger stop screw in the face of the trigger that can be adjusted to bear against the back of the trigger area just after the trigger breaks. Perhaps drilling and tapping a hole in yours would be an easier solution to your overtravel condition.

Ed

Thanks for the suggestion. I have drilled and tapped the trigger on my Browning Buckmark (aluminum trigger). Then by turning the set screw, I can easily adjust the over-travel, and then I blue Loctite it, so it stays put. Since my 22A has a plastic trigger, I do not want to go with the set screw through the trigger. It would be easy to add some filler material to either the back of the trigger or adjacent area on the trigger guard. Then file it down until I get the over-travel I want. That is how I did it with My Shield 40, which has worked perfect for the past 1 1/2 years of every day carry.

Bob

Thanks to all who responded, I see that there aren't a lot of upgrades or aftermarket parts available but I'm taking that as a sign that I won't need them. My only gripe so far is the stock rubber grips. They just feel too flimsy and they slide against each other when you have a firm grasp on them.

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