So, last week I was finally able to get my hands on a new Victory with a threaded barrel, and immediately bought it. Today I had my first opportunity to take it to the range and boy was it a disappointment. I'll start with the good news, and that is that Federal champion 36gr bulk ammo stays subsonic out of the 5.5" barrel. I also found that Federal game shock 38gr plated HP, Federal game shock 40gr LRN, and Remington thunderbolt LRN all stayed subsonic. However, Winchester 38gr plated HP 555 bulk went supersonic, as did Blazer 40gr LRN, Federal 40gr LRN automatch, and American Eagle 40gr LRN.
Now on to the bad.
I only ran one mag through the gun unsuppressed, and it ran fine. Suppressed on the other hand, had about a 40% rate of stove pipes, and an erratic ejection pattern. 40%!!!!!!! Thats crazy! Now, this happened with every ammo that I tried with the exception of CCI standard velocity. I ran 50 rounds of standard velocity without a single stove pipe, but still had an erratic ejection pattern. There was no difference between the 2 magazines that had. I'm at a loss. I called S&W and they are going to take the gun and look into it (with a 3-4 week turnaround), however, this only happens when suppressed. Do they have access to suppressers when doing repairs? I was using a Silencerco Sparrow SS if that makes any difference.
Now usually with 22 hosts, they are more reliable when suppressed. Ive run the M&P 22 compact, SR22, P22, PPQ 22lr, multiple 22/45 lites, PPK/S 22lr all suppressed without any issues.
Anyone else experience this? Has anyone else ran the Victory suppressed yet?

My threaded SW22 is still in jail, soon as I get it and can hit the range I'll report what my copy does.

Adding a suppressor changes the whole dynamics of the pistol's operation because you are adding mass to the gun. Some of your better suppressors have a built in spring to help counter act this effect. Sadly, I'm not familiar with the suppressor you used, so I don't know how it's constructed. You may end up having to use two sets of recoil springs in the pistol, one for use with the suppressor and one for use without. I had to do that when I went to sub velocity loads on a Browning Highpower.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

With centerfire moving (unlocking) barrels agreed. With a fixed barrel rimfire the comp spring is not needed.

Give the chamber a good swabbing, you may have some built up carbon. Examined a fired case for dents and scratches. You may have a rough chamber.

I stand, well sit actually, corrected.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

What you say is true with recoil operated centerfires(especially with tilting barrels like your Browning), but generally the addition of a suppressor helps function with a straight blowback. The addition of a booster or LID(linear inertial decoupler)would do nothing on the Victory.

Can't say what the problem might be as it doesn't make any sense, but a couple of questions,.......

Suppressors make the gun run dirty. Doesn't sound like you ran it much before having problems, but did you give it an initial cleaning to get the factory grit/grime/grunge out of it?

Did you retest it without the suppressor to see if it was still 100% after having problems suppressed? I'm just wondering whether you might have some garbage jamming up the extractor or possibly even a damaged extractor and/or ejector and it didn't happen to become a problem until after you attached the suppressor. I really suspect the suppressor isn't the problem.

Try it again unsuppressed in its current state. If it chokes it's a gun problem and unrelated to the can. Then you can clean and lube(and take a good look at the extractor and ejector)and try again with the can. 8 or 10 trouble-free rounds isn't enough to tell you much. Shouldn't be enough to break a new gun either, but it won't break one in either. I'd go through several cycles of strip and clean and shoot no matter how frustrating it is before I'd think about sending it anywhere,.....unless a physical exam shows broken or deformed parts.

Kaveman,

I stripped, cleaned and lubed the gun right out of the box before taking it to the range. I did put 2 mags through the gun unsuppressed and it did run fine. This was I between testing different brands suppressed. So it was malfunctioning, took the can off, ran fine for 2 mags, and put the can back on. Like I said before, I had several failure to eject with EVERY magazine with EVERY different ammo I tried. The only ammo that ran suppressed without any malfunctions was CCI standard velocity. And I ran all 50 rounds of standard velocity consecutively. I wonder if the recoil spring is too weak, and has issues with the breech opening too fast with the increased back pressure d/t the suppressor.
I put about 300 rounds through it yesterday and I know that's not quite broken in, but it should start to show improvement. I get that it may just not like running suppressed, but if that's the case, why would smith put this gun out with a threaded barrel. I've run numerous 22s suppressed and never had issues like this.

Here is what the Remington Thunderbolts did to my SW22 barrel. Maybe they did the same thing to your suppressor.

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Here is what I've been dealing with.

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I got that with every TAC-22 round I fired on a non-suppressed Victory.

Targets guy,
Haha I hate Remington. To be honest I only made it through about 6 rounds of thunderbolt before I switched to another ammo. I can't get thunderbolt to run in anything, even my Henry lever action.

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Sound like you're doing everything possible to figure it out. I can't see the recoil spring being weak and causing this problem, but you just never know. We call them recoil springs, but 99% of their function is feeding and only 1% has anything at all to do with 'recoil'. Bolt mass is the real variable there.

I should admit right up front that I'm not familiar with the Victory, having so far only glanced at one on a gunshow table, but pistols and suppressors I am familiar with. I've got a couple dozen suppressed .22's left over from my days as a C3 dealer and have several personal friends who are suppressor manufacturers. I've seen some things that defied logic, but as far as I know the problem you're having is new. I do have an integrally suppressed Hi-Standard Model B that chokes like that, but I never did try it before fitting it with the suppressor and it's a 70yr old pistol. I don't know if it ever did work and haven't played with it enough to figure it out. I figure my problem with that one is the combination of fresh Parkerizing and the 2" barrel inside the integral,.........not at all what you're facing.

Another thought,.......

Seems like I hear more than enough from people having QC problems with their Victories. cjt50 mentioned upthread the possibility of a rough chamber. I can imagine something like that contributing to the problem. The attached suppressor just might be adding enough pressure dwell to the system to cause the brass to stick in the chamber. I know people have tried to slow the opening of blowback pistols buy intentionally roughing up or grooving the chamber walls to allow the brass to form fit so the chamber might be worth looking at. That would be my next move.

Im glad to report that I have fixed the problem. After cleaning and inspecting from my first outing, I messed around with the ejector and seemed to have solved the problem. After some manipulating with a pair of needle nose pliers, its running 100% suppressed. I will say that the ejector seems to be easily bent or manipulated. so much so that over vigorous cleaning with a brush could easily bend it. Anyways, anyone who is having failures to eject, mess with the ejector before sending it back to smith. I put a little over 300 rounds through it today and not a single issue. The other great thing was it also ejecting forward. At an indoor range this meant I didn't have to sweep up a single piece of brass!

Good to know. I don't have a suppressor yet since we only legalized them a few days ago. I bought a victory as soon as they were available here in January. It had to go back for a new extractor after firing one round(the darn thing wasn't fastened in the bolt). I've been shooting it with various ammo and it runs everything IF the barrel screw is tight!! I have learned to check the screw first if I have a malfunction. Another problem my gun had was excess oil in it when it came back from S&W...the bolt looked like it had been dipped in motor oil. I now lube with very light oil such as Remoil. We're all learning the quirks of this new pistol. I just got the carbon fiber barrel from Volquartsen but haven't shot it yet.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I shot the standard barrel last weekend to see if it had an ammo preference. During a very windy day (15-30mph) the groups at 75' were as follows. All groups were one mag (10 rounds).
CCI standard vel. 2"
CCI BLazer 1.5"
Federal Auto Match 3"
CCI MiniMag 2.5
Eley Target 1.75"
American Eagle 1.75"
Norma Tac22 2.5"

The Victory was as accurate shooting clay pieces on the berm (50yds) as my S & W 41 w/Clark barrel (using the FastFire II).
This Saturday I'll try the Volquartsen carbon fiber barrel with the same setup. The VQ barrel will be hosting a Mask suppressor as soon as all the paperwork goes through, and I'll repeat the test.

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The triple smoker

Great ammo report. I got to run one of those on my Volquartsen fluted/ported barrel. i been very pleased with the barrel so far. Wish the stores around here sold more of a variety of 22LR ammo.

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Try to use the same ammo in the same sequence if you can as that will give you a true comparison test for sure.

I don't have that S&W but I have discovered that Federal's .22 LR blue box ammunition routinely fails to fire in my suppressed .22 pistols. I don't have that issue with Remington, CCI, etc.

Last year I met a woman with a SIG Mosquito that would not shoot ANYTHING except CCI Mini-Mags.

I shot my Victory for the first time today. I started with 20 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag Choot EM!, unsurpressed with NO issues.

Put on my Dead Air Mask suppressor and shot:
(1) CCI Mini-Mag Choot EM! - functioned 100%
(2) GEMTECH Subsonic - functioned 100% and quieter than the CCI
(3) Aguila SuperExtra Subsonic - my gun HATED this ammo....jammed empty cases while still feeding a new round....I'll save this ammo for my 10/22 which shoots anything I feed it
(4) Remington Golden Bullet - my gun HATED this ammo, same as the Aguila. I didn't test this without the suppressor but I will next range session.



I had some other brand ammo to test but ran out of time but I've decided to just feed my Victory CCI Mini-Mag Choot EM! and GEMTECH......those rounds were 100% and I had a great time shooting my new gun. I don't have much interest in testing other ammo although I'll try some of my Federal AutoMatch next time. But since I'll be buying more ammo soon, I'll just buy more CCI and GEMTECH and leave all my other 22 ammo for my rifle.

There were no other issues with the gun, I liked the weight and balance, liked the grip, magazines inserted and ejected perfectly, trigger was smooth with a crisp/clean break. I haven't had this much fun shooting a 22 pistol in a long time, just a joy to shoot!!!

I'm thinking of a second one with perhaps a different barrel...."just cause" and to put my Aimpoint H-1 on so that I'll have one with the fiber optics sights and one with the optic. I also have an AAC Element 2 suppressor coming in which could go on the second gun when I'm out with friends/family shooting.

The threaded barrel model 10210 is hard to locate,I'm still looking,How many manufacturers build suppressors for this model? And how are they rated?

Cheapest right now that I've found for the threaded model:
Gunbuyer.com has the threaded model in stock for $356, no cc fee and free shipping.

KYGUNCO is out

Davidsons Gallery of Guns is out

Landbos Armory in stock for $379.95 and shipping less than $10

Buds Gunshop is out (and their threaded models were being sold to qualified professionals only)


There are lots of suppressors for 22LR. I purchased the Dead Air Mask and AAC Element 2. To get some ideas you might look at Capitol Armory (Austin, TX) or Silencerco websites. Also some of the forums have NFA sections that have some good information.

Recent outing on the range at 50' with Volquartsen carbon fiber barrel (6" of actual bore) are as follows with each group a full mag w/FastFire III.
CCI standard vel. 1.25"
CCI BLazer 1.25"
Federal Auto Match 1"
CCI MiniMag 2"
Eley Target 1.25"
American Eagle 1.5"
Norma Tac22 1.125"

So this barrel likes CCI standard velocity and Blazer, and loves the Auto Match (the first gun that has ever liked that stuff). I will do another test once the can arrives. Hopefully that will happen before next winter.

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The triple smoker

SECOND OUTING AT THE 25 Yard Indoor Range: just finished at the range and was able to shoot BOTH of my Victory pistols since my second one came in yesterday

I shot 150 rounds out of each gun with various ammo and only had 1 round that jammed. It was a Golden Bullet and the round was trying to chamber but the bullet part was bent, loose from the case, about to come out of the case. It was the last round in the magazine. I got it out and ran a bore snake through the barrel to make sure nothing was obstructing the barrel and continued on.

I sighted in an Aimpoint H-1 on one gun and the iron sights on the other. I was moving the rear sight the wrong way at first so it took longer than it should have....duh!!! I absolutely cannot see the iron sights and don't want special glasses so may put a red dot on the second gun. But I'm waiting to see how the fiber optic sights work outdoors. I've had cataract surgery and my dominant eye has the long range lens in it. My glasses correct for reading but even though they are progressive I just can't focus on the front sight.....in fact, my days of precision shooting are over because I just can't see very clearly when shooting....so I've lowered my expectations to bigger groups than I'm used to....

Ammo shot for function only, not for accuracy yet. I also didn't test POI using the same ammo suppressed and unsuppressed....I was only shooting 15 yards and really didn't notice anything dramatic.




Shot suppressed and unsuppressed - all of the below ammo functioned 100%, my Victory pistols absolutely ate it up.

Federal AutoMatch 40 gr solid muzzle velocity 1200 fps. I have thousands of rounds of this ammo so I'm glad that my Victory pistols liked it.

Remington 22 Target 40 gr standard velocity solid 1150 fps. I don't have much of this but wanted to try it out and it was just fine.

Wolf Performance Ammo Match Extra 40 gr solid non corrosive (made in Germany, not steel cased). For some reason I really like this ammo. When loading it, it was very "slick" but not gummy.
I only have about 1000 rounds of it so I'll have to see what it goes for now. I'd like to purchase more of this.

CCI Mini-Mag 40 gr copper plated round nose for target/plinking 1235 fps.

Shot suppressed Only

GEMTECH Silencer Subsonic -- both pistols really love this ammo and I just received another 3000 rounds of it. I will mainly use it in my 10/22 rifles but once in awhile if I want my pistols to be REALLY quiet I'll feed them Gemtech.

Shot unsuppressed Only

Remington Golden Bullet 36 gr brass plated hollow point, high velocity 1280 fps - this ammo jammed during my first range session when I shot it suppressed (plus it really didn't go subsonic anyway which is why I tested it unsuppressed this range trip). I only had 1 malfunction all day and that was with this ammo. I described the issue above. I just don't like this ammo, but I have about 1000 rounds of it and I'll shoot it up, probably in my 10/22 rifles. I guess it's not bad ammo, I just like all my other brands better so I won't be buying any more of this.

I really love shooting my Victory pistols, as mentioned before, it's the most fun I've had in a long time with any 22LR pistols. For some reason they just really are a great fit for me and I'm very glad I purchased them. I particularly like the weight, the trigger is great and the grip fits me well and is comfortable. They are the only 22LR pistols I own now, sold all my others. Neither Victory had any issues with the barrel coming loose but then again I only shot 150 each.