Victory SW22 Performance Center Initial Problems

Tennisbuff · #1 02-05-2019, 10:15 AM

I picked up a brand new SW22 Victory Performance Center with carbon fiber barrel on Saturday. Out of the box even before the 1st shot the carbon fiber had a 1" crack in it down to the metal barrel. Took it to the range on Sunday and the debut wasn't that great. After around 200+ rounds had multiple FTE, stovepipes and a couple times had to manually pull the casing out of the barrel since the extractor did not engage. The magazine disconnect spring was so weak that you just bump the button while shooting and the magazine falls out. The safety lever would not stay in the fire position. Racking the slide the safety would engage. Needless to say I was very disappointed to have a "Performance Center" gun work so poorly out of the box. All of these issues except the crack in the carbon fiber are widely reported. I would think that the Performance Center guns would meet a higher quality standard. I called S&W on Monday to review and shipped the gun back to them. Had the gun in my possession about 48 hours!! I will say, I do love the trigger, accuracy and balance. I also have a Performance Center M&P 9MM and it's been flawless. Anyone else have these issues with this Victory?

Barrie · #2 02-09-2019, 09:26 PM

TennisBuff Welcome to the Forum. Yes some members have had problems with the extractor not being tweaked just right. Usually a small pair of NeedleNose Pliers deals with this issue. The Cracked Barrel is Not common at all. The Magazine should also Not just be falling out as well. I suspect the Factory will do whats right by you and look after these problems fairly quickly.

Wee Hooker · #3 02-09-2019, 09:53 PM

I feel your pain. Based on the great luck I had with my original (and basic) SW22 Victory, I decided to splurge on the PC version. n it's first range trip the gun basically rattled itself apart. i.e The rail loosened, the barrel set screw loosened and the takedown screw loosened. There were FTF as the upper became loosened on the frame and the barrel to the receiver. It all happened within 150 rounds or so. There were no cracks or serious failures though. I took it home and tightened everything down (with lock tite where needed) and it has been fine since. FWIW, the two other PC Victories we sold from our shop in the same time frame had similar issues. Not sure if we got a bad batch or a new assembly gunsmith at SW or....

If I were to do it again, I'd just build one from the basic target model using Volquartsen and TK parts.

Tennisbuff · #4 02-11-2019, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrie

TennisBuff Welcome to the Forum. Yes some members have had problems with the extractor not being tweaked just right. Usually a small pair of NeedleNose Pliers deals with this issue. The Cracked Barrel is Not common at all. The Magazine should also Not just be falling out as well. I suspect the Factory will do whats right by you and look after these problems fairly quickly.

Thanks for your response. With the exception of the cracked barrel, the issues I experience is what I read (after the fact) on line. If it was just the extractor issue I might have tweaked the extractor but my thought was this is a brand new gun and that I need to leave it up to S&W to make it right so I didn't touch anything. My hope I there is a quick turn around to fix these issues and the problems are resolved.

Tennisbuff · #5 02-11-2019, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wee Hooker

I feel your pain. Based on the great luck I had with my origonal (and basic) SW22 Victory, I decided to spkurge ont eh PC version. n it's first range trip the gun basicly rattled itself apart. i.e The rail loosened, the barrel set scrw loosened and the takedown screw loosened. There were FTF as the upper became loosened on the frame and the barrel to the reciever. It all happened within 150 rounds or so. There were no cracks or serieous failures though. I took it home and tightened everything down (with locktight where needed) and it hasbeen fine since. FWIW, the two other PC Victories we sold from our shop in the same time frame had similar issues. Not sure if we got a bad batch or a new assembly gunsmith at SW or....

If I were to do it again, I'd just build one from the basic target model using Volquartsen and TK parts.

Thanks for our response. I had originally thought about getting the basic SW22 and build up one myself, but I thought why go through all the trouble when the PC gun had all of this already done. Hind sight at the moment I should have gone that route, but I had faith in S&W getting it right. My M&P 9MM PC gun performs flawlessly. Right now I'm going to have faith that S&W will fix these things this go around.

Barrie · #6 02-11-2019, 06:52 PM

I suspect you will be a Happy Camper when you get it back. I am surprised No-body noticed the cracked Barrel tho. That should never have left the factory in my view. Thats just laziness on some staffers part in Not inspecting it correctly while it was in front of him or her.

Amp · #7 02-11-2019, 07:39 PM

I bought the fluted barrel version and started competition shoot the same week. Love the thing. Cant use a Red Dot sight with this club so I use the Hi Vis sight that came on it. It does like to be cleaned every couple hundred rounds. and I may try grease instead of oil. But that's it. Mine is good.

Barrie · #8 02-11-2019, 09:56 PM

Its nice to hear some customers are getting good quallity work out of the factory. I really do a closeup on any new gun I purchase because usually when you leave the store with it, its Yours and any problems with it. To me its a Pain in the ___ dealing with most companies up here in Canada

Tennisbuff · #9 02-13-2019, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrie

I suspect you will be a Happy Camper when you get it back. I am surprised No-body noticed the cracked Barrel tho. That should never have left the factory in my view. Thats just laziness on some staffers part in Not inspecting it correctly while it was in front of him or her.

Thanks for the response. I am putting my trust in S&W to make this right and come back running flawlessly. I DO expect issues once in a while with .22's. I'd take 98% functionality due to the nature of the beast. While my S&W 9MM Performance runs 100% perfectly all the time, I don't expect the same out of a .22.

Sevens · #10 02-13-2019, 02:19 PM

Maybe it is a sign of the times that S&W ships SO MANY poorly made handguns but it's a travesty of justice that they use the Performance Center name and logo.

Maybe I should post in the "S&W Wishlist" forum and say that my wish is to own S&W and bankroll a comprehensive recall for every "performance center" junker and grind that classic PC emblem off the imposters.

Disgusted. It hurts to see fellow gun folks get duped.

Barrie · #11 02-14-2019, 01:18 AM

This model has the capability of being a really nice target pistol built into it only if they take their time and make sure they pass all function tests perfectly before they leave to be packed and or shipped. WE hear so many Good responses on it here and then some bad ones. Smith should be looking at tighter testing procedures.

chief38 · #12 02-14-2019, 03:53 AM

I posted a thread a few weeks ago about one of my friends who just bought a Victory ( you can do a search of you are interested). While he did not have all the bad luck you are having, his pistol had a ridiculously lousy, gritty and stiff trigger pull. I have since suggested he send it back to them for repair and I think he is now making arrangements to do so.

While it may be just coincidence, I can not believe how many PC guns I read about here with serious problems! It seems the more they touch the guns the worse they get. I sincerely hope S&W gets their act together fast as they can only live on their former reputation just so long! This is just one reason the newest Smith I own was built in 1994.