I had to do it

Tyrod

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I just won an auction for an M&P 22. I know, I know strictly speaking this ain't a S&W manufactured gun, BUT, I already have a Colt 1911 22LR Rail Gun made by Walther. I liked the quality of it so much that I have no issues buying the M&P 22.

I host a Range Day periodicly for young adults. I needed another 22 pistol or revolver to keep up with the growing list of folks joining in.

I have a 317 Kit Gun that'll hit a pimple on a gnat's *** at 15 yards, but the kiddies don't like revolvers. The candidates I considered were the Beretta Neos and S&W 22A in the $250 range and the Sig Mosquito & Walther P22 in the $350 range. Turns out I didn't even know the M&P22 would fit in this price range until I had rejected all the other candidates for reasons I will list.

Beretta Neos: Non threaded barrel, too space gun looking, and I don't really shoot the highly raked grip angle guns very well. Hence, the Ruger MK?? was not on the list. In fact I just sold my Mark II just a couple of months ago. The Neos only has a 10 round magazine. One big plus for the Neos is that Beretta sells a carbine conversion kit for it. The downside of that is the carbine kit costs more than the street price of the Neos itself.

S&W 22A: Non threaded barrel, just plain ugly. Plus, I don't care for the recoil spring buffers that have to be replaced periodicly. I know S&W will send me more and a couple extra come with the gun, but what happens 25 years down the road. I'm ambivalent about the top rail on the 22A as well as the one on the Neos. Only 10 Round magazines.

Walther P22 & Sig Mosquito: Folks on youtube either love 'em or hate 'em. This may have something to do with when the gun was bought. It would seem the earlier produced guns had problems. Either way, I was leaning towards the P22 because it takes the same threaded barrel adaptor as the Colt Rail Gun. Both seem to have crude sights with limited adjustability. And again both only have 10 round magazines. The SIG Mosquito has a version that has a threaded barrel, but it's a metric external thread that needs yet another adaptor for a standard 1/2x28 can.

S&W M&P 22: The thing that put this one over the top was the price. I knew the gun existed, but I figured with that M&P moniker it would be too expensive for my taste. Turns out I was very wrong. The other thing I liked very much was the 12 round magazine. Although only one is furnished with the gun and they seem to be in short supply, I did find some that were kinda pricey and I got 3 more. I may now have to buy a centerfire version to match the 22. I really do like rimfire versions of centerfire guns for cheap practice. I'm also very happy that the barrel is threaded for the same adaptor as my Colt. Lifetime Service policy as opposed to the others, except the 22A, only having a 1 to 3 year warranty.

22gunpic.jpg


The girls like the Beretta with the laser. The poor ole 622 is the last one chosen. I rekon I'll have to Ceracoat it with a snappy digital camo scheme.
 
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What!? The 622 is the best of the bunch! :D But in all seriousness that is a nice collection of 22's and the M&P22 will make a find addition. Plus kudos to you for getting more people into shooting. Something we all should all be doing.
 
I should have added that the 317 is my favorite. It is certainly the most accurate. But, then I realized that all of them are favorites or I wouldn't have bought & kept 'em. I just end up shooting the 317 the most. Of course, it has a Wilson Spring kit in it with a 9lb DA pull and a sweet sweet 3lb SA pull.
 
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