I SHOT A VICTORY .22 LR TODAY

[chief38]

One of my friends who I am teaching to shoot bought a S&W Victory .22 LR today while we were at the Range. I had never shot a Victory so this was my first experience with one.

I thought for the money he paid (around $400) it is a fairly descent .22 for general purpose shooting. The accuracy was descent although I personally was not thrilled about the 3 green dot sights (he likes them). The sights were a bit distracting for me when target shooting (which I do take seriously). The part I did not care for much was the trigger. I understand for the price you are not going to get a M41 trigger, however the take up and creep was a bit much IMHO. Again, I am used to my M41 trigger. That said, he actually likes the trigger but this is his first .22. so he really has no comparison.

All in all I think it is a good plinker for the price. It reminds me of the old Colt .22 semi auto made in the 1990's. It's actually a small step up from the Colt IMO.

I told him if he did not want to spend the money for a M41 he should have gotten a Ruger Mark 4 and dropped in a Volquartsen spring kit for $50 bucks which would have produced a really great trigger, but there were no Mark 4's in stock today and he was impatient - so he got the Victory.

Since I doubt he will ever be a precision target shooter, the Victory should serve him well and it is certainly less finicky (than the M41) about the ammo you feed it. It ate everything we fed it without any hiccups. Well for what it's worth that's my impression with the S&W Victory.

 

[waffles]

Toss a dot on there. I know they're not a beloved pistol, and it's not the most lefty friendly (have to consciously not bump the safety up), but mine has been a rather excellent plinker over the last few years and it was one of the rare guns I've purchased new that I felt was truly worth it.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

One of my friends who I am teaching to shoot bought a S&W Victory .22 LR today while we were at the Range. I had never shot a Victory so this was my first experience with one.

I thought for the money he paid (around $400) it is a fairly descent .22 for general purpose shooting. The accuracy was descent although I personally was not thrilled about the 3 green dot sights (he likes them). The sights were a bit distracting for me when target shooting (which I do take seriously). The part I did not care for much was the trigger. I understand for the price you are not going to get a M41 trigger, however the take up and creep was a bit much IMHO. Again, I am used to my M41 trigger. That said, he actually likes the trigger but this is his first .22. so he really has no comparison.

All in all I think it is a good plinker for the price. It reminds me of the old Colt .22 semi auto made in the 1990's. It's actually a small step up from the Colt IMO.

I told him if he did not want to spend the money for a M41 he should have gotten a Ruger Mark 4 and dropped in a Volquartsen spring kit for $50 bucks which would have produced a really great trigger, but there were no Mark 4's in stock today and he was impatient - so he got the Victory.

Since I doubt he will ever be a precision target shooter, the Victory should serve him well and it is certainly less finicky (than the M41) about the ammo you feed it. It ate everything we fed it without any hiccups. Well for what it's worth that's my impression with the S&W Victory.

I agree. A Ruger or Buckmark is a better .22.

 

[Drm50]

It seems most are shooting steel / swingers ect, with emphasis on how fast they can empty a magazine. So sights are adequate for that. I got a K22 as a kid. It made a big impression on people who had never shot anything near that kind of accuracy. When a pistol of m41 level is introduced they really freak out. They don't often go through with purchase when they realize the cost. Then they are sold pistols that are nothing more than futuristic looking plinkers. In this category Ruger will give the best bang for the buck.

 

[wproct]

I'm gonna tell you, if he could afford to toss about another $100 in that Victory, as in put in a Tandemkross trigger and a Tandemkross Thunder hammer, you would be absolutely amazed at what kind of trigger pull that Victory would have. I know that is a fairly significant investment, but the results are outstanding.

 

[chief38]

I'm gonna tell you, if he could afford to toss about another $100 in that Victory, as in put in a Tandemkross trigger and a Tandemkross Thunder hammer, you would be absolutely amazed at what kind of trigger pull that Victory would have. I know that is a fairly significant investment, but the results are outstanding.

I will pass this along to him and see if he is interested. Thank you for letting me know about this - I never heard of them before.

 

[wproct]

I was probably a little optimistic about the price, but just the trigger is an improvement, and add the Thunderhammer is pure magic.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

Your friend did good, 400.00 is a good price for a name brand .22 but I just don't like the look of them. Guess I'm spoiled with my classy M41 and Woodsmans.

 

[wproct]

Your friend did good, 400.00 is a good price for a name brand .22 but I just don't like the look of them. Guess I'm spoiled with my classy M41 and Woodsmans.

I totally understand this comment. I remember the first time I saw the picture of a Victory I thought it was a very unattractive handgun, and I didn't care for the shape of the grip. I bought mine kind of on a lark, they were on sale at Brownell's for a really good price and there were a lot of aftermarket goodies available for it.

 

[D Brown]

When first installed, my Tandemkross Trigger and Tandemkross Thunder Hammer brought the trigger pull down from just over 5# factory to just over 2# with the upgraded parts. It has since settled in at 1# 14 oz.

A word about the Tandemkross Trigger: The checkering is sharp and abrasive along the front edges and I eliminated this problem by cutting a 45° bevel along the leading edges of the trigger. If you plan to do this, you'll probably want to go with the silver, rather than the black anodized trigger.
I think it would look odd with the black trigger with exposed aluminum from the bevel cut.

Also, if you want to eliminate the Magazine Safety, all you have to do is cut off the top of the Magazine Safety Bar.

Here is the Safety Bar after cutting off the top:

Here is the modified Safety Bar reinstalled in the gun:

Whatever you do, don't leave the safety bar out when you re-assemble the gun. If you leave it out, you will lose the positive magazine ejection provided by the bar and spring.

 

[balin]

I bought the Victory years ago and it sits in one of my 2 safes. But it sits in there less often then most as it is my range bag more then most. I like the sights as my old eyes see them. I won't compare it to guns that I have that cost 3x as much, as it is not a fair comparison.

 

[ultratec00]

I paid $289 for mine back in the day. Added some aftermarket parts to tinker with including a volquartsen carbon barrel I picked up fairly cheap. Shoots good, reliable. No complaints. Trigger pull isn't as good as my Buckmarks. I prefer it over my ruger 22/45...

 

[chief38]

Just as a side-note:

I was never a "for the price" kind of guy. Even when I was younger and had not a penny to my name, I'd NEVER settle or buy an off brand, used with excuses, or lesser item because of the price - never! I always knew what I wanted and worked my butt off, saved up for and bought exactly what I wanted in the first place. I can't help it and make no apologies for that - it's just my DNA. Because of this, I'm rarely disappointed with a purchase.

ADDED: Well, I just thought of one exception........

In the very early 1980's I badly wanted a Colt 6" Python. I saved up for it (at least what I thought it would run) and my wife said she would add the remainder for our anniversary. So we went into a LGS and when I found out the gun was just shy of $500 that was the deal breaker.

When I baulked at the price, the owner of Greenblatt's (Louie) brought out a gorgeous 6" S&W M586 which I bought for $286.00 (almost 1/2 the price) and still own 'till this day. OK - call me a hypocrite - LOL!!

 

[richrd]

I did the Tandemkross trigger conversion and some smoothing on mine, which I bought for steel challenge. But it has a volquartsen barrel. It is extremely accurate, but the carbon fiber barrel makes it too light to hold the way I shake. I would consider trading the vol barrel for a stock steel barrel.

 

[much ado]

S&W Victory

I too have a Victory that I bought in 2016 after one of those un-successful times of trying to re-assemble my Ruger Mk 3. Boy, what a PIA they were. Recently I was perusing the S&W lineup and saw that they offer a "Target" model which has a solid front sight and thumb rest grips and that those parts could be ordered from S&W. I have never taken well to the fiber optic sights either and just ordered that sight from S&W. Also, I have a Supermatic Citation and love those thumb rest grips so although not checkered walnut, for just a few bucks more ordered the Victory version of those. The solid sight was only 4-5 bucks if I remember correctly. FWIW, John