S&W Victory woes

[DR505]

I bought my son a Victory .22 LR pistol for Christmas. I cleaned it prior to first use just as the manual suggested. We went out and tried it when the weather was reasonable. We could not get more than 2 shots in a row to function. The pistol was failing to feed often. If it did feed it would not extract. If it did extract it would not eject. We were using CCI ammo at the time. After about 100 rounds of attempts we called it quits.

I took it out a second time as S&W said it "needed to be broken in." I tried 5 different brands of ammo (CCI mini-mags, Federal standard velocity, Remington standard velocity, Aguilla target, and Norma match ammo). Same issues. Even tried using 5 different magazines. After about 200 rounds I gave up and brought it back to my LGS where I had purchased it.

I just got it back. The gunsmith does not understand how it ever left the factory. In order to get it operating he had to:

• Fit extractor hook
• Fit extractor cut in barrel
• Polish chamber
• Tune ejector

He got it to work 50 consecutive shots with CCI ammo, but he said it may still be finicky with ammo. If any more issues occur he suggests a trip to S&W for a fix or replacement. He repaired it at no charge.

Is this unusual for this model, is the Victory a poor design, or is S&W QC dead?

 

[Targets Guy]

I had issues with velocities under 1,000fps for the first 500 rounds. Now (over 2200 rounds) it eats anything. I don't use Remington Thunderbolts.

 

[Beauetienne]

I had multiple feeding issues with mine until I bent the extractor to where it should be. Wonderful after that with all ammo I was using.
Many people had problems.

 

[S&WIowegan]

I have two Victorys and the first one lost its' extractor on the first shot. I called S&W and they fixed it at no charge. The second one was good out of the box. A shooting buddy bought one new last year and had problems. He sent it back, they fixed it and I ROed him last night and it ran perfectly.

If you still have problems, call S&W and DO NOT mention the free gunsmith work. The factory will make it right.

Yes QC stinks; it's the modern manufacturing procedure. Push them out the door and fix the ones that don't work.

 

[wproct]

I got lucky with mine. I bought it new in the fall of 2017 and it ran perfectly out of the box. I have shot either CCI standard velocity, or Federal Walmart bulk pack high velocity in mine without a hitch on either. Although it is an inconvenience, I would recommend contacting Smith & Wesson to let them get it right for you.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I do not own a Victory, but if you search this forum you will see it has more than the usual amount of teething problems, but most of the time they seem to be overcome. I have a steep bias for the out of production but still available Model 22S and Model 22A.