Semiautomatic .22 LR rimfire pistols have been popular for decades. They have little or no recoil so they are easy to shoot, their ammo is inexpensive, and they are perfect tools for basic pistol trainig, target shooting and more informal and recreational plinking. Their market is therefore quite large and quite active. The SW22 Victory is Smith & Wesson's proposal for this peculiar kind of handgun, and in the last few months this pistol has seen new versions added, with a Kryptek Highlander finish or threaded barrel.
Features of the SW22 Victory target pistol
But let's see the features that all SW22 Victory models have in common. The look is traditional and modern at the same time. It's a single action, enclosed hammer-fired blowback action design with a monolithic stainless steel frame-receiver – on firing it remains stationary while inside the bolt recoils. The 5.5" (14 cm) match-grade barrel is stainless steel too, but what's interesting is that it can be easily removed and substituted according to your shooting needs – range practicing, competing, or small game hunting – just using an Allen wrench.
All Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory pistols have “three dots” fiber-optic sights for accurate shot placement and a removable Picatinny-style rail for optics (rear sights are fully-adjustable and the green front sight can be changed with a different one if wished). The single-screw takedown allows for easy cleaning.
The stainless steel frame is satin-finished and the textured grip panels have finger cuts for easy magazine removal. A nice touch is the adjustable trigger stop that reduces trigger backlash, giving more control for precision shooting. The pistol weights some 36.0 oz (1,020.6 g), making it a very stable and well balanced platform when firing. Controls consist of the push button magazine release, the slide lock and the manual safety.
There is also an additional magazine disconnector safety, i.e. the pistol can't shoot if magazine is not inserted. If it were a personal defense gun this could be considered a defect by some people, but since it's not, there's no problem at all.
As said above, besides the “basic” version, the SW22 Victory is available in two more options, one with a 1/2 - 28 threaded barrel, and the the other with Kryptek Highlander camo finish.
SW22 Victory: price
Price for the SW22 Victory is 409.00 USD (352 euro), but if you want the threaded barrel or the Kryptek Highlander camo finish version you'll have to spend something more – 429.00 USD (369 euro) and 459.00 USD (395 euro) respectively. Each handgun is shipped with two 10-round magazines.
For more information please visit Smith & Wesson website.
