M&P 22 - Fun, more fun, and inexpensive

[madpear]

My M&P 22 arrived on 5/9 and that night I gave it a good ole cleaning in preparation for today, range day. I got as much of the factory preservative off as I could possible get with my swabs, cloths, and brushes. I am the owner of a full-size M&P 9 so I was looking forward to the relatively same size .22lr platform.




My initial impression was that the weapon felt solid. The frame felt as if it were the standard full-size M&P with the large hand-grip attached which was a positive to me personally. The M&P 22 does not have interchangeable backstraps so for it to come with a large hand-grip was the best possible option for me. The aluminum slide is much lighter than its steel counterpart on the full-size models and naturally the recoil spring has less tension to compensate for the .22 round. However, the firearm cycled perfectly, felt and sounded like a well-made instrument.

Out at the range today I brought along 1100 rounds of .22lr ammo from three different manufacturers, but only had the energy to expend 500 rounds. Need more magazines!

Federal Bulk Pack - 36 grain Copper-plated Hollow-Point
Winchester Dynapointe - 40 grain Copper-plated
CCI Mini Mags - 40 grain

I started out with the CCI Mini Mags and put 100 rounds through the pistol downrange at a 3 yard target. I experienced 0 malfunctions, FTFs, FTEs etc. The weapon performed flawlessly. I have fired numerous target 22s prior to this and was always somewhat "undertained" by them; never could get too excited about them. However, the M&P 22 performed very similar to larger caliber models. I personally felt more in the frame of mind that I was using a combat pistol and not just a dinky target 22. The pistol actually responded with a bit of recoil and muzzle flip adding to the excitement.

Following that I set it the target out to 7 yards, switched up ammo to the Winchester Dynapointes and decided to point-shoot from a tactical/close ready position in 2 shot sequences. Doing this I put roughly 200 rounds downrange...again with 0 problems from both the pistol and the ammo.

Lastly I set the target out to 25 yards and decided to check accuracy. I switched to my Federal Bulk Pack - 36 grain HPs and personally got pretty good results. After 200 rounds I experienced only 2 failure to feeds (not sure of the reason).



After 500 rounds and only 2 failure to feeds I consider this to be a perfect addition to a gun safe or collection. Its a reliable, accurate, enjoyable and most importantly (for me) cheap to shoot. I felt no guilt after today's range visit. I spent a fraction of what it would have cost me to shoot larger calibers. I feel my money was well spent, and I'm glad to add this to my quickly growing firearm collection and addiction.

I was not bothered by the clumsy ambidextrous safety. I may remove it in the future for appearances only. I could do without it. The only thing that brought some concern to me was the trigger reset early on in the break-in period. For the about the first 75-100 rounds the trigger reset felt slow and gritty. It came around to a normal reset following the initial 100 round break-in and I attribute that to the shipping preservative working its way out of the trigger area. You'll see visible of the preservative in the photos below.

Following the range I brought it home and decided to take some photos. Didn't clean it; wanted to display its proud breaking-in appearance. Hope this helps some of you if you're thinking about plunging into a combact/tactical .22 pistol. Oh yea...my Ruger SR22 is on the way...will probably do a comparison once it comes in.

[vr6veedub]

Nice!! This pistol just got on the California Approved list today. I can't wait to get my hands on one. Been wanting a .22 pistol for quite some time.

[Kaboom]

If these don't turn out to have some sort of problem and are at a reasonable price point they are going to sell a billion of them. The M&P design is close enough to many of the other Service pistol designs that the 22 will make an excellent stand-in for the centerfire weapons from other makers.

[agould27]

Nice write up, I would guess that your 2 failures at the end were due to the round count and the factory grease coming out from the heat of 500 rds. Could be ammo .22 is so picky and it seems people have excepted that. I really like this pistol but am considering the ISSC as well since I own two glocks. Congrats!

[nasty79z28]

Rented a M&P 22 at the range today with my wife. We both really liked it and had zero problems.

[MrBoxx]

I got to hold one of these at a LGS and really liked the way it felt. I passed over it when it was in the cabinet under the glass because I thought it was "just another M&P 9mm," until the guy started talking about M&P .22 pistol. I thought he meant my M&P 15-22 that were just talking about, only in pistol form (kinda rare), but then he said, "No, the pistol," and pulled it out from the cabinet.

When it comes time for me to pick up a .22 pistol, that's probably going to be the one, unless Springfield has a surprise up their sleeves in the next year or two.

[richeyo2]

Hey man congrats on new purchase!
Nice looking plinker. I have played w/one at LGS at it will probably be my choice for my next .22!

[Deer Slayer]

I bet this is a pretty good little gun. I was kinda set on having a hammer on my .22 pistol, just so I could give duds another whack, but haven't had the need with the SR22. So if this thing has the reliability of the SR22, it could be a nice gun. Hopefully the grip is a bit slimmer than the M&P 45c, and the trigger feels better.

[madpear]

It is my opinion from most feedback that I have read online concerning both the SR22 and M&P 22 is that the M&P 22 is more reliable. I am strictly relating to one major issue coming up in numerous SR22s regarding the takedown lever taking extreme stress and breaking.

I have one on the way and am interested to test it out.