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While I'm forever a Ruger fan, I recently purchased an S&W 22 S-1. A shooting friend has put over 10k rounds through his and reports that it is an accurate, well balanced, rimfire pistol. The gun has a surprisingly nice crisp trigger pull of approx 4#. I'm searching the internet for info and ideas to lighten the trigger pull. Numerous questions:

1) The discontinued Model 22 S is reportedly steel framed while the Model A is alloy framed. Anyone know why S&W stopped S production? Any idea how much more the S frame weighs than the A frame?

2) Has anyone done a proper trigger job on one of these guns? I don't know how hard the sear and/or hammer engagement surfaces are and whether they will hold a proper professionally done "trigger job" or not. I'm not capable of doing that level of work but would get it done by a gunsmith if it's worth it.

3) My objective will be to disassemble the trigger system and lightly stone all surfaces excluding the sear & hammer engagements. An adjustable pretravel screw can be drilled into the frame for the trigger. I have never liked the idea of altering the trigger return spring, sear spring, or hammer spring on a gun because that's merely a cheap trigger job and could cause reset/safety/reliability problems. Any other idea?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Well the thunderous silence on this subject is underwhelming! Therefore, I shall ad some info myself that I have discovered investigating these guns and disassembling the 22 S down to it's frame:

(1) The 22 S is just a bit heavier than the 22 A: the S frame = approx 13 ounces while the A's frame = approx 8 ounces. While few would notice the difference, I prefer a heavier frame and a shorter barrel for balance in my hand while shooting bullseye.

(2) The mag disconnect is "passive" meaning that it's engagement by the mag merely pushes the bar out of the way and does not interfere with the trigger pull.

(3) The trigger has a half-cock position. Of course when the trigger is pulled, the sear moves out of the way far enough for the hammer's swing to miss the half cock position. I assume that the half-cock position is another "passive" safety devise which is intended catch the trigger if it slips accidentally off the sear hook when bumped or dropped. If you pull the 22 S slide back slowly about an inch the sear will engage the half-cock position.

(4) Internally, the only part that really needed attention was the sear hook. It was black and rough; a couple of swipes with #1500 sandpaper cleaned it right up. My barrel's ramp had a tool mark about 1/2 way up the ramp. Cleaned up the ramp with a few swipes of #600 sandpaper and polished with a dremmel. Although the mark is still visable, the ramp itself is as smooth as possible. Trigger pull is now 3 lbs 6 ounces and quite crisp with minimal felt creep and a clean let off of the hammer/sear hooks.

Overall, I believe this to be a resonably designed inexpensive gun with a lot of capabilities. The use of light weight stamped parts and a plastic trigger doesn't worry me as long as the sear and hammer hooks hold their angles over time.

The 22a&s are very much underrated pistols.I've shot a few different ones and they've all been fine guns, very accurate, and with decent triggers.

Enjoy your new.gun. what ammo is it liking best? What kind of groups you getting?

bgreenea3:

I have only owned the gun a few weeks and fired a few mags of Federal bulk through it to ensure that it was functioning correctly knowing that I would take it down to the frame.

Now that the internals are as good as my limited skills can get them, I'll test a few different types of ammo and post my results soon.

I hope that it will cycle CCI SV becuase that's my favorite ammo for all of my other rimfire guns --- all Rugers!

Try cci sv and blazer. Both are pretty consistant ammo and shoot well in most guns.

I've kicked around buying a 22A myself--just haven't pulled the trigger so to speak. That 22S sounds even nicer.

good luck and keep us updated

First .22 handgun I bought when I started my second childhood a few years ago was a 22A. Got it until I could decide which "good gun" I was going to get. I later discovered that it stands up well against my Rugers and Buckmark. Best 10 round group I've fired was with the 22A 7" barrel. It has been a very dependable shooter.

Had a chance to shoot a number of guns at the range to compare the S&W 22 S-1 5", S&W Model 41 7", custom Ruger 22/45 6 7/8", and 1911/Marvel conversion 5".

The Ruger has a trigger pull of approx 2.4 lbs. while the others were all a bit above 3 lbs. each.

All four guns were 100% reliable. The Ruger and the S&W 22 S-1 both shot Federal bulk, CCI Mini-Mags, and CCI SV. My shooting friend asked that I only shoot CCI SV through his S&W Model 41 and high velocity through his 1911/Marvel. Yes, sir!

Results:

Suprisingly the S&Ws both felt quite similar in handling and trigger pull. I laid the two side by side and their frames have very similar dimensions. Of course, the Model 41 felt more refined handling the slide and other features (although I'm no fan of it's safety lever --- ouch!) and it should feel good because it cost four times as much as the Model 22!

The best 25yd groups of the four guns were obtained in my hands by the Model 41 but the other guns were all very close seconds. The widest groups were obtained using Federal bulk... again no surprise.

"Thumbs up" for the inexpensive Model 22 S-1 hanging tight with all three much more expensive guns.

Purely subjective on my part, but my expectations with the 1911/Marvel were dampended a bit because it felt too light in the hands compared with the other guns. (22/45 frame has been weighted) Further, this gun doesn't lock-back after the last shot in a mag. I find that I like a slightly heavier gun for bullseye shooting.

You had a great afternoon if you got to run through those. You probably need 2-3 more retests to be sure.

Roger that, greener!

Very fortunate to have a generous friend to help me in this comparison. Shooting each gun one after another really helped me form my own subjective opinions not only about the guns but about my own gun preferences.

Didn't try a few mags through the 7" barrel for the 22 S because I found that I prefer more weight in the hand with it's 5" barrel for bullseye shooting.

For Action Pistol (two handed) shooting, I prefer a longer barrel and was using a Ruger "Great Eight". I'll give the 7" S&W 22 S a try at that game as well.