The Smith and Wesson 22a Target is one of the new generation of blowback operated, .22 autos. The target model comes with oversized wood laminate (looks like birch) stocks and a bull barrel. The model I shot was blued carbon steel. The barrel has a scope rail built right on it and adjustable sights are mounted at opposite ends of the rail. The pistol came with two ten round magazines in a blue Smith and Wesson foam lined case. An interesting fact, the pistol is made in Maine, not Mass.
The controls on the pistol are relatively normal. The slide release is right under the chamber on the left side and the safety latch is just aft. The safety latch is very small and hard to operate, but this should not be too much of a problem as it is primarily a range gun and if it is to be carried, condition 3 is the preferred method. The magazine release is located on the frontstrap about 3/4 of an inch below the trigger guard. It was very easy to operate with the middle finger. Magazines drop out when released. The target stocks are very comfortable and hand-filling.
When I was preparing the pistol for firing, I noticed that the magazines are slightly difficult to load. It is easy to insert a cartridge in such a way that the nose rests above the follower instead of on top of it. This reduces capacity and ends up as a pretty stickystovepipe jam. Care should be taken when loading the magazine.
The pistol performed well. When fired offhand at 50 feet, the results were good, all but two in the black. Holding the pistol in a weaver grip at 25 yds, I placed all the shots inside the six ring of a 25yd slowfire target. Not as good as my K-22 offhand, but still pretty good. If I had the time to learn the trigger, I could tighten the groups up a good deal. The trigger itself reminded me of the Sigma .380 pistol in feel and creep. It's trigger weight was heavier than my stock M1911, not great for a match gun, but fine for an everyday shooter. I imagine that drop in improvements will come soon.
The 22a is a fun gun for busting caps. It is one of the easiest .22's that I have shot when it comes to firing rapidly but still shooting good groups.
A neat feature of this pistol is the way the barrel is removed. Pushing a button on the frame forward of the trigger guard releases the barrel. S&W says that the public will soon be able to get all sorts of barrels. Imagine having a bull barrel with dots for bullseye, a bull barrel with iron sights for plinking, and a std barrel with sights for kit gun use. A .22 for all seasons.
The only criticisms that I can offer now is that the sights a little too coarse for my target tastes and they really could use a colored insert. I guess that S&W figures on people mounting scopes on the pistol right off.
The S&W 22a is a neat little gun that might end up in my cabinet. I do not think that
it will make a splash at the matches anytime soon, but who knows? If the 22a is
capable of the kind of tuning necessary to make it a viable target pistol and the right
aftermarket parts appear, it might carve out a niche of its own.