Picked up a 22 WMR Pistol

[Jim White]

I wanted to get one of these in December but I had to put it off and thankfully not for too long as WA is becoming more socialist by the day with the stuff coming out of the legislature. Anyway, on to a better topics.

I picked up a S&W MnP 22 WMR pistol that recently came out. I actually ended up giving it to my younger son as a belated XMAS gift and as it turns out, somethings are worth the wait. We selected 4 types of ammunition at random at the local Sportsman's Warehouse; Remington 40 gr JHP, CCI Mini-Mag, Hornady Ballistic Tip, Federal JHP. Thankfully, all of them function without a hitch.

The only other time I had shot a 22 WMR pistol was about 35+ years ago when AMT came out with one and what I remembered from then was how loud a 22 WMR was and this one was no exception. It sounds a lot like my 38 SPL S&W Model 36. Anyway, Jacob wanted a dot type sight so he put the one you see in the picture. He retested it with only 1 FTF. We also tried some ARMSCOR Lead Nose and it went off without a hitch.

All in all, definitely a fun gun and there is little to no recoil. For those that don't have to worry about magazine capacity limits there are 30-round magazines available for this. I imagine that would be a real hoot to shoot for sure. We looked at the Walther 22 WMR but this one was available and only a tad more. Anyway, this should make a fine little rat-gun out to 50 yards or so, maybe further depending on the accuracy.

IMG_0991.jpg (918.04 KiB) Viewed 1869 times

[MTPaul]

Jim,

As you said...it should be a hoot to shoot! Your younger son should be very pleased with this pistol. I have often thought about buying a semi-auto WMR and seeing this has done nothing but rekindle my desire to find a suitable addition to my small caliber pistol collection. As I continue moving further and further into "geezerhood" I find myself gravitating more and more toward the smaller caliber firearms - rifles and pistols.

Thanks for sharing.

[Jim White]

Last fall when I was load testing 10mm & 44 Mag to have in the woods hunting I can tell I hadn't shot those calibers in recent years so it took me by surprise...a little. But I've always said, shooting skills is like fresh buttermilk sittin' out on the porch in the hot August sun in Arizona, it will go bad PDQ if you don't use them.

[Rick in Oregon]

Nice score there Jim!

That pistol set up with the RDS should be mucho fun in the rat patch. I've got a Holosun on my old Ruger MK-I 5" HB Target, and it's no big deal to smack sage rats off their mounds at 50 yards. With that 22WMR, that should equate to at least 75+ yards, especially off a rest of some sort. I shoot mine either off the bench with a sandbag, or from the truck window using a window bag; works very well.

One thing about a handgun in 22WMR, is they're LOUD! The two I have are a Smith M651 (with a 22LR cylinder also), and a Smith M648. I primarily shoot CCI Maxi-Mag +V in them in the field.

Some pics, as we all like pics, right?

Smith M648 22WMR w/Leupold 4X:



My RDS handguns: Ruger MK-I 5"HB w/Holosun 507 RDS (22LR) (shown w/my Kimber Aegis Elite Custom 9mm with Vortex Venom 6MOA RDS):



Smith M651 22WMR w/factory 22LR cylinder, center of pic:



I hope you get some time in the rat patch this year with your son and his new 22 Mag pistol. When that happens (I know it will!), be sure to post up some pics here of the adventure.