Smith & Wesson is set to unveil their new M&P .22 at the NRA Convention tomorrow. While macho men may sneer at the lower caliber variant, hard times have lead many a large caliber only firearms enthusiasts [back] to rimfire rounds. And, lest we forget, there are plenty of lesser-framed and elderly shooters for whom .22 cal. is the best sometimes the only choice. What’s odd here: the big ass 1911-style ambidextrous safety. What’s that all about? [Note to Ben: ask.] Why not just equip the gun with a Massachusetts-compliant M&P’s thirty-eight pound trigger pull?
This may be a good contender for my Sig Sauer Mosquito.
Will someone PLEASE make a 22 LR pistol with a double stack mag (Not the PMR-30 as its 22 Magnum).
Whoever out with a $500 22LR pistol with a 30 rnd mag is gonna make a lot of money.
Anyone know why these 22s are such low capacity??
getting .22 to feed in a dual stack magazine is very difficult due to the rimmed cartridge.
I believe that even with a safety, MA compliant models will need the dreadful, unusable, ludicrous MA trigger.
I have also noticed the lack of capacity in modern .22s.
My neos only packs 10, and could oviously hold more.
I wonder if the manufacturers are hedging their bets against
another assault weapon/magazine ban.
I suspect that the .22 does not function well as a double stack. Even the 25 round magazines for Ruger and Remington rifles are single stack bannana magazines.
25 round .22LR banana mags jam as often as Woody Allen & his New Orleans Jazz Band.
And bend out as much as woody allen around a group of Asian teen girls!
Rimfire rounds don’t stack well. It’s the rim, that’s why you don’t see many rimfire guns with more than 10 round mags. It’s also why you don’t see many rimmed revolver cartridges in semi-automatics.
Who cares about cost, I’m a large caliber only firearms enthusiast and nothing will ever change that. I love my 45’s and 50’s, and I let people at the range shoot my 50’s for free because they get such a thrill by the experience. Why do they have a rail on a 22? I guess you could light up the bad guy before you shoot him ten times.
Did a little research on this pistol, all of which might have changed. It was to be manufactured by Umarex. Design was by Walther. Comes with a 10 or 12 round mag. It was supposed to be SA, so no MA trigger will be required if that’s true (MA restricts DA triggers). The price was originally announced as $450 — which I think was absurd. Since S&W announced accross-the-board price decreases earlier this year, I’m thinking it will come in much lower than $450. Street price will be lower still.
Please correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe the new MP .22 is being built by Umarex. These are the same guys who make the Walther P22 and the Sig Mosquito. Oh, and the .22 caliber Colt AR’s, among others. None of these guns have a sterling reputation for reliability. Or durability.
I’d also wager this .22 M&P is a single action hammer fired pistol, as opposed the striker fired centerfire M&P’s. That would make the trigger feel is far different between the two. I think a .22 caliber M&P is great idea. Heck, I think a rimfire made in the style of a modern automatic pistol is a great idea. But a great idea does not a great firearm make.
I think I will wait for some positive reviews on this one before putting my money down.
Rob
Don’t remind me about the Massachusett’s ridiculous trigger pull laws >.<
What's unfortunate about this M&P is that it's going to be made by Walther (or like Rob says Umarex) and it will not come with the 3 grips that you can interchange like you can on the real M&P's.
The slide will be forged aluminum not pot metal like the other two mentioned here (sig, walther). That should help somewhat, really wish it was a conversion kit though
My full size M&P9 has thumb safeties, so I’m more than happy that they included them on the .22lr version. I like to put my thumb there, I think it makes a much more secure grip.