Henry Rifle Forums

Weather actually warmed up to the freezing point, so Bill and I made a quick trip to the range. Took our usual wide variety of guns to shoot, but this time I mostly wanted to do some work with a 22 semi-auto pistol that I regard as the most accurate 22 pistol I've ever shot and tested, period, regardless of the price. It's a relatively new model from S&W. I bought it based on reports I was getting from some serious target shooters as to the Victory's accuracy. Have had mine for awhile, now, and can confirm that the reports are no exaggeration. The pistol is the 22 LR S&W Victory, mine setup with an Ultradot 30 red dot.


In the world of match shooting, in order for a pistol or revolver to be considered match grade in accuracy, it must be able to print a 5 shot group from a rest at one inch or less. Here's a sight in target for the Victory that I shot, a couple weeks, ago, after adding the Ultradot. This is the smallest 5 shot group I've ever gotten from a 22 semi-auto pistol at 25 yards and I've shot some of the greats, everything from from Rugers, vintage High Standards and even the cream of the S&W lineup, the Model 41.

Absolutely amazing accuracy for a $350 pistol, no mods, right from the factory.


The Victory is not without its quirks. The magazines are decent quality, but they are fussy about being properly fed. You have to be careful about loading them. The out of the box trigger on the Victory is actually very good - considerably better than any out of the box Ruger I've owned - but not as good as a vintage High Standard or a Model 41. There are now aftermarket trigger mods available, now, but I do just fine with the factory trigger.

Very easy and pleasant gun to shoot, but more than that, just plain fun. This one was a mixture of slow and moderate fire. (3" bull)


Yes, I do find that semi-auto 22 pistols give me a shooting advantage. There's a rhythm you develop with the shot sequence, thanks to virtually no interruption to the shot picture and alteration of your grip, that allows a shooter to just keep pouring shot after shot into the black. It's very addictive for an accuracy nut like me.

Bottom line, here, is that anyone who wants serious match grade accuracy in a 22 handgun at a remarkably affordable price, I highly recommend the S&W Victory.

interesting .... I'd never heard of a S&W Victory .... info appreciated

Very nice indeed.
Can't wait to get to the range with my niece and her Buckmark.

The Victory hasn't been out that long, something like two years or so. The Victory's quick one screw take-down feature is really what sold it right off the bat. Very appealing to shooters who were struggling to take down other semi-auto models at the time, especially, Ruger Marks. Shortly afterwards, Ruger then introduced their Mark IV, a totally new design for a Mark with its quick take-down feature.

The Victory's rep for accuracy was something that came, later, after shooters had a chance to work with the Victory. That's what appealed to me, since taking down a Ruger Mark has never been an issue for me.

The Victory hasn't been out that long, something like two years or so.

The .22 Victory that is - the 'original' Victory has a somewhat 'different' history!

Mistered wrote:

The Victory hasn't been out that long, something like two years or so.

The .22 Victory that is - the 'original' Victory has a somewhat 'different' history!

Correct. Night and day difference. Whole different animal.

My dads 'Duffel Bag' Victory!

Excellent range report! One small gripe, though. The OP is not giving herself nearly enough credit for her shooting skills.

At our range, I know of only two shooters who can do that kind of shooting.

Oh, and yes, the gun is definitely nice, too.

Aw, shucks! Thanks, ditto. If a good shooter is defined as someone who loves to shoot, then I'm one. The results are just the frosting on the cake.

I really like those pistols. And it obviously likes you. It sure seems to shoot nice for you! Great groups.

NCG, just curious- does your Victory seem to be very ammo sensitive? Obviously the CCI Pistol Match works REALLY good with it.

As always ma'am impressive shooting, and thank you for the reminder that I need to dust off mine.

Cool gun and some great shooting as always.

Ditto, yes, it can be fussy about ammo, but mostly about functioning, not so much accuracy. As I said, the magazines takes careful loading. Some ammo brands tend to flip up out of line when in the mag more than others. Mine also has a relatively tight chamber, compared to smoother semi-autos. This is good for accuracy, but it can cause feeding issues with some ammo. I really do need to do more shooting with the Victory, though. Still pretty stiff in the action. Just that I have way too many guns to give any one a lot of use. I need to take a lesson from RR on that score.

Yup. Last year I acquired way too many guns, to the point where quite a few of them are neglected.

I do, however, have a very accurate .22 target pistol that never gets forgotten, a Browning Challenger:

Those old Brownings are true classics, right there with the Colt Woodsman series. Very, very rare guns to find up for sale in our area.

Glad to hear S&W has a solid contender in the .22 semi-auto target pistol category.

I have a Ruger Mark I target. The factory trigger on it is phenomenal. FWIW the new Mark IV Rugers have one button take down as well. The triggers on the newer Marks don't compare to the one on mine. Maybe after many thousands of rounds they will smooth out, although I doubt they would break at the 2 1/2 pounds that mine does.

I agree that it takes some real skill to achieve the groups you are getting. I need to start working on bench rest skills with a pistol. I do fairly well with the standard two handed grip, but there are some things a good bench rest group can tell you that unsupported can't.

Clovis, back in the day of the Mark I, you could order one with a factory trigger job for a ridiculously low price. Actually had one with the box and papers from the mid 60s and it included a price list for these options. From memory, a set of optional walnut grips would set you back a whole six dollars.

I learned how to target shoot with an old Ruger Standard of an early 70s vintage. it was all I could afford at the time, as it was cheaper than most 22 handguns of that era, so wasn't expecting much. Didn't take me long to discover I had hit the jackpot with that one. Learned how to takedown a Ruger Mark with that one, too, so that's never been an issue for me. Have done a trigger mod on Ruger Marks for several friends and can completely disassemble on in my sleep.

Really have no interest in a Mark IV, then. The takedown feature is wasted on me, plus I don't like the fact that Ruger had to do some design changes to the action to accommodate it. The Mark IV is a different gun, not just a Mark III with a take down feature.

North Country Gal wrote:Those old Brownings are true classics, right there with the Colt Woodsman series. Very, very rare guns to find up for sale in our area.

Mine was very reasonable from a GB seller. Probably because there are two or three spots on it with a bit of pitting. The lgs near me has a much prettier one, but they want about $700 for it.

I like mine. Shoots as good as a Model 41 for a third of the price.