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| The S&W M&P .22 LR Pistol |
The S&W M&P .22 is chambered in .22 Long Rifle caliber and is based upon S&W's highly successful line of M&P service-style automatic pistols. Primarily intended as a sub-caliber trainer to a larger M&P service pistol, the M&P captures the look and feel of the it's larger caliber brothers, while shooting the relatively inexpensive .22 LR cartridge.
The M&P 22 is a striker fired pistol just like the larger caliber M&P's. This is notable, as there really aren't that many .22 LR pistols out there that use the striker-firing mechanism, with most using a conventional hammer firing system or other proprietary method.
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| All controls are in the same location as the larger-caliber M&P's. |
The M&P .22 comes with all the controls in the same exact locations as the larger caliber M&P. This is an important feature, as it allows all the training conducted with the sub-caliber M&P .22 to be transferred over to the larger duty-sized M&P pistol, thereby allowing for inexpensive practice with the same techniques used on the duty gun. One notable difference is that there is NO magazine safety on the M&P .22, where the larger caliber M&P comes with a magazine safety. Also, on the larger caliber M&P's the manual safety is a factory option, but on the M&P .22 the ambidextrous manual thumb safety is standard.
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| A thread adaptor is required for attachment of suppressors using a standard 1/2x28 thread pattern. |
The folks at S&W also took into account the ever-growing market for sound suppressors and made a threaded barrel standard on the M&P .22. This allows those who have .22 LR suppressors to use those devices with the M&P .22 pistol very easily. The threads on the M&P .22 are NOT your standard 1/2x28 thread pattern; therefore, a thread adaptor is required for the use of a suppressor using the standard thread pattern.
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| The M&P with suppressor attached. |
One more thing worth mentioning when using a sound suppressor with the M&P .22 is that most .22 LR suppressors will allow for the use of the standard sights on the M&P .22. Typically, a special tall front sight blade is needed to allow for the use of iron sights with suppressors. In the case of the M&P .22 with the .22 LR suppressor, the sights are easily visible with the suppressor attached to the pistol.
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| Unlike some guns, even when the suppressor is attached, the standard iron sights can still be used. |
In roughly 150 rounds fired with the M&P .22 both suppressed and unsuppressed, the pistol has been utterly reliable. With the suppressor attached and the proper ammunition loaded in the gun, the report is minimal, similar to a loud cough. The only real negative thing I can find with the gun is that the trigger is really quite heavy and has a spongy feel to it. However, this was not too detrimental to accuracy, and you may find the trigger will feel fine to you. Purely a personal thing.
All in all, the Smith & Wesson M&P .22 LR pistol is a fine handgun. It is extremely useful for inexpensive practice with a pistol almost identical to the full size M&P line of handguns, but would also serve as a fun plinking handgun. Smith & Wesson has hit a home run with this .22 LR pistol, and hopefully their innovation continues to put out more products like this one.
-Michad
