Smith & Wesson 622

I’ve had a lot of questions lately regarding what firearm I’ll be using for my rimfire training.  I’m currently using a Smith & Wesson 622, it’s a family gun and while trying to find out more about it I discovered there wasn’t much information floating around the internet on this particular gun so off to the library I went.

The Smith & Wesson 622 was manufactured 1989-1996, I know my particular firearm to be from between 1992 and 1994 since that’s the only time period when they manufactured them with 12 round mags.  The version that I have with a 4.5″ barrel and stainless alloy frame is a field gun weighing in at about 22 oz.  They also make a 6″ version that is only an ounce heavier and, in ’96, was manufactured with a ventilated rib as the 622VR.  Since that model was only manufactured in ’96 it is considered a bit of a collectors item.  Sadly, mine is far more boring than that.

The gun is single action only with an internal hammer and a bladed front site with a fixed grooved rear sites making it a great target pistol (some generations of the 622 did have adjustable sites, mine is not one of them).  For me it has always run reliably even with dirty ammo and minimal cleaning.  I have run about a thousand cheap Remington rounds through this gun in the past year and have never had a problem with it.  Recently I’ve been running about 300 CCI Minimags a week through it and still no issues, not altogether surprising considering CCI is the end-all be-all of .22 ammo.  These guns are extremely accurate and often end up with a scope mounted on them for distance pistol target purposes.

Personally, I’m just excited to have a gun that’s easy to shoot and that I know will run.  Reliability is always a concern with .22s, however this little gun has always functioned well for me.

10 Comments

  1. Sure is a homely looking little thing. But accurate, reliable, and a 12 round mag… sounds like you’ve got a winner! I love my Buckmark, but it’s so very… vanilla.

  2. I used to have the 6″ model in the 1990’s. It was a good and reliable pistol. I am not sure why I sold it.

  3. Are you going to SHOT? If you are bug S&W about making a .22LR on a M&P frame. That would be a winner!

  4. I slung many a 422 and 622 across the glass in undergrad (back when they were in production . . . and all this was orchard). Great guns for the money.

    Wise choice.

  5. 1. Perhaps a blog post about “training .22s”? Perhaps an article in “Conceal and Carry” about the various “training .22s”–22/45s, Buckmarks, inter alia.

    2. If you like CCI ammo, try the CCI factory seconds. They sell them in 200 packs (plastic yellow boxes) and I have found them to be just as good as regulation CCI and much, much cheaper.

  6. Had the 6″ for about 25 years. Replaced it with Walther so i could use my Gemtech supressor.

    This S&W is a great pistol. I shot on an Army pistol team (1911’s) and this pistol had almost the same size grip. I would shoot this between practices and matches to stay tuned.

    Thanks for the memories!

  7. Picked up a black 6″ in ’90 and a 4″ in 93. Accurate but detail cleaning gets a bit fiddly. Lately, I have been getting stovepipe jams around every other shot in my 6″. This is using Winchester whitebox bulk 22LR

Comments are closed.