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Jesse's Hunting > Gun Room Articles > The Gun Room > Shooting History - The S&W Model 22 - Rebirth of the Model 1950
Shooting History - The S&W Model 22 - Rebirth of the Model 1950
Andy Moe - JHO ProStaff
- Montana
June 07, 2007
My good friend Jack is an author and historian who likes to take a proactive stance in his research. Being a gunner and firearms collector from way back, he enjoys being able to shoot the guns, so as to add that extra flavor to his work that comes from an intimate knowledge of the firearms he writes about. It’s a fine way of melding hobby and avocation.
S&W Model 22
The Model 22 is a pretty faithful reproduction of the Model 1950 revolver. This one, from the S&W Performance Shop provided the author and his historian friend an opportunity to relive a bit of shooting history. |
Currently, he is writing a piece for the local Historical Society about a gun fight that happened hereabouts back in the mid 1920’s. During the course of his investigation, Jack was lucky enough to handle some of the firearms that were actually used in the fracas. One gun however, the family was for some reason loath to let out for even an examination. This gun was a short barreled 45 ACP identical to the Model 22 Smith and Wesson double-action revolver that is currently offered by that firm. This frustrated my literary friend to the extent that he began a search for a Model 22 S&W; Smith and Wesson’s reintroduction of the Model 1950 double action revolver. As it turned out, Fate smiled on him that very week. A local shop had a new S&W Model 22 Classic from the Performance Shop listed as the Thunder Ranch Edition. Jack always was a lucky cuss.
Jack brought the new Smith home and took some photos for the article he is writing. Though a new production, this large frame Smith had the lines and feel of a 1920’s vintage service revolver. Jack brought it by my house the evening he bought it and then flattered me by asking if I would wring it out for mechanical qualities and accuracy. I was more than happy to oblige. It’s not often I get to shoot a revolver from the Smith & Wesson Performance Shop.
Smith and Wesson spared little with regards to fit and finish on this revolver. The bluing was pretty close to that deep brushed-blue that you used to see on older Smith’s. The metal was free of burrs and machine marks, and the wood to metal fit was air-tight. The trigger was a little heavy, but as this is a reintroduction of a service revolver, not a target gun, I could live with it. In reality, if it was heavy for a Smith it was still lighter than 80% of the other production revolvers in the world! With the exception of the small hole for the security lock above the cylinder latch, you‘d have a hard time telling it from the original issue. Like the original Model 1950, this N-Fame came with fixed sights in character with a duty revolver.
Chambered in 45 ACP, the Model 22 was designed to be loaded using spring-steel “full moon” clips, holding 6 rounds, or “half moon” clips, which hold three rounds each. For those unfamiliar with the set up, the use of these clips allows the rimless ACP rounds to be extracted from cylinder. Three-shot, half moon clips were developed in 1917 for the Smith and Wesson and Colt service revolvers. In a gunfight they would be invaluable as they were the speed loader of their day. A shooter would simply drop in a cluster of cartridges instead of feeding them singly into the empty chambers. Smith and Wesson supplied 4 of the full moon variety with this gun, much to Jack’s delight.
Full moon clip
The full moon and half moon clips served as the speed-loaders of the day, and allowed quick loading and extraction of spent cases. Due to the tight tolerances in the test gun, some variations in two of the clips caused problems. |
Our appointed range day was overcast but dry. Jack had settled on using standard 45 ACP ball ammunition because he felt that this was the ammunition most likely to have been used in the fight he was researching. We shot three brands of ammunition: PMC, Sellier and Bellot, and Winchester… all with a 230 grain full metal jacket. The loaded clips slipped easily into the cylinder and the crane closed smoothly and securely.
That’s when the trouble started. At this point we were just firing for function and not accuracy. This Model 22 didn’t like two of the 4 full moon clips provided and hung up on both single and double action firing. With one of the clips it was necessary to assist rotation of the cylinder by hand in both single and double action firing. The other problem clip functioned grittily in single action but not at all in double action without giving the cylinder a helping hand.
We verified the problem with all the brands of ammunition we had on hand. It would appear that the tolerances on this particular Model 22 are exceptionally tight and that the clips had slight arc to them – presumably from the manufacturing process – and were binding. The other two clips, which appeared to be quite flat, functioned exactly as they should have.
Jack has a good supply of half moon clips made for the Government to feed the 1917 Colt and S&W revolvers used in WWI and he feels that they will function better as they are somewhat thinner. It is possible to fire this big Smith without using the steel clips since the Smith and Wesson Model 22 has the chambers cut to properly headspace the rimless 45 ACP cartridge on its case mouth –identical to the way a Model 1911 Colt is chambered. Of course, having done so, it would be necessary to knock out the fired casings with a rod as the extractor would be useless. Realizing that shooters would find half moon clips an annoyance, Remington introduced its 45 Auto Rim cartridge after WWI. This is basically a 45 ACP cartridge with a rim that the extractor of a Smith or Colt will act upon without the need for the spring steel clips. We had no access to factory Auto Rim rounds so we didn’t test any in the Model 22. Jack didn’t seem to think that Auto Rim cartridges would have been used during this particular historical event anyhow. I was willing to go with his judgment on this one.
With the function issues sorted we moved to accuracy. I set up a target at 25 yards and took 6 o’clock hold on the black and squeezed off. The target remained clean. I fired another and had the same results. The third round finally clipped the right hand edge of the 8” wide target. Holding on the left hand edge of the paper landed the next round low and fairly well centered to the black.
We moved in to 12 yards where the windage error would not be so pronounced. Using an inch and a half target paster, I was now placing my groups just a little more than 2” right of center and spot on elevation-wise. I shot several one and two handed groups with all of the ammo we brought and averaged under two inches for six shots. I personally found that one handed shooting was easier than using a two handed grip. Perhaps it’s because it was the way I was taught to shoot? In any event, there was no doubt that this 4” barreled revolver was exceedingly accurate. Compared to the 1911 Colt automatic, the recoil was gentle and manageable. The heavy Smith soaked up quite a bit of recoil energy.
Our last test is somewhat less than scientific. The “Bowling Pin Test”! At 10 yards the bowling pins had no chance against a couple of hardened pistoleros such as Jack and me. Double action, single action –two handed or one- the heavy 45 slugs found their marks with only a minimal of Kentucky windage. Spacing the pins along the top of a 1/2-ton hay bail set at out range for that purpose, it wasn’t hard to imagine a string of bad guys facing you –aside from the fact that the pins weren’t shooting back, of course. With the Model 22’s simple and well defined sights is was easy to make your mark as you crossed the row of pins. The heavy full metal jacketed bullets splintered the already beleaguered pins… I may have to make some amends to the club for that. We expended 50 rounds of ammunition on the bowling pins before calling it a day.
Jack was thrilled with his purchase. I was less so. I own, and have owned in the past, many Smith and Wesson revolvers with fixed sights and have never had such a gross sighting error as that found in this Model 22. I encouraged Jack to contact Smith and Wesson to have them see what can be done to correct this error. At over one thousand dollars a copy, this revolver should function flawlessly… at least for my hard earned dollars. I also know Smith and Wesson: If there is an issue with one of their revolvers they would like to know about it. Jack said he may send it off after a while but for the time being he is just going to shoot it.
Well, I couldn’t convince him to get the Model 22 packed off to Springfield any time soon so I just loaded full-moon clips and watched him shoot those bowling pins. The muzzle flashes in the early evening light and the wood splinters flying… the Historian experiencing History first hand. He has the gun for it.
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