S&W’s M&P22 Compact

A .22 LR Heir To The Legendary “Military & Police”
Designation, This Slick Little Auto Is State-Of-The-Art
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Holt found the M&P22 Compact’s trigger to be little short of terrific.

Some companies know how to keep secrets. After signing a 4-page, non-disclosure agreement, having my mug shot taken, my background checked, passing through a “photo badge mandatory” outdoor turnstile and two interior metal detection stations, I was in the promised land—Smith & Wesson’s impressive manufacturing facility in Springfield, Mass. With 3,000 employees and 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space, it is, in a word, big. Lined from one end to the other are numerically controlled machines going 24/7. The company’s firearm design process is now so sophisticated, engineers send their specifications from CAD computers directly to a 3D printer, which builds a replica model of the gun to be examined, analyzed and tweaked until the design is finalized and ready for production.

The plant tour was a lead-in to my reason for being there. There was something S&W’s director of marketing communications, Paul Pluff, wanted to share. But for day one, the focus was on S&W’s 2014 introduction of their Crimson Trace laser-equipped M&P Bodyguard .380 auto and .38 Special revolver. Both are great handguns for daily concealed carry, but the real surprise came in the traditional blue box on day two.

Smith & Wesson’s recent Military & Police line of handguns and AR rifles have set a new standard and are engineered, manufactured and tested to professional standards. “Reliable, durable and accurate” is a good description of S&W’s M&P products. Years ago I was a confirmed Glock guy until I began shooting S&W’s full-sized M&P9. I’ve been shooting M&P’s ever since.

The M&P line has included a previous .22 rimfire, the M&P22, produced for S&W by Walther of Germany (the relationship is dissolving on an amicable basis). The replacement product was the secret Pluff had been teasing us with for 24 hours—the M&P22 Compact.

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For training purposes, Holt set up the scaled down M&P22 Compact (bottom) like his full-sized M&P9 (top).

This rimfire “tactical” featured pistol took the engineering design team 18 months to perfect. In size, it’s an 87-1/2 percent scale version of my full-sized M&P9. The proportions are ideal—the M&P22 is compact without being skimpy. I have large hands, and when I grip the Compact, my pinky finger doesn’t drift off the bottom of the magazine well.

The Compact is also well balanced, weighing 18 ounces (including its fully-loaded 10-round magazine) with an overall length of 6.7 inches. When I asked the engineering team how difficult that reduction in scale had been, I got an earful. It turned out to be much more of a challenge than I had expected.

The cartridge was the determining factor by defining the size of the magazine well. When the height of the full-size M&P was reduced, the feeding angle for the .22 LR round became an issue (as did the striking energy of the internal hammer because the arc-of-rotation was changed). The engineers did tell me how invaluable the in-house 3D printer had been for the fabrication of prototypes along the development path.

Like its centerfire big brother, the Compact is a mix of polymers and steels. Pluff told us S&W recently went out and purchased an entire injection molding company because “we knew how to cut metal, but not how to work polymers.”

Anyway, the frame is made from a high-strength polymer, the slide from tough, 7076 T651 aluminum, and the barrel from 4140 carbon steel. Every part in this new model is American-made.

The Compact is a single-action, hammer-fired, blowback design featuring an articulated trigger with a drop safety/activated firing pin block, an ambidextrous thumb safety, a loaded-chamber observation port, and an internal lock activated by turning a supplied key. I can’t think of a safer model on the market. The Compact would be an ideal plinker for the entire family to enjoy.

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The 3-dot sight system is fully adjustable for windage and elevation.

The grasping grooves on the slide are elegant and effective.

The slide is removed from the frame by first lowering this takedown lever.

The M&P22 Compact is fully “tactical” and has a suppressor-ready, threaded muzzle featuring a protective nut.

Tactical Touches

When I used the term “tactical” to describe the M&P22, I wasn’t exaggerating. The first feature that catches your eye is the Picatinny-style rail up front, just begging for some lights and lasers. My M&P9 is stocked with Crimson Trace LaserGrips, and I ended up mounting a complementary Insight white light unit on the Picatinny rail. To duplicate that package and controls on the Compact, I mounted a Streamlight Model TLR-4 green laser/white light unit on the front rail. It’s a pretty cool tool, offering light only, laser only or light/laser combined at the flick of your finger.

I spoke with Mike Faw from Crimson Trace, who was at the factory as well. He told me the trend is definitely to green lasers, pointing out the fact green is more visible in daylight. It also projects a larger beam, but at the cost of more energy and bigger batteries. Faw also said since most confrontations occur at night, the advantage of green lasers isn’t always significant. Whether a green dot in the middle of an assailant’s chest will have the same calming effect as a red one remains to be seen.

Speaking of being a tactical design, the muzzle of the Compact is factory threaded for a suppressor. It’s not obvious because the threads are concealed by a protective nut. The barrel thread form is 3/8-inch-24 threads, so a 1/2-inch-28 thread adapter will be required to mount most current rimfire suppressors. No big deal. They’re readily available; however, because of its threaded barrel and trigger pull weight, the Compact cannot be sold in Massachusetts, Connecticut or California.

One of the nice features of the M&P22 Compact is the sighting system. It’s a three white-dot setup with the rear sight being adjustable for windage and elevation. Being able to adjust your zero is an outstanding asset with a .22 handgun because no two .22 LR brands ever seem to have the same point of impact.

With a pull weight of only 5.8 pounds and a reset of only 0.150 inch, the Compact’s factory trigger is sensational. Both at the factory and home on the range, I shot hundreds of rounds through it. The only type of ammunition that failed to cycle was Federal’s Gold Medal target load. All other brands, whether standard or high velocity, solid or hollowpoint, fed and functioned fine.

I love the stainless steel magazines supplied with this gun. They drop right out when the reversible magazine catch is punched. They’re tough enough to take the fall on a rapid reload without lip deformation. There’s a big, soft, slide button for your thumb to lower the follower when charging the magazine (two of them come with the gun).

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It’s OK to be brand conscious! Rimfires are ammunition sensitive, both in terms of function and accuracy.
Here are some of the better groups produced by the M&P22.

At 15 yards from a Caldwell pistol rest, my best overall group was 1-1/2-inches with Federal Champion. What surprised and intrigued me were the 4-shot groups turned in by Federal 550 and Winchester 555—those big-box store, 500+ round bulk packs we used to be able to buy. I hope we can again soon! There’s some magic lurking there.

Field-stripping the Compact is simply a matter of switching the takedown lever down and removing the slide. The process can be seen at www.smith-wesson.com/mp22compact.

The M&P22 Compact story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning S&W’s accessory program. The company has arranged with holster makers (De Santis and Triple K), laser and flashlight firms (Crimson Trace, Streamlight, LaserMax and Laserlyte) and optics mounting system maker, UM Tactical, to have M&P22 Compact accessories available.

In short, Smith & Wesson’s M&P22 Compact is a well-designed, quality pistol, worthy of the M&P designation, with a wealth of tactical features.

M&P22 Compact
Maker: Smith & Wesson
2100 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield, MA 01104
(800) 331-0852
www.gunsmagazine.com/index
Action Type: Blowback, semi-auto
Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
Capacity: 10
Barrel length: 3.6 inches
Overall length: 6.7 inches
Weight: 18.1 ounces, fully loaded
Sights: 3-dot, fully adjustable, plus rail
Stocks: Polymer
Finish: Black
Price: $389

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