Thursday, I was out making the rounds and this little beauty caught my eye. It was a S&W Model 22 A1 22LR. I was hoping it was a Match Grade Model 41 which is an upscale version. But it wasn’t. A fluted bull barrel, with a single piece wooden grip can be a real eye catcher.
S&W sell it as an enhanced model #151044, TALO Deluxe Limited Edition. She has a 5 ½ in fluted, two colored, bull barrel, with an adjustable rear sight and a weaver style optics mount. She also had some oversized custom textured wood target grips. 3 Magazines came in the box, which is good.
This one came with the box and instructions. But the previous owner had disassembled the piece but made a mistake and it would not cock or dry fire. The exterior bore no scratch marks and the chamber looked new. They were asking $400. So I had the consignment shop call the owner and he declined. The next day I came back and offered $325. They took the offer. If you Google the model and numbers this thing sells for around $525.00, depending whose asking.
I got back in town today, read the owner’s manual and did a field disassembly. After getting the takedown button with some considerable pressure, I removed the barrel and slide. The Recoil spring assembly has a plastic recoil spacer that had been reversed. I repositioned it reassembled the firearm. It works. The weapons in 95%+ condition and I doubt the original owner ever fired it.
This one is comparable to a Ruger Mark III 22/45 except reassembly is a lot easier and it appears to be a better designed rimfire. Smith & Wesson doses caution users to be selective on their choice of manufactured ammunition and she’s probably going to be a bit picky the first 500 rounds or so until she’s gets broken in.
