Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What can you tell me about the S&W 2206?

I have a chance to buy a S&W 2206 in excellent condition for $300, but I don't recall seeing a 2206 previously and this sample looks like it has a sintered/cast stainless frame. This particular pistol has a 6" barrel, adjustable rear sight, and a set of after-market Pachmeyer grips. I am familiar with both the 422 and 622, both of which have alloy frames, but the 2206 is new to me.

Please advise your thoughts on the 2206 and compare/contrast the 2206 vs. the 422/622.

Jeff

My wife has a 2206, it's a nice gun. It absolutely chokes on Remington ammo. From the measurements I've taken, all the Rem ammo has small rims, and the 2206 does not extract them.
So it actually is an extractor problem, but using Winchester or Federal ammo solves the problem here.
If you Google it up, you will find that the 2206 is notorious for this problem so take it for what it's worth.

If I just really needed/wanted to use Rem ammo, I'd work on fixing the extractor so it would function with what I call out-of-spec ammo, which much of the Remington stuff seems to be.

Hello Jeff
I would have to disagree with this comment on the 2206. I have had one for better than a year now, and fired Many, Many Hundreds of rounds out of it with out one Fail to fire or extraction Problem. I feed mine CCI ammo and like any serious Target Pistol if you give them Good Food they will perform. I am also a Range Safety Officer and have had several Patrons on the range within the last year using Remington ammo and in my mind it is Pure Garbage. It is the most common ammo to Misfire that I have ever seen, and I have actually stopped Patrons using it that are having F.T.F.'s with it, and made them take that Junk off the range. It is Dangerous Playing with Misfires, and I feel if a Guy can't afford a little more price for Good .22 ammo, he needs to get rid of his Pistol or revolver. On the article the Previous Poster commented, it was written by a Magazine Rag, that I take at face Value. They are comparing apples to oranges in that artice by Placing the 2206 in the same catogory as the famous model 41 Target Pistol.I can tell you by Owning both of these Pistols that the 2206 will do everything the 41 can do for a Lot cheaper Purchase price. On the subject of the construction of the 2206 it is a Milled Stainless steel Frame, not even close to the quality of the 422 or 622 Pistol which are cast aluminum. This Pistol is of the Highest quality, and in my mind was way too expensive for S&W to produce given it's original price tag of $599.00, they sure could not have been making much on it. I have had mine to the bare frame and can tell you the Only Plastic Part in it is the Magazine release catch of which I have had no ill Issues. I paid $350.00 for mine, and would buy another on in a Heart if I could find one. Rest assured the 2206 is one High quality .22 Pistol that if fed the right ammo will sure to please you...I would suggest Buying it and enjoy it for a Third of the cost of the model 41.. Thegeneral.

That pistol is the reason that I own no other Smiths. Had one several years ago that I bought brand new. It had a nasty habit of splitting the cases. Thought it might be an ammo issue, so I got some different ammo for the second range trip. Same thing. On the third range trip I had several different types of ammo thinking I'd give it one last try before sending it back to the factory. It split the case of every kind of ammo I tried. On my last shot the rear sight went flying off. I found it but not the spring under it.

Sent the pistol, sight and several of the blown cases back to Smith. When it came back I was all excited so off to the range I go. Went to adjust the rear sight up and there was nothing under it to push it up. No spring! Started picking up some of the spent brass and noticed splits! With that kind of "Customer Service" Smith has not gotten another penny of my money since and probably never will.

I know that some of you are big S&W fans. Fine by me, you can have my share. I sent the gun back to Smith, when it came back I took it to another shop without firing it and traded for a Ruger MKII. Haven't regretted that move one bit. I do regret trading off the Ruger.

Dave.

We put several of these on the rental rack when I worked on an indoor range. They weren't as bad as dave284 reports, but they did not hold up well. When they worked, they were fairly accurate. The main think I disliked about them was the magazine catch. If you grab the gun just right, you can get the magazine to drop out at random.

For $300, I'd buy a used Ruger Mk II.


Okie John