Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires M17 - Hi Standard - Colt OM 22 - Browning 150 - S&W M41 Colt Woodsman

... what to buy.

Question to the 22 enthusiast and experts among you: S&W M17/18 - Hi Standard - Colt revolver OMM 22 - Browning 150 - S&W M41 or Colt Woodsman. I need some input about these guns, durability, availability of replacement parts if necessary, accuracy, suitable for 22 HV or just SV ammo?

What to buy... for what intended purpose? Your question is beyond broad.

I know which of them I would zero in on, and have- Colt Woodsman, OM, and S&W K-22(M17). I know why I did but to make a pronouncement for another guy I would need to know where his head is at. They're all top-tier guns IMO and will all function well and return a long service life if properly maintained and not abused. As for parts availability in the unlikely event of breakage, everything is out there, for a price.

Having owned or own most of those on your list, (except the Browning 150) It comes down to a revolver or auto. Which do you prefer? All of them are "premium" models. Parts for the most part are available for all. The Colt OMM has the old style lock work, and if work is needed not that many gunsmiths are available for them, and some parts hard to find. The auto's will prefer SV ammo for the most part. The revolvers don't really care, but most likely more accurate with SV ammo. For myself I prefer the S&W K22 Masterpiece over the Colt OMM, and the High Standard Supermatic over the S&W Model 41. 22's are notorious for being unique to themselves, and finicky about ammo.

Ive shot em ( the ones listed ).
Smith revolvers and High Standards fit me best.

If im gonna shoot one a lot.....Smith rev.

Theyre all cool in their own way but Woodsmans are too small. High Standards parts are getting to be a pain and they gots lots of little ones ( suck to work on once you get bifocals ).

Long term blastomatic....least headache......Smith revolver.

Having said that....what do I have?

A freakin Buckmark w reflex and a Kart slide/ colt frame 1911.

So am good.

But if I didnt have those and wanted a good all around .22 .....id get a Smith rev.

K frames are sweet.

But a 4" j frame .22 mag in stainless would be super cool.
What was that.....651?

LGS has had 17 and 18 and 48s.
They get pretty decent money for em.

Hard to beat a K frame S&W. But one you forgot is the Ruger mark 2. I have the Government model. I also have a S&W 41. Both are accurate. Rugers are rugged and will shoot any ammo. Hasbeen

Yeah, it's a real bitch to have a .22 that ain't the same size as a 44 Automag.......

Why not one of each?

I've got the following, so will only comment on them;

A couple of Woodsman's, both are the second series, which have the mag release in the same location as a 1911. They're sized perfectly! Shoot HV & SV, no issues. If I did not shoot suppressed, this would be the only 22 semi-auto I would have. The early models (Huntsman help me out here, which model?) has an oval on the frame where the web of your hand goes, if it's checkered then SV only, if it has a series of horizontal lines in the oval, then HV is OK.

The S&W M17/K22/M18; K-frame (obviously), great for the range, some consider it a bit bulky-heavy for carry, especially the newer 617 with the barrel lug. The only thing different about the M18 is the 4-inch barrel, it's a bit handier for carry.

The S&W 34/63 are on the J-frame, great for woods carry. A bit more of a challenge to shoot accurately, but it is accurate, just takes more work to get you there.

Buy any of the above and you're set for life, The S&W 63 and M17 are still in production, so parts are a non-issue. The only part that I can recommend to pick up for the M17 or the M63 is a Speed Beez speed loader & loading block. The Colt Woodsman, a guy over at rimfirecentral was selling Woodsman parts so I asked him what parts I should pick up to keep mine running. He claimed that over 50 years he had no parts that needed replaced, sounds hard to believe to me, but!


You're going to enjoy the hell out one of these,

Jerry

Jerry is correct on the first series MS housing markings.

I grew up shooting a 6" match target.
Nice rig but dont fit me these days
Just the way it is.

Need to narrow down your criteria a bit but they are all phenomenal guns that you’re sure to enjoy for a long time.

Have no personal experience with the 150

Out of the handguns that you've listed, I have a S&W 18 and a 41. I like both of them, but the 18 is a field gun and the 41 is a target gun, different uses require different tools. I have always been cautioned not to use HV ammo in the 41 and since it is a target gun, I have only shot SV ammo in it. My Father had a 50' range in the barn where he shot tens of thousands of rounds through this 41 and a 46, both of which are still bank vault tight, so the "only shoot SV ammo" guidance seems valid.

I bought the 18 in 10/83 as a less expensive to shoot understudy for my 4" S&W 19.

Thank you so far! I forgot to tell you that the gun is intended for use on the range up to 25 m, sometimes a little bit more as handgun hunting is illegal in Germany. Handguns may only be used for hunting when to dispatch a wounded animal.

Somehow I forgot to put the Ruger 512 in the line. But thanks to your informations I think I will narrow it down to the Ruger 512 and a M17. Sometimes I consider to take a SigSauer 226 in 9mm and get a conversion kit for that gun.
Or some kind of a 1911 with a conversion kit. How are your experiences with these combinations?

I have a Colt-factory .22 Conversion Kit which I use on my 1911 Gold Cup. I like it very much, it works flawlessly. A couple downsides: A) the floating chamber gets "gummy" after a few hundred shots, and is also a bit of a pain to clean. (Small annoyance, really.) B) accuracy isn't in the same league as with the Woodsmans and target revolvers, but not far behind them. Certainly returns very usable accuracy.

I don't know if Colt still offers conversion kits, or if they are now entirely in the used/aftermarket realm.

Second hand original Colt conversion kit magazines are rather pricey too. I paid around $100 for a nice spare one last year, off of eBay.

My conversion is a Kart. Have one Kart mag and 5 Colt mags for it

6" and its a freakin tack driver. But its also big n heavy.
And not cheap.

If I didnt have it Id look at maybe a Marvel.

The last Colt marketed conversion kit I saw new, a few yrs back, was like the Kimber. An aluminum slide type. Was not bad price
But those were never really target conversions

Maybe they do well. Still different.

Colt made some with aluminum slides? Never heard of that.

ElmerKeith: Of the brands/models you are considering I own and have shot:

Model 17
Model 18
Many models of High Standard
Smith & Wesson Model 41
Colt Woodsman & Huntsman
All kinds of Browning BuckMarks, Nomads and Medalists
Several styles/models of Colt 22 revolvers

Of these I would recommend you seek out a used but as new "pre-hillary lock" Smith & Wesson Model 17 with 6" barrel and the full lug feature, target grips, target trigger and target hammer.
I have a couple of these (4" and a 6") and they are amazing!
Best of luck to you with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Of the pistols listed I have shot most of them and I can tell you it would be hard to go wrong with any of them. However, I do have my bias and my M17/K22 is my favorite .22 pistol so far. It is boringly accurate, easy to shoot well, it has very good adjustable sights, and has the best trigger of all of the pistols listed IMO.... even my buddie's Diamondback isn't quite as nice as my K22/M17... The grips that came on it were a bit small for my large hands, but I was still capable of very accurate shooting with them. I added some S&W target grips and it is much more comfortable now...

Bob

During 40 years years of Bullseye competition, I have used a Trophy High Standard, S&W 41, and a Kart Conversion on a 1911 frame in that order. That would mean 5000-7000 rounds per year. All were fine pistols that would produce 50 yard 10 shot groups of 1 to 1 1/2" with CCI SV. My favorite is the Kart particularly since it is a 1911 frame and 2/3 of the match I did with a 1911 in 45acp and gripwise they felt the same. The High Standard was a fine pistol but somewhat heavy. The S&W 41 was also very good but you might need a gunsmith familiar with them to go thru it to provide reliability.

The S&W and Colt revolvers you listed are very nice also, however, if you need to shoot rapidly, they can present a whole set of challenges not present with semi autos. If you want to go with a revolver, I would opt for the S&W 17 or the Colt Officers Model Match. The Colt needs larger hands than does the S&W 17. Its easier and less costly to get a good double action trigger pull on the Smith, however, the Colt OMM trigger when done right is unsurpassed. I have both.
Phil