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Disappointing range trip Victory PC

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  • TexMex247

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    Well if anyone noticed the impulse buy thread I started you're familiar with my latest range toy. A Smith and Wesson Victory PC. It's a looker and a nice handling ultra light pistol. I dig the flat trigger and controls. This was my first SW rimfire and being a "Performance Center" model, I expected perfection. Sadly it didn't deliver...

    Before taking it out I mounted an ADE $70 micro green Dot. That performed admirably. I also gave it a good once over, noting the decent amount of oil and smoothness of function. Everything seemed GTG. I did not mess with the mags and I probably should have.

    I decided to bring 4 varieties of ammo just to give it some proper break in and see how it ran SV vs HV ammo. Unfortunately I could not get through one complete magazine without multiple failures. I started with cci blazer which runs pretty much every other 22 I own reliably and with fairly good accuracy.

    From the start the mags seemed to have issues. Almost like the bullets were sticking in the body akwardly. Loaded to capacity, there was very little tension on the follower and bullets didn't protrude at what I thought was a good angle. Changing ammo did seem to help a bit with these issues so I figure the Blazer must just be slightly wider as they are lead bullets.


    After switching to Remington golden bullet, I still experienced failures on virtually every other round. Almost every time it was a failure to fully eject. With a ridiculously wide breech, the design allows a spent case to literally sit parralel to the next round and jam up against the barrel as I live round feeds into the chamber.

    Being brand new I thought ok, maybe it runs some tight springs and needs a lil more ooomph to cycle right. So I loaded a couple magazines with Remington viper which is pretty hot 22 ammo. These rounds gave me a good 6 or 7 in a row that fed and ejected properly before experiencing the same issues. At this point it became clear that this wasn't just an ammo issue. I loaded some Norma tac 22 anyhow and of course it had similar failures.

    Overall I'm thoroughly disappointed. The only gimmer of hope is that this seems to be a recurring theme with the victory pistols and the fix is potentially an easy one. Most everyone has been able to remedy the ejection issue by putting a slight bend in the ejector itself, lightly curving it toward center of the gun. The angle engages the spent case better and redirects it out of the breech.

    Although I haven't attempted the fix yet I'm still urked that Smith and Wesson would be audacious enough to put their "Performance Center" label on a pistol that clearly has never been test fired or hand tuned in any manner. I can accept the semi sticky mags that may just need to sit fully loaded a while but the reliability is laughable at best. Needless to say I won't be selling my buckmarks or rugers anytime soon.
    DK Firearms
     

    amberloo

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    Detail your experience as best you can and send it back to S&W.

    I had a S&W M&P 22 Compact that would not shoot anything without lots of fail to eject (in some cases 50%) and I actually had to almost field strip the gun and jam a wooden dowel down the throat to dislodge the casing. Finally got so pissed off I was either going to sent it to S&W or throw it away !

    I contacted them by email with my problem. They sent me a label to return to them at their cost. The gun was about a year old.

    In about 3 weeks I received the gun back with a little bit of information which basically said the repair was to "repair the barrel." I could tell that they had opened the barrel as well as polished the feed ramp. I have absolutely not had a single fail to extract, eject or feed since them using some really cheap bulk ammo.

    The thing that still kind of ticks me off is that they send a new gun out with having a very precise inspection on the diameter of the barrel and the breech.

    But they did give me some excellent service and the gun works great now.

    Give them a shot !
     

    Tnhawk

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    Sorry that you're having a bad experience with your pistol. I would contact S&W Customer Service for a shipping label to have it repaired.
    My Victory pistol has performed well with a variety of ammunition. However when using it with a suppressor attached, it doesn't like some round nose lead ammunition. When using copper plated rounds it has been 100% reliable with or without a suppressor.
     

    TexMex247

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    I would but I'm a mechanic by trade and DIY type. I just don't have the time or energy to hassle with shipping it about. If it was a more serious issue I'd get a label and send it in. As it stands I'll pull off the top half and give it a tweak.

    Might get a chance to take it back out next weekend. I'll update this thread as things develop.
     

    ZX9RCAM

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    I've had my Victory for 8+ years.
    My only issue was requiring locktight on the takedown screw.
    Love it with the RDS.
    Works great with my Sparrow.
     

    Hoji

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    B309E52D-9A15-46BD-A539-B9CBA987AF4D.jpeg
    The .22 semi auto was perfected with the Ruger MKII. Sorry you are having issues.
     

    V-Tach

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    Have sold quite a few Victory's, with no known issues....customers have been satisfied.....

    Personally, I never warmed up to them....
     

    TexMex247

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    Well I decided to brave the hundred plus degree heat around here to see if the ejector tweak worked. I brought only Remington golden bullets this time and I was pleasantly surprised to have the gun chew through a couple of mags without issue. Cases were spitting out consistently and perpendicular to the barrel.

    I shot about 4 mags back to back and decided to tweak the green dot a bit. After some adjustment, a minor one at that, the gun seemed to drift off the original POA. I rechecked the sight screws and immediately noticed some wobble in the upper. I thought WTF, I put a little blue loctite on the takedown screw and torqued it to 48" lbs. Which is actually about 8" lbs higher than most people are running.

    I also had a pair of failures where the hammer didn't reset. Trigger not reset and live round in the chamber. At that point I just stopped shooting it. From the inside I could clearly see the barrel remaining in place while the whole upper receiver shifted back and forth about a half millimeter.

    Well, turns out, it's not the take down screw now but a different grub screw that secures the upper to the barrel. So I fixed one known issue only to have to deal with another. Needless to say I am dis-a-fn' pointed. The whole idea of the structural integrity of the entire gun being dependent on these 2 screws is ridiculous.

    I've read all about over or under torqued take down screws but the upper to barrel screw loosening in under 200 rounds is unacceptable. Fortunately it's another easy fix for the mechanically inclined. I think I'm going to go with some VC3 in addition to some extra torque. Maybe once I get it sorted that will be the end of it.

    All that being said, it's definitely worth an email to Smith and Wesson about their lack of QC and the diminishing prestige I now associate with the performance center name. A bunch of loose screws on an untested gun with an improperly tuned ejector are not at all what I was expecting when I bought it. Makes me appreciate my buckmarks and mk iiis that much more.

    Here's a picture of the barrel to upper fitment. One without gap and the other with gentle pressure pulling it back. Doesn't look like much but enough slop to induce another type of failure.
     

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    TexMex247

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    I have no plans to sell it right now. Honestly think once I retorque everything it will be good to go. The extractor angle is/was a more delicate repair and that's already worked out. It's just been a deflating experience as I love every Smith I have and want to love this one too.
     

    jmohme

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    I looked high and low for years at gun shows for one with the 10" barrel, but never found any for sale. Ended up just buying a Mk III 22/45 Target Model some years ago.

    But I do like the looks of the longer 10" barrel.
    The 10 inch is available again in the Mark IV.
    I would have bought one by now, but I am still unsure about the Mark IV.
     

    Texasjack

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    The .22 semi auto was perfected with the Ruger MKII. Sorry you are having issues.
    The .22 semiauto was pretty much perfected with the Ruger Mark I. I lost count of the thousands of rounds I put through mine before I gave it to my son. I did manage to wear out the recoil spring, but Ruger sent me a new one. The Marks II and III were OK, but with the Mark IV they fixed the difficulty of taking the pistol apart for a thorough cleaning. I've looked at many other .22 pistols since then, but none have measured up to the Ruger. Having said that, I really like the OLD Browning Buckmark, but good luck finding someone willing to part with one. The new ones are junk by comparison.

    If you want a .22 semiauto pistol that is super accurate and super reliable and reasonably priced and well supported by the maker, look for the Ruger Mark series.
     

    TexMex247

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    Third time must be the charm. I went out again today and it ate up the golden bullets like candy. Probably due for a proper cleaning now. Accuracy was fair not great which I take some credit for as I didn't rest it but my ADE green dot is also getting finicky the more I mess with it. The adjustment screws have no tension, then kinda hit a point of resistance. Still not sure if it will stay on it.

    Overall I'm confident the bugs are all worked out mechanically. The magazines have smoothed out with use. It's ejecting properly and consistently. The golden bullet I've been using isn't exactly high performance ammo so I think there's room for improvement.

    While fixing the play in the upper I also noticed the take up and over-travel screws hadn't been adjusted at all from the factory. Just another indicator that this one went right from assembly line to the box. Smith and Wesson really dropped the ball on this one. If it was a run of the mill victory I'd say it's forgiveable but once again for a performance center gun I expected more.

    After a few hundred more rounds I'll send an informative email to SW. Whether it falls on deaf ears or not will be a good indicator of where the company is headed.
     

    Dead Roman

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    I would but I'm a mechanic by trade and DIY type. I just don't have the time or energy to hassle with shipping it about. If it was a more serious issue I'd get a label and send it in. As it stands I'll pull off the top half and give it a tweak.

    Might get a chance to take it back out next weekend. I'll update this thread as things develop.

    There is no hassle. You ship it straight to s&w and the ship it straight back to you.
     
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