Well, nothing NEEDS an upgrade. It is a solid performer out of the box. The rest is preference. I like a light trigger so I did that upgrade. I fell victim to the new barrel sales, but it was not needed. It shot 1.5" at 50-yards with the original barrel and perhaps slightly better with an upgrade. The picatinny rail works fine, as do the open sights. There are a lot of folks that want it metal rather than polymer but running a scope or dot for a couple years have shown no issue. I wanted fitted grips but the factory ones were fine.

A stock pistol will shoot with mine, and stay with pretty much anything. I moved from scope back to my Ultradot Matchdot II and sighted it in last night at 50-feet (16.7 yards). 5 shots could be covered by a dime with Tac22.

 

Here is 50 yards.

 

For a takedown screw (one that works itself loose), the easiest fix is to put an O ring on it. I believe #61 is the correct size. Don't need to torque it so much that it feels like you're going to break the bit.

 

Just traded in a 22/45 towards a bone stock threaded barrel Victory.

I've heard of the super-tight takedown screw, and I know that Tandem Kross makes a bunch of stuff for them. Stock trigger is OK but heavy. Feels like 4 or 5 lbs and not crisp. I could see myself looking to improve. Also, the grips feel a little odd to me but I'm not sure how to describe that.

So, what should I expect for accuracy, reliability, problems, etc.

And what upgrades are "must have", etc. Looking for the most bang for the buck.

Thanks all!

I thought the trigger was a little heave. I installed the Tandemkross trigger and Altamont grips. Love shooting this gun now.

 

This is my Victory. Do any mods absolutely need to be done to the Victory? Not really, they are pretty nice out of the box. However, I tend to be a tinkerer, and that's part of the fun to me. I have added the following to mine.

A flat faced Tandemkross trigger. Improves, lightens the trigger pull and gives a little longer reach for larger hands, like mine.

Tandemkross Halo ring. Definitely makes the slide easier to rack.

New improved takedown screw by DIProducts. Accepts a larger allen wrench for better leverage and has a locktite compound added to the threads to secure it.

Set of G10 Bullseye grips with thumb rest. Like them a lot. Good grip and quite comfortable.

I initially ordered a set of Altamont wood grips for it but chose a color that I didn't care for and they didn't have a thumbrest. I'm particular on grips.

Think I'm done with mine for add-ons.

 

I’ve never thought that the Victory was a very attractive .22. I know s&w can create good looking firearms and I love my M41 but the rebuilt pistol in the 2nd post looks very cool to me. I would get rid of the scope and drop a BurrisFF3 on it though.

 

I have been lookin at the Victory. I am trying to decide if getting the Performance Center version is worth the extra money? I have heard the PC trigger is still about 4 pounds pull and I really want the 2 pound pull that the Tandemcross trigger kit gives. Are there any opinions here or maybe someone that can verify that the PC version trigger is still heavy?

 

I don't know if the PC version has a better trigger. The TK trigger is pretty good.

 

I ended up getting the Performance Center version with the Fluted barrel. The trigger feels pretty good stock and not to heavy but I don’t have a way to measure pull. One thing that I didn’t like is that the feed ramp IS NOT polished and on a PC version I really would think it should be. I had read somewhere that the barrels on the PC version were made by Volquartsen for them but I now saw something where S&W said they were made in house. Had I known this I might have gone ahead and bought the lower cost gun and built it myself with the parts that I wanted. I will shoot it later today for the 1st time and see how it goes.

 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts after you have a chance to shoot it.

 

I took the Victory PC to the range today. I have to say I think that I made a mistake getting this gun. The magazines are the worst 22 magazines that I have ever used. The ammo fits tight and drags. I had quite a few failures to feed and failures to eject and both magazines sometimes fall out while shooting even though I made sure they were locked in. I was trying to make sure my hand was not touching the magazine release and they would still fall out sometimes. I tried about 5 types of ammo including CCI standard velocity, Remington Golden bullets, Federal Auto Match and American Eagle. It seemed to like the Federal Auto Match the best and hated the Golden Bullets and the CCI had more failures to eject than the others . I will go again in a few days and hope this gets better after more break in time. If not I may use it as a boat anchor and go buy a good gun. Maybe I expect to much for a $630+ 22 pistol.

 

The first part of your review concerning the magazines surprises me, as I always thought the magazines in my standard Victory was always one of my most positive aspects of the pistol. Mine are very easy to load and very smooth in operation. I wonder if Smith & Wesson has changed their supplier of the magazines or something. I will agree that the magazine release button has a very light spring, and while I have never had an issue with them releasing accidentally. I see how it could happen. Sometimes when I have had an issue similar to this I have gone to my local hardware store and found a spring of the same diameter only heavier tension that would resolve the issue.

The feed and ejection issue is relatively common with these pistols in some cases, and if you do some searches on this forum you will see information on slightly bending/tweaking the ejector to remedy the issue. Of course returning it to S&W for repair is an option also. I hope you can get these issues resolved because the Victory can be a very nice pistol to shoot.

 

I did quite a bit of research before getting this pistol and have watched or read about adjusting the ejector. I do like the gun but hope it will get better with more use. After some more time I will start trying to make it better. I took the magazines apart and cleaned them ( they weren’t dirty) and put a little oil on the springs and follower and they seem a little smoother now. Today I noticed that the screw holding the mag release button on was about to fall out. This shouldn’t cause the problem that I had with the magazine falling out but you would think that S&W would at least tighten the screws when they build a gun or even better use some blue locktite.

The trigger is better than I had thought it would be stock but it would be nice if it was a little lighter. Later I may install a Tandemcross hammer and see if that reduces the trigger some.

 

I just went to Smith & Wesson's website and see that the magazine release button is different than on the standard model that I own, and the grips are of a different design also. I do really like the looks of the fluted barrel though.

 

My buddy has a performance center and it is on an even keel with my worked out mk 2 and yes it is accurate no problems with the trigger and I didnt find it heavy.

 

Update on the S&W PC Victory. I looked at the ejector and it was running right in the middle of the bolt. I tweaked it as far in to the center of the gun as I could without it rubbing the bolt.
I found that the barrel set screw was almost falling out. I put blue loctite on it and tightened it down good. I really think that the loose screw was the problem with the failure to eject problems that I have had since the very 1st shot from the gun. This is the second screw that was falling out after the 1st trip to the range. S&W really has no Quality Control at all and has no clue what loctite is.

The gun ran 100% yesterday with every brand of ammo that I put in it. I ran about 6 different brands with not 1 failure of any kind.

I am very happy with the gun now and it is a tack driver even at 25 yards.

I you buy this gun or anything from S&W before you shoot it check every single screw for tightness and use loctite where needed.

 

Glad you got your PC Victory running right for you. They are such a great pistol when running right!

 

I thought Marlin was the company with self unscrewing screws.

 

It is disappointing to hear that 2 screws were loose on a performance center Victory. You paid a premium for that gun and it should have been perfect. I am wondering how much extra love really goes into a performance center gun and if it is worth the extra cost. I'm glad your Victory is sorted out and shooting fine. I was so impressed with mine that I bought a second victory and put a red dot sight on it. I just could not bring myself to remove the open sights on the first gun due to their excellent function.