Having read too many posts on RFC and other forums about problems with the victory I have shield away from getting one. I will use the word that gunriter Jack O'Conner used to describe guns he thought were unlovely to describe the way I see the gun. It is amorphus. I know looks has nothing to do with performance but it is still and always will be an issue for me.

 

I have a friend with one. We couldn't get it reliable for about two years. One day he dabbed some jb bore paste on the rails and any wear points on the bolt. Then hand racked the slide about 100 times. Neither of us know why, but the gun is running great since that. Not sure if it was that in particular that was the magic bullet, or if it was a combination of things that had been changed over the years and the polishing was the last step. It's a very nice shooting gun now, and he claims it is his most accurate for bullseye competition... go figure.

We both like troubleshooting firearms that are not functioning right, and have gotten a lot of other turds to run very well. This one was the toughest by far, and we really don't know if it was just one change or a combination of many that made the difference.

I only know of one person that has not had issues with the Victory.

As far as the trigger, my friend's actually smoothed out over many rounds to where it is very nice. I do remember that feeling the OP mentioned when the gun was new.

I am a self admitted S&W anti fan. But once the Victory was sorted out ( and only God knows what made it run) it is one of the most accurate pistols I've seen. He does have a VQ barrel on his , so maybe thats the key.

FWIW, he has students that have had reliability trouble (both were purchased in 2023). He has taken them and done the same changes that were made to his and not been able to duplicate success. It makes me wonder if there is simply an extended break in that is needed.

Good luck with it

 

My wife and I both bought Victories back in 2020. Both have ran great with no issues from either of them. The triggers were about as described but smoothed out somewhat with use. Guess we got lucky as I have had problems with more than one S&W I've purchased in the last few years.

 

Mine runs fine. And as a former and present owner of 41s, the trigger is acceptable.
I have no intention to tinker a relatively low cost gun into something it isn't. It is, what it is.
That said, I would sell it, not because I think it an inferior gun-Only because I just got a new 41, and I don't need very many guns in my old age. However, for my old peepers, the sights are helpful, which swayed me to buy it in the first place.

 

My 5YO Victory is working just fine with 1000+ rounds through it. While I have the TK trigger kit upgrade for it, I have not installed that yet. The only internal upgrade I have is the TK extractors.
Usually shooting Aguila SE HV resulted in a very occasional FTE, but the updated extractor seems to have cured that. My marksmanship leaves much to be desired, but when I settle down on a rest, the Victory can easily shoot 25-50 yds with a high degree of accuracy. While there might be better 22LR pistols, I would be hard pressed to discourage anyone from getting one for plinking or competition.

 

Thanks all for the responses. Again, I don't want to make it sound like I don't love the gun, I just find it strange that, given how popular the platform is, that many upgrades for the pistol are so difficult to implement compared to other rimfire platforms. Still, I'd say that out-of-the-box, it has the best trigger out of any rimfire I own outside of maybe my 457 (which still has been upgraded thanks to YoDave).

And to be fair, when comparing stock-to-stock, I like many things about the Victory over my Mark IV (Talo Hunter). The trigger, bolt release, grip angle, balance, and magazines all worked better for me before the MKIV upgrades. In fact, the only thing I probably prefered on the Mark IV initially was the safety, which I'll be remedying as soon as Brownell's fills my backorder.

Also, my Victory takedown screw is already stripped, so I have to wait to "shoot it loose" again before I can replace it. Why would one add a regularly used allen screw that's made out of tofu??? 🤣

 

Mine runs like a clock. My BIL bought one and it wouldn’t eject. I googled it and found to bend the ejector inward a hair ( or maybe outward. It’s been a while) it runs fine now. I put a red dot on mine, but took it back off. The stock sights are so nice I like shooting with them. I can steady mine on a bench and shoot 1/2-3/4” groups with cheap ammo at 50 yards. I shoot it more precisely than any handgun I own. It practically shoots itself. I have a Colt Woodsman and a couple of Mark 2’s, but they stay in the safe. The only drawback is it’s kind of ugly. I’ve been meaning to get a set of those nice looking Volquartsen laminated target grips for it.

 

Mine runs like a clock. My BIL bought one and it wouldn’t eject. I googled it and found to bend the ejector inward a hair ( or maybe outward. It’s been a while) it runs fine now. I put a red dot on mine, but took it back off. The stock sights are so nice I like shooting with them. I can steady mine on a bench and shoot 1/2-3/4” groups with cheap ammo at 50 yards.

Yeah, I'd heard that about the ejector. I haven't had a single feed or eject issue since I bought it (slightly used). Come to think about it, I don't think I've had a single misfire yet either. Between my son and I, we probably have around 500 rounds through it so far. I've got red dots on both my rimfire pistols - better for my old eyes.

 

From the aesthetics I've never desired one........From the design and troubles mentioned by owners. I've never wanted one....I find my Ruger MK's and Buckmarks to be much better 2.. pistols.

 

I see that this thread is over a month old, but here is my experience with the Victory. I bought mine new in 2017. I will admit that when I first saw the Victory on forums I didn't think it was a very attractive pistol. I started to read about them on the forums and I was impressed that immediately there were quite a few aftermarket accessories available for the Victory. I tend to be kind of a tinkerer and one day while visiting the Brownell's retail store I saw that they had them on sale for $100 off and thought why not? Mine worked just fine right out of the box, but like I said, I like to tinker, so I bought a TK flat faced trigger with adjustable take up and over-travel adjustments. Then a TK Halo and then a set of G10 Bullseye grips. I have been very happy with mine. This is the finished product.

 

I’ll chime in here, too. I bought my Victory in 2016. It was reliable and accurate right out of the box. However, in 2019 I started to do some mods. I changed the grips to a pair of Altamont checkered wood grips to dress her up a bit. Then, I added a Volquartsen I-fluted barrel with their compensator. Next came a red dot made by Sightmark. It was pretty well set except for one nagging problem: the takedown screw that holds the barrel/receiver to the frame kept loosening up. Drove me crazy. I finally solved this by buying an aftermarket screw. I don’t recall the brand but it was inexpensive and it has worked 100%. And, just a year ago, the final mod was installing the TandemKross Victory trigger. That brought the trigger pull from 4 pounds 2 ounces down to 2 pounds 1 ounce and really gave it a nice and smooth trigger pull. This work paid off as I noticed the size of groups decreased.
All of these mods were easy to do. The most difficult was the TK trigger. I followed the instructions in the TK video which were detailed and clear. It took me about 40 minutes (not including disassembly) to install and another 10 minutes to adjust the pre-travel and post-travel. All things considered, I think it is a pretty easy pistol to field strip and to do the mods I’ve described above.

 

Cliff 56. I think that the take down screw that you bought was probably made by DIP Products. I bought one also, it is more robust and uses a larger allen screw for more torque when tightening it. Also has some loctite type compound on it. I think they were about $5 each and well worth it.

 

wproct, you are probably correct. I usually keep every receipt or packing lists for gun parts I buy. But, I moved during the summer of 2022 (for the last time - I swear) and I either misplaced or lost some of them. I see S&W sells a replacement nyloc takedown screw for the Victory. I think the screw loosening up was a common problem.

 

I too thought they were weird looking at first but ended up buying one on the used market to see how it compares with my other rimfire pistols. Shot pretty darn well. When cleaning the barrel later noticed a few rough areas in the bore. Contacted Smith with pictures , they sent a label , Victory returned with new barrel installed.

Thought I would upgrade the trigger , got the Tandemkross but have to say I don't really care for it. Very sloppy fit , one of the few cases where I actually preferred the stock trigger over aftermarket.

 

Thought I would upgrade the trigger , got the Tandemkross but have to say I don't really care for it. Very sloppy fit , one of the few cases where I actually preferred the stock trigger over aftermarket.

Just curious, you did install the nylon spacer washer beside the trigger? Even with the spacer installed, my TK trigger has slight side to side play.

 

I liked the looks of my Victory, but didn't keep it very long; feeding and other problems. "Upgrade Kit" and Gun Book Maintenance manual for sale in the Marketplace. Might take care of a couple annoying problems.

 

Well, how adventurous are you? After I installed the Tandemkross trigger the trigger pull was improved but still didn't make me really happy. Now I read on forums saying that when you pair the Tandemkross trigger with the Tandemkross Thunder Hammer the results are outstanding. But, the Thunder Hammer is another $69.00 or so, and I haven't worked up my curiosity enough to order one yet.

 

The Thunder Hammer is well worth it.

 

ive had no issues with mine yet , i added the halo but nothing else , i rather like the sights ,

ill admit i bought it as much from curiosity as anything , i have an original S&W Victory revolver , i wanted t see if i liked the 22 as mmuch as i do that one

 

I bought one a few years ago and heavily modded it. Shoots very well, and is very reliable. The biggest issue for me is the safety will engage itself while shooting. Bought and aftermarket shelf safety to try to fix that but it has been a bit annoying.

 

I had 3 victories. I bought the first and ran it right out of the box. I was impressed enough with the accuracy, reliability and trigger, that I splurged on a Performance center model the following year. That one was a disaster. It had all kinds of issues and went back to the factory twice before I traded it. From there, I built my own PC clone with TK parts on a basic target model. That one ran very well. That said, the Victory, while a huge improvement over the lower end junk 22's SW had previously produced, was still largely an inexpensive , med quality pistol designed to compete with the Browning Buckmark and Ruger MK series pistols. ( They were not looking to compete with their Mod 41 line) Having worked on my last Victory extensively, I will confirm the OP's thoughts on the wows of working the internals. However, they are really no worse (nd less expensive to upgrade) than the Ruger MK IV's.

 

I've liked the Victory since I first shot an instructors probably 5 years ago now and I bought my own shortly thereafter. I'm relatively new to this forum and never paid much attention to chatter about problems with them but mine has been great. When I first bought it I had an issue nearly right away with the magazine catch. I sent it back to the factory and had it back repaired 2 days later. Knowing what I know now it is probably something I could have fixed myself. That said, it shoots great and has been as reliable for me as any rimfire pistol I've ever owned or shot. I never found the trigger to be that awful but I will say that on the 22A I just got is better. I'm too cheap to spend money on expensive ammo so my guns usually get fed nothing better than Federal Automatic or maybe CCI Standard velocity at best and the Victory handles all that and shoots it well. Aside from magazines, the only thing I've done to the gun is adding the Tandemkross Halo.

 

Because it's looks and design looked like Elmer Fudd did it......I have no desire to handle or own one.

 

Because it's looks and design looked like Elmer Fudd did it......I have no desire to handle or own one.

"Drat!That frustrating 'Wascally Wabbit' is using a pre-Performance Center 41 and laughing at me!" 😁

 

I had one for a brief time but couldn't warm up to it. Plus, I wasn't crazy about that pesky ejector, what with its critical adjustment. So, out it went.

 

I'm curious about ejector issues. I've never had to do anything special but wonder if it is something that has been improved over time. Though my Victory isn't exactly new.

 

>I'm curious about ejector issues<<

Both a friend and I bought them when they first came out, and found the ejector had to be tweaked/bent just so to ensure reliable ejection. Perhaps that's been remedied in later models. I also didn't care for the take-down screw for disassembly. While I'm a fan of S&W in general, this one just didn't do it for me.

 

I love mine. It shoots everything reliably. It’s the pistol I’m most accurate with. It put a rod dot on it for a while, but took it off. I really like the factory sights. I put 800 rounds of assorted cheap ammo through it the first day I had it. My BIL liked it so much he bought one. His would malfunction a lot. I googled the issue, bent the ejector inward a little and AFAIK it still runs fine now. Mine is my favorite pistol. I can rest the bottom of the handle on a bench and with a red dot and good ammo it’ll shoot .5-.75” groups pretty regularly. I have a couple Mark 2’s and a Woodsmen, but always reach for the Victory.

22 Plinkster once said “Out of all my pistols if someone told me they’d give me a million dollars if I could make a certain shot at 100 yards, I’d have to use the. Victory”.

 

I guess I’m just lucky. Had mine for a few years and have shot all kinds of ammo through it with no problems at all. All stock and I love it.

 

Pro Tip: After a thorough cleaning, when reinstalling the extractor, do so at the bottom of an empty cooler with the extractor pointed down. Otherwise you may be engaging in a lengthy scavenger hunt for the little plastic retainer piece that the extractor spring can launch surprisingly far.

 

I love my Victory, but since I purchased it I've found that upgrades are at best complicated. The trigger out of the box is pretty **** good for stock, far and away better than what the typical MKIV offers. Still, if I want to lower the poundage or decrease what little grind is left in the pull (that nasty little section in the sear that always seems to remind me of getting a tooth drilled), I have to basically replace all the lower guts following instructions written for an astrophysicist. Is this just typical 1st Generation issues or should we not expect more from a modern nerd gun? I always thought we as rimfire enthusiasts sacrificed cool factor for performance in these geeky wannabe phasers, but the Victory is straddling the line dangerously close to "almost, but not quite".

TandemKross makes very well made and reasonably priced internals to upgrade the SW 22 Victory into a very, very great Pistol. I would highly recommend getting the following from them:
1. Victory Trigger
2. Eagle Claw Extractor
3. Thunder Hammer
4. Extended Mag Release
5. Thumb Rest Safety
6. Single Piece Guide Rod and Spring
7. Halo Charging Ring

I have all of these on my Victory Pistol and shoot Bullseye Precession Pistol matches with it. It works flawlessly. The Victory Trigger will bring your trigger pull down to 1.8-1.9 pounds.