I have a Smith and Wesson model 422 .22LR pistol and can’t find the manual. The S&W website doesnt have it for download. Anyone here own this pistol or a similar model and can give me a quick guide to field stripping it?
From here
I’m not familiar with the pistol, or with your level of comfort field stripping auto pistols, so that last part about being “pretty obvious” might not be quite so, but I’d imagine that you could figure it out.
From this site:
I eventually stumbled across the disassembly sequence more or less by accident. You pull the slide back a ways, put an empty (DUH) 22 casing in front of it, and then push the slide forward. This allows you to lift the little metal retainer dingus from the top of the slide. From there on, field-stripping is pretty obvious.
I’ve never handled one, so I can’t say any more. Just be glad you don’t have a Ruger Mk. II. I tried to “field strip” one of those once, and it took a vice, a brass rod, a three pound mallet, and a lot of cursing to get it all back together afterward. Never again…
Stranger
The only “tricky part” about the Ruger assembly is getting the STRUT, as they call it, back into place in the socket on the mainspring. Good instructions may be found here: http://www.totse.com/en/bad_ideas/guns_and_weapons/rugermk2.html
Though it might not be available online, I’ve never seen a gun manufacturer that wouldn’t provide a new manual simply by asking. Write (or email) the company, and I’m sure they’d be happy to send you one.
No, the real problem is getting the mainspring housing assembly back into the receiver when you discover that the hole in the frame and the receiver are an interference fit (and no amount of adjustment or light tapping brings them back into alignment.) The gunsmith I called after 45 minutes of dispair said, “Yeah, I usually just take off the grips and soak it in solvent for a while…not worth it to take it apart for cleaning.”
The Beretta .22s, on the other hand, are a dream to strip, just like their centerfire brethren. (The Browning Buckmark, the Colt Woodsman, and the Hi-Standards aren’t bad either, but you do have to cope with an enormous number of seemingly random-sized small screws and springs.)
Stranger
Thanks a bunch for the research. I had looked multiple placed and found nothing so I ordered the manual from S&W but I’m taking it out this weekend and needed to get it cleaned before that. The 422 stovepipe jams like hell as soon as it starts to get dirty. I used the method listed, popped out the retainer piece and it was almost “obvious”. Took a few minutes of moving the slide. I found the gun when cleaning out my house for a move. It’s been sitting in my garage for 6 years. Nice little find.
Again, much appreciated!
I actually do have a Ruger pistol. I put it in my storage unit and can’t find it or my .357 reolver which is in the same case. Two hours of searching the other day with no results so it will be sitting there another 4 months.
Sad to say but I’ve never cleaned the Ruger. Years ago in my youth I wasn’t into cleaning my guns, at least as far as field stripping them and really cleaning them. I’ve spent more time removing surface rust and built up residue on my older guns than I care to admit. Rather sad because I have some nice guns.