A Fun to Shoot Plinking Pistol [REVIEW]

I retired our family Ruger Mark II this past week and traded it for a new in the box .22 caliber, Smith & Wesson M&P.  Nothing was really wrong with the Mark II other than being a little finicky with certain ammo, it was just time for a new one.  Once I get that "I need a new one" itch, it's hard to not.

I went to Fisherman's Corner because I used to work there and as often as I can, I try to buy local.  I had in mind that I wanted a Walther P22 without much research into it.  Fisherman's didn't have one and a couple employees said they hadn't heard great things.  I ended up looking at a Ruger SR22, after some chatting and Google time I was almost sold on it.  In the corner of the case though, a Smith .22 was sitting there calling my name.  I had to look at it and though bigger than the Ruger, I liked the feel of it better.  Another bout of Google and I worked the trade deal and was handing over my driver license and permit to carry.  Interestingly the full size M&P is actually made by Walther, though there are differences it seems in build quality.  Smith does now make a compact .22 that is actually made by Smith.

Excited to try my new pistol I hit the gravel pit this last weekend.  My girlfriend has been begging to go shooting for some time too and work finally allowed some free time.  I'm not going to post pictures of groupings and such, as I'm not some competition shooter and when I rock a .22, it's bottles, cans, and clay pigeons I hang in trees.  This thing shoots great!  It's a 12 round mag, bummed though that Smith would sell what most would use for plinking with only one mag.  We put about 400 rounds through it with only a couple of failure to fire situations, those caused by some old hollow point ammo I had that didn't fire on the second try either.  It's smooth with minimal jump, which for being so light surprised me.  Accuracy wise it took me about 50 rounds through to get it down.  After that it was pretty easy to hit various targets at different heights and distances.  It shot several kinds of ammo with no major issues, though it did really like the 40 grain Aguila.

Overall I am very pleased with it.  Cheap to shoot, easy to shoot, and no buyers remorse here.  What do you plink with?