S&W 422, 622, 2206 and 41 mag base pads

[RA40]

Was doing some drills with the 22 and I thought/felt I'd seated them so when releasing the slide, it wasn't fully inserted so no round was chambered. I'd tested the 1911 base pads for size a bit back but didn't pursue the actual mounting till today.

The old S&W mags have an opening to push the spring up to release the base plate so affixing the pad with two screws was not going to be possible with those. The later S&W mags don't have the spring opening so drilling and tapping both holes for the 4-40 screw was easy. Set up a drilling fixture and ran the bases through the drill press. For the early mags, I needed them to not twist with a single screw so the opening is sized nearly spot on for a 1/8"/.1250" hole. Used a .1250" brass rod and epoxied the front for the locator pin to the base pad. Placed the pin with enough to keep it from twisting yet enough to allow the internal magazine plug to still index on the opening.

Here they are:


If the the pads were solid, grinding the front down a bit would be for a nicer look but they seem to transition well from the grip angle.

If you have one of these S&W 22's, the 1911 base pads will fit on them.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Have you replaced your rear sight "retaining" screw with a rivet? Two decades ago my son was shooting this pistol when the rear sight flew off & hit him over his right eye. Thank God it did not hit his eye. I called S & W the following Monday & they paid shipping both ways & put a rivet in place of that tiny tiny screw. I could tell by the guy's voice on the phone that this had happened before. BTW these are outstanding pistols in every other regard.

 

[RA40]

Wow, that's bad! Years back I'd noticed the screw would come loose and to check the position before and following. Has the blue thread locker and has held. I stopped using cleaning chemicals on the slide where that guide is to preserve the thread locker on that screw. If it comes loose I'll drill a second hole and have a blind hole tap so that it is isolated from cleaners. I've had the same experience with one of the older L frame revolvers. Fortunately those don't fling the sight rearward.

Agree how outstanding this pistol is.