Victory vs MKIv lite

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  • eddiehelm

    Plinker
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    Apr 8, 2018
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    looking to add a new .22 to the collection.
    anybody here with first hand experience with both? Would like to hear about accuracy, reliability, and ease of
    breakdown and cleaning
     

    Areoflyer09

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    Feb 28, 2017
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    Short version there was a Victory in my safe and these is a 22/45 Lite (mines a MkIII) in currently.

    My wife purchased the Victory as she wanted a 22. Unforantely, she ended no enjoying it as much as she thought. In stock form it is nose heavy. The stainless barrel and polymer grip don’t mix for a natural balance point at the grip. We both had to consciously work to tilt the nose up when firing it.

    Accuracy is about on on par with my 22/45 Lite. It would group well, was always just grouping low. We got to a point where we didn’t enjoy shooting it and it moved on.

    The MkIV wins for tear down. The Victory isn’t difficult, one Allen head crew and the upper comes off, just a touch slower. Cleaning both is equally easy.

    The big win for the Victory is it’s ability to change barrels without buying a new upper, which you’d have to do for a MkIV. There are several options, one is a lighter weigh and make Fox the balance point.

    Reliability was spot on. It never gave us an issue.

    though if you want the best of easy breakdown and accuracy, look at a MkIV Target. It easily out shot both the Victory and the MkIII Lite I have.
     

    eddiehelm

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    What kind of ammo did you run through them? Not that I’ll always be shooting bulk el cheap stuff, but it’s nice if it’ll cycle it when I have all the kids out at the range with me
     

    crewchief888

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    Aug 13, 2016
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    heres my take on the ruger. i have a 2 week old MKIV 22/45 tactical with a tandemkross compensator and true glo dot mounted.

    this afternoon i went to a local indoor range, and ran some rounds through it to the dot dialed in, and function fire some new mags.

    i ran 200+ rounds of lead remington UMC (yellow box) ammo through it with no malfunctions.
    200+ more rounds of aguila 40gr super extra jacketed ammo through it with no malfunctions
    50 rounds of mini-mag super hi velocity (1850FPS) jacketed hollow points with several (6?) feed jams, and failures to extract.

    the mini mags were the most expensive ($12/50rds) and highest velocity, i'm kinda glad it doesnt like them.:laugh:

    i dont think you can go wrong with either gun. theres aftermarket support out there for either one.
    i bought the ruger for a couple reasons, ive had rugers in the past, and never had an issue with them,
    and i specifically bought the 22/45 tactical because i wanted the rail, threaded barrel, and my other competition guns are 1911's, so the ruger "feels right" in my hand


    :cheers:
     

    Areoflyer09

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    What kind of ammo did you run through them? Not that I’ll always be shooting bulk el cheap stuff, but it’s nice if it’ll cycle it when I have all the kids out at the range with me

    Most of it was Rem Golden Bullets or CCIs. I can say my MKIII 22/45 doesn’t like the hollow point mini mags, the MkIV and Victory has no issue with them though. I think it’s how the entry angle works out on the 22/45 that the HP catches in the ramp.
     

    IndyTom

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    Oct 3, 2013
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    I'm enjoying my Mark IV 22/45 Lite. I haven't tested it for accuracy (my son wanted to hit the rifle range), yet, but it did pretty well for me against range junk (bits of clays, bottles, etc) at 25 yds.
     

    wtburnette

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    Personally I prefer the Victory. I've not shot the 22/45 lite, but I've shot the Target and Hunter models of the MkIV and didn't feel they were worth the price difference vs the Victory. The Victory can be found for $300 - $350, where the 22/45 lite is between $450 - $500 (spot checking prices on gunwatcher and other resources). I like the trigger better than the MkIV trigger and I think the FO sights are outstanding. I know some people prefer the black target sights, but FO works much better for my eyes. I also like how easy it was to swap out the barrel. I have a second Victory because I liked the first so well and I put a Volquartsen carbon fiber threaded barrel on it, with a cheap Weaver red dot. It's a hoot at the range. I will say the one button takedown on the Ruger is nicer than the one bolt takedown on the Victory, but that's not enough for me to want to pay the difference in price. I've shot thousands of rounds through my Victory and have not had any issues that weren't ammo related, as in a few rounds that didn't go off, but that's par for the course with cheap .22 ammo. I like that it runs fantastic and is extremely accurate with very cheap ammo. I've used several different kinds of ammo, but the Federal Automatch is my go to ammo with it and it is quite inexpensive. About the only annoyance with the gun is the fact that the thumb safety is easy to engage by accident. There are options to fix it, or you can ride your thumb on top like you're shooting a 1911 and not have any issues. Pretty much a non-issue for me, but I thought I'd mention it. Anyway, just my :twocents:.

    vktR8B5h.jpg
     

    shootersix

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    a gentleman that shoots pins with me had a s&w victory, he stopped in one day last year(at the gunshop I work at) and asked if we had parts, there was a tiny little pin that sheared off, we didn't have it, I told him to contact smith, the next time I saw him, I asked what smith said, he told me that they wouldn't send him the part, he had to return it to them, and since he had added a few tandem kross parts, he couldn't send it in (or they'd change them back to factory parts), he had to remove all the tk parts, send the gun in, and then reinstall all the tk parts when it got back to him.

    flash forward to this year, he walks up to the table, and low and behold he's got a mk4 lite, and I ask wheres the victory, he said and I quote "I gave up on it, its in my gun safe"

    he took it (the mk4) to shoot Indiana state steel championship 2 weeks ago, and is taking it to area 5 championship this weekend, he can shoot pretty good with it (he's over 60, and last week at bowling pins, we shot against each other twice, and we were 1/1!)

    another friend got his last year, and he still shoots his, but he did have the barrel shoot loose (lots of people do), so he has added a rubber o ring to the barrel screw to keep it from shooting loose. (that works to keep the barrel tight)
     

    mergatroid

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    Apr 30, 2018
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    I was shooting a 9 x 11" plate at 75 yards with my Victory last week. Hitting about 50% of the time. 50 yards all day long. Breaks down nice and easy. Hope that helps.
     

    rhino

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    Mar 18, 2008
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    More accessories for the Ruger.

    The S&W Victory, though, seems to be an unusually reliable .22 pistol design. Of those I've seen in steel matches, they function all the time. I cannot say the same for Ruger, although my Ruger sample size is larger.
     

    KMaC

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    Just adding an FYI for those Victory owners that may not be familiar with Midwest Gun Works. They have a good selection of parts for the Victory (S&W factory parts, VQ and Tandemkross). They have just a few parts for the MKIV.
    I found the Victory to be very reliable until it reached 10,000 rounds. I still consider it reliable as the parts I've replaced are wear items that you expect to go.

    I'm thinking pretty hard about getting a MKIV 22/45 Lite. Does anyone have a recommended parts source for it?
     

    Areoflyer09

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    Just adding an FYI for those Victory owners that may not be familiar with Midwest Gun Works. They have a good selection of parts for the Victory (S&W factory parts, VQ and Tandemkross). They have just a few parts for the MKIV.
    I found the Victory to be very reliable until it reached 10,000 rounds. I still consider it reliable as the parts I've replaced are wear items that you expect to go.

    I'm thinking pretty hard about getting a MKIV 22/45 Lite. Does anyone have a recommended parts source for it?

    Wirthwein Guns has quick shipping and carries the Volquartsen and Tactical Solutions parts. They are down near Evansville.

    Any Volquartsen, Tactical Solutions it TandemKross parts are solid purchases.

    My go to options for a Ruger build are Volquartsen for the internals and the TandemKross Victory trigger.
     

    KMaC

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    Thanks Areoflyer09 for the Wirthwein tip. They have as good a MKIV parts selection as MGW has for the Victory.
    I'll probably weaken and buy a MKIV now that I know I can find parts when it reaches middle age. I don't know why S&W and Ruger won't sell minor parts like other manufacturers do.
     

    JettaKnight

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    Ruger's are great, just not out of the box.

    It's reliable, and decently accurate, but like the 10/22, it needs some trigger work - but that's not hard at all.



    I have two.
     

    doddg

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    I've had 3 of the SW Victory, and 2 or 3 or the Ruger Mark 4 & a couple of the Mark 3.
    I'd have to go back and check my range pics for accuracy, but memory says they were all about the same, until I put a red dot on the Victory and it took it to another level.
    Since I'm not ever going to be a "crack shot" or be shooting in competitions, so reliability and ease of field stripping is paramount with me.

    I found this range pic that wasn't too cluttered.
    30'. Free hand & on a rest.
    j4wMtLZ.jpg
     

    shootersix

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    Thanks Areoflyer09 for the Wirthwein tip..

    you wont be thanking him later!...you'll be cussing him!!!...wirthweins is nothing but trouble!!!!… every time I go to that store its a huge pain!!! I cant stand that place!!! I refuse to go there!!!...cause every time I go...I spent a crap ton of money!!!

    honestly the place is amazing!, I met Areo one time, he'd driven to wirthweins to buy some stuff, and he stopped in the shop where I worked at, he showed off what he bought, and I showed off what I bought, ive got a 22/45 rimfire race gun with all volguartsen and tac sol parts, and every one came from wirthweins!, the only factory parts left on the gun are the frame, the mag release (just because I forgot to buy one from lee), the 2 wires that hold all the parts in the frame, and the bolt (all the internal parts are vq), i'd probably buy one of the vq bolts for it, BUT I like my majestic arms slide racker more than I like the bolt that sticks off the back.

    the gun shop I worked at closed at the end of October and I have purposely NOT gone to wirthweins, they're only 20 minuets away from my house!, 5 minuets away from the range I go to once a week! because im afraid to go in...because i'll buy a vq scorpion!, or have him build me a mk4 based race gun (he wont sell the mamba because it has tk parts, and he hates tandemkross with a burning fiery passion!)

    I just wish lee would settle his "feud" with tandemkross!, we need a dealer in the area that stocks their parts!
     

    KMaC

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    Ruger's are great, just not out of the box.

    It's reliable, and decently accurate, but like the 10/22, it needs some trigger work - but that's not hard at all.

    I bought a 22/45 Lite and I'm surprised by the difference in the trigger compared to the SW Victory. The Ruger trigger pull weight is 5.75-6 lbs. The Victory trigger pulls at 3.5-3.75 lbs.
    I planned on putting Tandemkross trigger and hammer in the Victory which should lighten it to about 2 lbs. I guess I better start shopping for Ruger parts too or I'll end up ignoring it in favor of the Victory.
    The Tandemkross trigger for the Ruger doesn't seem to lighten the pull much. Is the Volquartsen Accurizing kit a better way to lighten the Ruger's trigger?
     
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