I absolutely love the M&P 22 – it’s saved me many times over it’s purchase price in the cost of 9mm ammo I didn’t shoot because I was able to shoot less costly .22LR ammo instead. I consider it an important training tool, and a fun gun to shoot as well. But, as I mentioned in my review of the M&P 22, the stock sights leave much to be desired. Here’s a photo of the horrible rear sights on the M&P 22:
To add insult to injury, the front sight is very small, and difficult to line up with the rear sights:
I’ve had the M&P 22 for over a year, and have been looking for replacement sights for the gun nearly that long. Many have tried to adapt S&W sights from a centerfire M&P gun – it’s possible, but not simple. From what I understand, it takes some filing/grinding and ingenuity to make the sites from a centerfire M&P fit on the rimfire M&P 22. As far as I know, Dawson Precision is the first manufacturer to produce replacement sights for the M&P 22. As soon as I was aware of them, I called to place an order. After speaking with the fine folks at Dawson Precision (excellent customer service) I ordered part number 018228 for the rear ($49.95), and fiber optic front sight part number 021211 for $26.00. Shipping was fast, and once received I had my local gun smith install them – here’s what they look like installed on my M&P 22:
As a supplement to this written photo review, I’ve recorded a video which has some neat range footage of me shooting my Dawson Precision sights equipped M&P 22:
If you’re one of the many M&P 22 owners who are dissatisfied with the sights on this otherwise fantastic gun, the do looking to the Dawson Precision sights. They are a quantum improvement over the stock M&P 22 sites.
John B. Holbrook, II is a freelance writer, photographer, and author of ThruMyLens.org, as well as LuxuryTyme.com and TheSeamasterReferencePage.com.
*All text and images contained in this web site are the original work of the author, John B. Holbrook, II and are copyright protected. Use of any of the information or images without the permission of the author is prohibited.
Avid user of the M&P22 and this is good news. Question: How much did the gunsmith charge for the install?
John,
Very nice video. Very informative. Thank you. I almost bought the sights for my M&P .22 but still have some reservations, and Dawson was out of stock on the front sights.
First, I totally agree with you that the M&P .22 stock back sights are bad! I took some white paint and a toothpick and filled in the indented U-shaped area of the site and now it looks similar to the Glock-style rear site.
The Dawson sights are what I’d buy if I only want to shoot the pistol as a target gun because they look awesome on your M&P .22 and look like they’d perform well. However, I purchased my M&P .22 for less expensive defensive practice as I also own the full-size M&P 9mm for EDC with the white dot sights front and back.
I’ve heard lots of folks have successfully replaced their rear sight with the standard center-fire two-dot sights, but S&W highly discouraged me to do this when I contacted them. They absolutely would NOT send me the center-fire sights for the M&P .22 as they said it can easily damage the aluminum slide.
So my dilemma… get the Hi-vis Dawson sights, or hold out until I can match the M&P 9mm sights? I’m in a holding pattern right now. Anyone have a suggestion?
Jim – I hear what you’re saying. If you’re like me, you’re eyes are getting a little older and can use a little help…that’s what the DP sightes do. Using them does not interfere with defensive training IMHO. Your getting the same muscle memory of bringing the sights up and getting good sight alignment. You can still train for front sight focus in getting good site aliment. Just make sure you run at least 50 rounds a month through your primary defensive weapon, and you’ll find your use of your M&P 22 works well for low-cost defensive training with the DP sights.