Grand Power K22S Mk 12 first impressions and photos (range report coming soon)

[scriptguru]

I was looking for a decent 22LR semi-auto handgun and finally decided to try Grand Power K22S since I'm very happy with my Grand Power X-Calibur in 9mm. In short, it doesn't disappoint to say the least.

Firstly, I was looking for a handgun which has a slide that is made of steel (preferably good quality steel). It's painful to look at photos of cracked slides made of inexpensive cast alloys so I decided steel is the only option.
Secondly, I was looking for something that feels as good in my hand and has comparable trigger to my X-Calibur (and X-Calibur has one of the best triggers I've ever experienced in handguns).
Thirdly, I wanted a gun that looks good, or at least not too bad.

My first impression of this gun (after 50 day wait - don't ask...) - it's made better than I expected, and the trigger is better than expected as well. At the price of $500 (Canadian, of course) it's unbeatable. With 3 extra magazines (5 total) all in I paid a bit more than $600. Yes, there are cheaper 22LR semi-auto pistols, but quality is not comparable.

Pros (so far):
- single-action trigger is awesome. Very light, but not to the point when you can accidentally shoot the gun, 100% crisp. Double-action is relatively heavy, but not too much, and is extremely smooth. The trigger is wide which makes it even easier to use. It's made of plastic but it's 100% rigid, there is no flex or sponginess. No side-to-side wobble at all. My impression - it's on par with the best and the most expensive guns I've tried (like 2K-4K guns). Probably even better than X-Calibur's trigger.
- trigger reset is super-short. I've never cared about it but it could be important for some people. On X-Calibur the tip of the trigger has to move around 5 mm before it resets, for K22S it resets at 2 mm
- tolerances are excellent, on par with X-Calibur. Mechanics is extremely smooth, no wobble, not a single imperfection I can think of.
- the slide is stainless steel, finish is Tenifer QPQ. Which means it won't break, won't crack, won't rust, and will look awesome for long time.
- it looks like it's made to be safely dry-fired, which is rather unusual for a rimfire gun. Firing pin stops within limits of the slide, it doesn't touch the barrel (stops like 0.1 or 0.05 mm before reaching the barrel). We'll see how well it works.
- the receiver has identical dimensions to X-Calibur and uses the same backstraps (it comes with one installed and 3 in a box). Field strip is the same as other Grand Power pistols.
- beautifully blued barrel is crowned, threaded for "accessories" (I wish we could legally buy them), and has smoothly polished chamber edges and a ramp
- comes with 3 front sighs of different length (all made of plastic) and a tool to adjust the back sight (made of steel)
- no magazine safety (I guess it improves the trigger pull?)
- magazines drop free once mag release is pressed
- magazines are made of plastic, but they are well made, are sized and shaped as center-fire magazines

Cons (so far)
- magazine release is designed as ambidextrous but works well only for right-handed shooting. It's possible to use for a lefty but it's much harder than it should be (I have to push the button really hard to release the magazine)

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[VanMan]

I was looking for a decent 22LR semi-auto handgun and finally decided to try Grand Power K22S since I'm very happy with my Grand Power X-Calibur in 9mm. In short, it doesn't disappoint to say the least.

Firstly, I was looking for a handgun which has a slide that is made of steel (preferably good quality steel). It's painful to look at photos of cracked slides made of inexpensive cast alloys so I decided steel is the only option.
Secondly, I was looking for something that feels as good in my hand and has comparable trigger to my X-Calibur (and X-Calibur has one of the best triggers I've ever experienced in handguns).
Thirdly, I wanted a gun that looks good, or at least not too bad.

My first impression of this gun (after 50 day wait - don't ask...) - it's made better than I expected, and trigger is better than I expected. At the price of $500 (Canadian, of course) it's unbeatable. With 3 extra magazines (5 total) all in I paid a bit more than $600. Yes, there are cheaper 22LR semi-auto pistols, but quality is not comparable.

Pros (so far):
- single-action trigger is awesome. Very light, but not to the point when you can accidentally shoot the gun, 100% crisp. Double-action is relatively heavy, but not too much, and is extremely smooth. The trigger is wide which makes it even easier to use. It's made of plastic but it's 100% rigid, there is no flex or sponginess. No side-to-side wobble at all. My impression - it's on par with the best and the most expensive guns I've tried (like 2K-4K guns). Probably even better than X-Calibur's trigger.
- tolerances are excellent, on par with X-Calibur. Mechanics is extremely smooth, no wobble, not a single imperfection I can think of.
- the slide is stainless steel, finish is Tenifer QPQ. Which means it won't break, won't crack, won't rust, and will look awesome for long time.
- it looks like it's made to be safely dry-fired, which is rather unusual for a rimfire gun. Firing pin stops within limits of the slide, it doesn't touch the barrel (stops like 0.1 or 0.05 mm before reaching the barrel). We'll see how well it works.
- the receiver has identical dimensions to X-Calibur and uses the same backstraps (it comes with one installed and 3 in a box). Field strip is the same as other Grand Power pistols.
- beautifully blued barrel is crowned, threaded for "accessories" (I wish we could legally buy them), and has smoothly polished chamber edges and a ramp
- comes with 3 front sighs of different length (all made of plastic) and a tool to adjust the back sight (made of steel)

Cons (so far)
- magazine release is designed as ambidextrous but works well only for right-handed shooting. It's possible to use for a lefty but it's much harder than it should be (I have to push the button really hard to release the magazine)

Photos coming soon!

The firing pin on the K22S and K22 Xtrim is stopped from hitting the barrel face by the roll pin that also retains the firing pin. It's basically the same design as the ones used in their centre fire handguns. After ~10k dry firings, I eventually replaced the roll pin. Cost was less than $2 if I remember correctly.

The big-headed mag release button that is on your X-Calibur can be easily installed on your K22S either for right or left handed people. I've got a spare one kicking around. If you drop by DVC with it, I'll pop one in for you.

Winston

Regards

 

[dmazay]

I completely support this review. I have k22s - X Calibur combination myself. Love both pistols.

 

[scriptguru]

Added photos. Isn't she a beauty?

 

[sailor723]

I seem to recall many reports of frequent reliability issues (failure to feed/failure to eject etc) when these first came out. The one I had wasn't awful in this department but not great either They also had a reputation of being fussy about ammo.

Although, to be fair, I am pretty firmly in the camp that feels that pistols designed from the ground up for rimfire (Buck Mark, Ruger etc) are the preferable choice and I have a very low tolerance to reliability issues.

Perhaps GP has dealt with these issues in recent years? I'll be interested in your range report.

 

[05RAV]

I was looking for a decent 22LR semi-auto handgun and finally decided to try Grand Power K22S since I'm very happy with my Grand Power X-Calibur in 9mm. In short, it doesn't disappoint to say the least.

Firstly, I was looking for a handgun which has a slide that is made of steel (preferably good quality steel). It's painful to look at photos of cracked slides made of inexpensive cast alloys so I decided steel is the only option.
Secondly, I was looking for something that feels as good in my hand and has comparable trigger to my X-Calibur (and X-Calibur has one of the best triggers I've ever experienced in handguns).
Thirdly, I wanted a gun that looks good, or at least not too bad.

My first impression of this gun (after 50 day wait - don't ask...) - it's made better than I expected, and the trigger is better than expected as well. At the price of $500 (Canadian, of course) it's unbeatable. With 3 extra magazines (5 total) all in I paid a bit more than $600. Yes, there are cheaper 22LR semi-auto pistols, but quality is not comparable.

Pros (so far):
- single-action trigger is awesome. Very light, but not to the point when you can accidentally shoot the gun, 100% crisp. Double-action is relatively heavy, but not too much, and is extremely smooth. The trigger is wide which makes it even easier to use. It's made of plastic but it's 100% rigid, there is no flex or sponginess. No side-to-side wobble at all. My impression - it's on par with the best and the most expensive guns I've tried (like 2K-4K guns). Probably even better than X-Calibur's trigger.
- trigger reset is super-short. I've never cared about it but it could be important for some people. On X-Calibur the tip of the trigger has to move around 5 mm before it resets, for K22S it resets at 2 mm
- tolerances are excellent, on par with X-Calibur. Mechanics is extremely smooth, no wobble, not a single imperfection I can think of.
- the slide is stainless steel, finish is Tenifer QPQ. Which means it won't break, won't crack, won't rust, and will look awesome for long time.
- it looks like it's made to be safely dry-fired, which is rather unusual for a rimfire gun. Firing pin stops within limits of the slide, it doesn't touch the barrel (stops like 0.1 or 0.05 mm before reaching the barrel). We'll see how well it works.
- the receiver has identical dimensions to X-Calibur and uses the same backstraps (it comes with one installed and 3 in a box). Field strip is the same as other Grand Power pistols.
- beautifully blued barrel is crowned, threaded for "accessories" (I wish we could legally buy them), and has smoothly polished chamber edges and a ramp
- comes with 3 front sighs of different length (all made of plastic) and a tool to adjust the back sight (made of steel)
- no magazine safety (I guess it improves the trigger pull?)
- magazines drop free once mag release is pressed
- magazines are made of plastic, but they are well made, are sized and shaped as center-fire magazines

Cons (so far)
- magazine release is designed as ambidextrous but works well only for right-handed shooting. It's possible to use for a lefty but it's much harder than it should be (I have to push the button really hard to release the magazine)

Congratulations on your purchase! I've had my K22S for nearly 3 years with 2,200 shots on it, so far. Mine has no threaded barrel. I've never had any malfunction problems with any brand of ammo, the most common I use is Federal Value Pack 36grHP, 1260fps. It shoots like a champ and the pistol is much more accurate than the shooter. On the price-to-value ratio the K22S beats all the Rugers, Buckmarks and whatever is there in 22LR. Most complaints I've read about the K22 is for the K22X-trim which is much more expensive than the K22S but apparently may have some glitches. I've never considered buying the K22X-trim since IMHO it's price is a bit inflated. The magazines that come with the pistols have a mark in a circle "G and GRAND POWER". These magazines work perfectly. I bought 4 spare mags from Dlask a couple years ago which were remnants from a big batch he once had. They don't have any markings and are not the same quality as the G marked ones. It's very hard to find a seller having the original spare K22 mags in stock (G marked). Where did you buy yours? Are they original?

 

[scriptguru]

Thanks 05RAV!
I believe K22 X-trim had reliability issues with some ammo because it has heavier slide (30g heavier, according to the user manual). That's why I've bought K22S. As I understand they have the same quality trigger, so the only difference is that X-trim version has a bit better sights.

I've bought my extra mags from NAS (they are in Niagara area, the website should be easy to find - it's against CGN rules to link to non-sponsor websites), they are original and they costed me $25/each, which is a very good price IMO. They are definitely good quality mags.

 

[VanMan]

Just to clarify, the K22 Xtrim has the same trigger group as the X-Calibur. It's a lighter, slightly rolling SA trigger break. The K22S has the standard K100 trigger group that has a slightly heavier, but more crisp trigger break.

That's the X-Calibur sear & hammer on the top, and the standard K100 trigger group on the bottom


You are exactly right about the K22 Xtrim being more fussy about ammo because of the heavier slide. Especially the first generation ones initially brought in by Dlask. The new generation K22 Xtrim slide has been lightened a little bit more, and uses a new 2 recoil spring setup that can be easily tuned to match a wider variety of .22 ammo. I have one of the original ones from Dlask, and just settled on Blazer ammo as that is cheap and work great

Thanks 05RAV!
I believe K22 X-trim had reliability issues with some ammo because it has heavier slide (30g heavier, according to the user manual). That's why I've bought K22S. As I understand they have the same quality trigger, so the only difference is that X-trim version has a bit better sights.

I've bought my extra mags from NAS (they are in Niagara area, the website should be easy to find - it's against CGN rules to link to non-sponsor websites), they are original and they costed me $25/each, which is a very good price IMO. They are definitely good quality mags.

 

[dmazay]

My k22s is also from a fairly new batch (1 year old) . I shot around 800 rounds without a single issue. This is the only rimfire firearm in my collection, which eats any brand of ammo: Rem, Win, CCI, Federal, hollow point, lead bullet.. Whatever you can feed into the magazine.

 

[05RAV]

Thanks 05RAV!
I've bought my extra mags from NAS (they are in Niagara area, the website should be easy to find - it's against CGN rules to link to non-sponsor websites), they are original and they costed me $25/each, which is a very good price IMO. They are definitely good quality mags.

Thanks for info! Honestly, I've never heard about NAS so I'll look at their website. I paid for non-original K22S mags $12/mag but that was a couple years ago. Times change.

P.S. I just checked the N.A.S. website. The description of the magazine says: "Grand Power 22LR O.E.M. magazine". The term OEM means "an original equipment manufacturer (OEM)". Usually, it means a company that produces parts and equipment that is marketed by another manufacturer. I'm not sure if that means that the mags sold by N.A.S. are indeed produced by Grand Power. Do your spare mags have a logo "G and Grand Power" in in a circle printed on the mags?

 

[scriptguru]

Yes, they have G / Grand Power logo on them and come in branded packaging. They are identical to the mags that come with the gun.

 

[scriptguru]

Time for range report. The pistol is awesome - trigger is great, accuracy is better than I can do. Reliability is 100% with CCI MiniMags and Federal High Velocity, but it didn't like Winchester X-Target (though it's too early to tell - I've shot this gun less than 200 times total).
Here is example of grouping at 5 yards off hands (I'm not a great shot though, this pistol can do much better, and I bet I'll shoot it better as soon as I replace the backstrap to a more comfortable one):

This is a perfect pistol for inexpensive practice, and now I'm going to save up for a target model with a longer barrel for longer range shooting.

 

[The Cocker]

The grandpower pistols are excellent. The K100 is a great 9mm too. They didn't seem to catch on super well in North America though. I really love the accuracy and trigger on my 9mm K100/STI GP6, but my hands feel too big for the grips unfortunately. The thing shoots way better than I do.

 

[scriptguru]

Backstraps variety that comes with modern versions of their pistols are excellent, I found one that fits my hand better than any other pistol I've tried.
I already have X-calibur and K22S, going to buy something like K100 eventually for collection. It blows my mind that their cheapest pistols have much better triggers and same reliability as big brands that cost 1.5 to 2x the price of Grand Power models.

I know it's selfish, but I actually like that they are not super popular, it makes them more affordable and more special at the same time, while they are popular enough to find them in stores, as well as mags for them.