For ICORE, you simply get a supply of Berry's 185-grain hollowbase roundnose bullets. On the outside they look like 230s, but they weigh only 185 grains. You need only exceed the threshold power factor in ICORE of 120, which translates to getting those 185s up past 650 fps. The M-22 isn't the heaviest N-frame around, but a 185 at 650 fps is definitely mild in recoil.

The front sight is pinned, and the barrel is marked with the old name.

In shooting, I and my testers had a grand time. The M-22 never failed to set off a primer. Regardless of what ammo we fed it, if it was good enough to stuff into an S&W, it went off. I didn't test it with really grubby or bad ammo, as I know what will happen: Your (or my) box of "reloading mistakes"--the high primers, the cockeyed bullets, the ones that are the wrong length--will cause it to stop--not always, but now and then. They'll do it to most anything, so we aren't really testing anything by using such ammo.

One thing others have mentioned and I found with this M-22 is that it hits a bit low. Now, I've had some shooters tell me that their M-22 hit so low that they were off the target. Unless I shoot theirs, I can't be sure what's going on. Mine hit a bit low, but not by much. At 15 yards, on falling eight-inch plates, I could hold center and still drive down the plate. I wasn't hitting anywhere near the hinge. At 25 yards I found regular 230 hardball almost three inches low. The 230 JHP +P ammo was more like two inches low. Two inches at 25 yards? I've had out-of-the-box pistols that were off by that much. And look on the bright side: Low hits can be adjusted by filing the sight. If it were hitting high on you, you'd need a new, taller blade.

As a home-defense gun, the Model 22 has several advantages. First, getting it loaded, even in the dark, is a snap. Even the opening on hollowpoints on 230-grain bullets is not a hindrance. If you load with plain old hardball, the bullets are practically "chamber-seeking missiles." Anyone who has watched Jerry Miculek reload knows that a well-aimed throw will usually get the moon clip to properly seat. If you turn over your M-22 to a gunsmith, he can easily chamfer the charge holes to make loading even slicker. With such a fast load, you can access a stored but unloaded M-22 almost as fast as a similarly stored auto pistol.

If the author is to shoot comfortably, he has to have the gap behind the triggerguard filled. Ahrend grips do that for him, and they look good doing it. Ah, for the old days: a dusty rucksack, a heavy-duty sidearm, a map and a horizon.

Reloading is another advantage. If your spare ammo is in a full-moon clip (which it should be), you have six more rounds at the ready. One of the advantages of being a gunwriter with a large group of eager test shooters is that I'm always seeing new things. Now, I thought I knew just about everything about handling a bigbore revolver. Gary showed me different. He worked for the City of Detroit, and as with all city employees, he had to live in the city. Don't let anyone kid you; at the low point, Detroit was pretty much Baghdad without the car bombs. No one went unarmed. Everyone had a gun in the house, or more than one.