SMK S2 .177 Review

Overall Rating

Easy to cock
Reasonably powerful

Awful trigger
Poor finish
Hopelessly inaccurate

Maybe I just got a very bad one, but in my opinion, if you look at the SMK S2 .177 as a paperweight (and don't mind spending £25 on one, rather than using a tin of beans for around 1/75th of the cost) then it could be quite a good buy.

First impressions weren't good - the woodwork is finished to the same poor standard as the B2 rifle, but somehow it looks much worse on a pistol, probably because you can see it all close up at the same time. The metalwork is of a similar crude standard; overall it looks like some schoolboy has taken an air rifle, and cut it down to make a pistol for a GCSE project ... and they only just scraped a passing grade.



On the range things got worse: the trigger is absurdly heavy, almost needing two hands to make it break. When it finally does fire, the pistol leaps about in your hand. It's not recoil as far as I can tell, it's not dieseling (where oil and/or grease in the piston chamber ignite under pressure, causing a louder than average bang) - it's the clunky trigger & piston release mechanism leaping about.

I can't really comment on the adjustability of the sights as I couldn't get a string of shots close enough together to tell which direction to move them in. At 10 metres, you need to be aiming at something the size of a dustbin lid to get your shots on target, even at 5 metres I found I couldn't reliably hit at 10m ISSF pistol target (which is 17cm square).

With this sort of "accuracy", what would otherwise be plus points - the fact it's fairly easy to cock, and that it does seem to pack a reasonable punch (cutting clean holes in paper targets, putting it at least at 3.5 ft/lb) are irrelevant.

For target work it's absolutely hopeless, and for backyard plinking the same will be true, unless your idea of fun is dinner plate size targets at five paces. Using the S2 on small vermin is not really an option thanks to the power output, but unless you can get the muzzle within a couple of inches of your quarry, you'd almost certainly miss anyway.

Members' Comments onjgriggs177's Review

• Ilan Verdi on 7th Dec 2005

  I bought a set consisting of that pistol and of one flask BALLISTOL-OIL,200 paper targets a metal target case and of a nylon holster for less than 50€. So,the pistol was for free...
  I agree with your comment..