Tuesday, March 3, 2009

.22 Pistols

There is a .22 pistol in my future. What to pick?

The Ruger MkIII and Browning Buckmark are hugely popular and at the top of any consideration. People love both. They are good guns. But they both are kinda tricky to disassemble/re-assemble for cleaning. One of the great things about military arms in the past 75 years is that they are field-strippable easily, and without tools. Take em apart and put em back together and they'll work as before. My impression of these .22s is that they require some adjusting when you put it all back together. IF you can get it all back together.

Other .22 pistols are out there, like the SIG Mosquito. I know not much more about this as I do the Ruger and Browning, other than some folks complain about reliability to cycle. Also, the SIG is perhaps a bit more expensive.

But the semi-auto pistols can be gotten with a sound-suppressor option, and I like that idea.

I lean toward the .22 revolver. A good one like the S&W 617 is expensive, but its cylinder, and other revolver brands, swings out, so you can use a speedloader with it. Almost as convenient as a magazine. No silencer, of course, with revolvers. I looked at a Charter Arms .22 revolver. The metal didn't look so good. If I can notice casting marks in the steel, I am a bit leery of the tool. Between Charter Arm and Smith and Wesson brands, in quality, is a Taurus 96. Not much to a revolver as far as cleaning its nitty gritty parts.

A selling point for me for the S&W 617 with a 6 inch barrel is that I have the matching S&W 686 with a 6 inch barrel. Except for recoil, the practice will be the same. Oh, and you can end up with a 6 shot or a 10 shot .22, I think.

Or I could go cheap, old, and second hand no-name revolver. The very cheap price would outweigh the cheap other features. I might luck out and get one that they make speedloaders for, like an H&R 9-shot. Not TOO cheap. Perusing the options on auction sites reveals some VERY poorly manufactured pot-metal .22s out there, good for nothing but to rip off an over generous gun-buyback program in order to fund better quality firearm purchases.

Anyway, that's my thinking and I haven't totally settled myself. My mood waivers. What am I not considering? Or am I way off base with the ease of takedown for the pistols?

10 comments:

Tam said...

Depends on what purpose you want your .22 pistol to serve. If it's just going to be a plinker, either the Ruger or Buckmark should serve your purposes fine.

Oddly, I used to dislike Ruger's polymer-framed 22/45. Now it's the only .22 I'm considering. My hand only needs to know two grips: S&W revolver and 1911. I don't need to clutter up my muscle memory with unnecessary stuff...

Anonymous said...

When I wanted a .22 semi-auto and couldn't afford either a Ruger or Buckmark, I picked up a S&W model 22A.

Pros:

-price $200
-Didn't find any ammo that it flat out wouldn't feed. It seems to like CCI Blazer the best, but I didn't find anything that it was allergic to.
-Adjustable sights
-Weaver top rail
-very accurate and reliable
-points well for me, the grips are a little fat, but the grip angle is similar to a 1911.
-Relatively easy to field strip...no tools required

Cons:

-Odd shaped barrel (basically square) which is not conducive to mounting a suppressor
-unusual magazine release location (front of the grip rather than on the side)
-adjustable sights are plain black, no dots or other aiming aids
-the integral rail has weird slot placement. You'll probably have to file or machine an additional slot in order to mount a red-dot or other optic.
-grip is a little fatter than I'd like.

It might be something worth looking at. It gets pretty mixed reviews on the gun boards and forums, but I'm happy with mine.

Chas said...

If you are willing to relax your cost criteria a bit, consider the USFA New Model 12/22. You will not be disappointed.

Anonymous said...

Beretta NEOS. 6 inch bbl and shoots fine. Easy to take down for cleaning.

Anonymous said...

You might also consider a .22 conversion for a 1911 if you have one. I'm seriously considering a CZ 75 Kadet conversion.

H&R 9-shot - AVOID. Most uncomfortable gun I've ever used.

Unknown said...

I've seen a number of Ruger MK III's for the $250-$300 price range.

I have MKIII Hunter and if you can get over the chinese jig-saw puzzle that is disassembly and reassembly. It's a beautiful piece of hardware.

I substituted the competition grips on my Hunter and it makes a sweet combination.

lordjim said...

As said the Beretta NEOS is supposed to be a good shooter and the ones that I've held felt great in hand. Look around on the used market for a MK II, a older pre-lock Smith, or if you can find one, a Sig Traliside. Those boys are super accurate.

Jay G said...

T-bolt,

If you don't already own a .22 pistol, start with a revolver. They're less finicky about ammo, there's no magazines to buy (and, for whatever reason, .22LR magazines are unreasonably expensive), and the manual of arms for a revolver is simpler than that of a semi-auto, if you're teaching a noob.

I'm biased. I prefer S&W wheelguns.

However, I found a Colt Official Police .22 trainer for short money (under $250) that shoots *almost* as good as my S&W Model 17.

Don't be tempted by the cheap imitations. You're not going to save much up front, and you'll pay for it down the road for the inferior workmanship.

You're buying a .22 pistol for the long haul here...

GunGeek said...

Ive got a Beretta Neos U22, as do both of my sons. One of the really cool features is the ability to very easily and very quickly change barrels. I've got 4.5", 6", and 7.5" barrels. Going camping/plinking? Put the 4.5 on it. Shooting metallic silhouette? The 7.5 works well. The 6 is good for general purpose or less casual plinking or target shooting. Magazines are reasonably priced ($9.95 from CDNN) and I've never had it complain about any ammo, and I've shot a lot through it.

Well, okay, it didn't like to cycle with the Aguila Colibris or the CCI shotshells, but that's not particularly unusual for a 22 semi-auto.

ASM826 said...

I recently bought a Ruger Single Six. Single action (think cowboy gun)
revolver, great for taking people to the range for the first time, accurate, and completely the same in operation as my Ruger Backhawk.

Just another choice to think about.