Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Most Reliable 22 LR Semi Auto Pistol

My S&W M&P Compact 22lr is extremely reliable. It's a bit light in weight so precise shooting is a little hard. It is a GREAT practice/training gun for CCW shooters. I also have the Ruger MK II & Single Six as well as a S&W 48 convertible. Wife has a Diamondback 22. We can find a place for each. It kind of just depends on the intended use.

Yes, after owning multiple Ruger Mark II's I'd be surprised to see one that wasn't completely reliable. Had a Mark II Standard back in the 80's that had occasional failures to feed but Ruger replaced the entire lower and that solved that. It was the only one out of six or seven that wasn't 100% out of the box.

Mark III's and Mark IV's can be very reliable but in my recent experience it's not guaranteed. A new extractor here, new firing pin there, replace the new nickel plated mags with older blued ones; those have worked to solve various issues but I wouldn't bet the farm on new ones being as reliable out of the box as the Mark II's.

As already noted, ammo is the real weak link.

Just bought a 4" Model 617 a few days ago and have only had it to the range twice but it was 100% reliable with four different kinds of ammo - no failures to feed or eject. Plus with a red dot sight on it (the d&t frame being the sole reason I bought a Hillary hole model) I can shoot it just as accurately off a rest as my semi-autos.

In completely unrelated news, while the 617's 38 ounce weight allows for a steady hold, I sure wish S&W would see fit to make a few more in this style - 617 Mountain Gun.

I have always like the older K-frame S&W's without a full underlug barrel. The M17/18 is perfect and the Mountain Gun version in your picture would be the same kind of goodness.

To the OP's question, a Ruger semi auto would get my vote. Ammo is the problem with absolute reliability in the rimfire world. But my various Ruger semi auto guns run longer without cleaning than my S&W revolvers. When the S&W cylinders get cruddy enough that extraction becomes difficult the Ruger semi's will be tossing empties with no troubles. With the added bonus that the semi auto is easier to give a thorough cleaning than a revolver with its six + charge holes in the cylinder and more complex innards.

I would love S&W to make a 4.25" 617 and a 4.25" 63.

Our laws would need to change for me to obtain one now.

I’m in agreement Ruger Mk2 has a ton of rounds through it, no issues, or S & W 617, revolvers are most reliable. I also have a Smith 41 that I have never had any issues, great gun. I have had different smaller semi-auto’s over the years, walther, glock, ruger and the like, had issues with all of them until good and broken in and lubricated well

Mine certainly has been.

Lucky Dog,

While revolvers will shoot any 22 rimfire round, with some I find I need to run a brush through the cylinder after shooting sessions. S&W 17, 18 & 63;


The most reliable 22 semi-auto I've ever owned is the Nelson 1911 conversion. It can be tuned (like any 1911) with hammer spring & recoil spring to run almost anything (no luck with CCI Quiets).


The second most reliable is the Browning 1911-22, however if you have larger hands, the grip safety may be problematic for you.



Jerry

Never had any reliability issues with the Ruger MK series.

If you haven't, give the Aguila SSS rounds a try. They're subsonic, but use a 60-grain bullet and generate enough recoil to operate semi-autos. I've used them with a number of pistols and a 10/22 and they work just fine. You kinda have to lob 'em in there after 25 yards though.

I took a MK II 22/45 and replaced the barrel with a Tactical Solutions Tac-Lite 6" fluted barrel on it with the fiber optic front sight. It weighs in at 20.5 oz and it very very reliable with around 5,000 rounds through it.

With that light weight it sometimes can be a challenge for off hand shooting and maintaining the sight picture. Any type of rest takes care of that challenge and the light weight makes it ever so easy to carry whenever in the field. Accuracy is splendid...after all its a Ruger.

That is my vote. My dad has a Buckmark and that sob is a jamming son of a gun. Maybe he didn't keep it clean enough? My Ruger mk2's never have a hiccup.

22/45 lite is pretty sporty.

old high standard , or smith 41

I've never owned a High Standard but I've always thought that they were a very premium .22 autoloader. If I was in the market for an auto loading .22 I'd give the High Standards a good look.

Tried different ammo in the Browning or maybe a different mag?

I have had 2 of them and my buddy has one that was his dad's. Never a glich or we got lucky.

We bought a couple Ruger Mark IV for me and the wife. Both had FTF issues - feeding or ejecting.

I tried many different types of ammo. One pistol, the wife’s, ran a smidge better than mine. But, it still had enough stoppage issues to make it a constant issue running through a full mag

I sold my Mark IV, buying a Sig 1911-22. It’s also finicky about ammo, not as bad as the Ruger. I still have it.

Last summer I snapped up a Glock G44. It’s been damn near flawless running all types of 22 LR ammo.

For me, I just wanted a 22 LR semi that would run without issues for plinking. The G44 has done that.

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Sounds like a possible magazine issue with the Rugers.

Yeah, the G44 is very reliable too. If it can gobble up bulk standard velocity ammo….

We had 2 new mags for each pistol. I was certain it was an ammo issue. I tried several high quality ammo types, including LR designed to run in semi-autos - that helped. I kept both pistols clean. But still had too many stoppages while just trying to have fun with them.

These were bought maybe 6-7 years back - I think when Ruger came out with new kool kid flute design on the barrel.

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