Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22 revolver--need suggestions

GA270: If you are going to be carrying that pistol "often" then your hands down best choice would be a Smith & Wesson Model 63 with the 4 inch barrel.
My Model 63's have served me exceptionally well for a long time now.
In fact I am dealing right now on a fourth Model 63 (used 4"er) thats in mint condition - they are expensive but hold their value (even appreciate in value!) very well.
If you are going to be walking around with it once a week or twice a month then I would suggest you purchase a "K" frame Smith & Wesson in 22 L.R. with a 6 inch barrel.
Best of luck to you with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I bought a Heritage Arms .22 Revolver last year. I love it. Better yet, I love the price. Under $200! Also, it came with both a .22 L AND a .22 WMR Cylinder. I plink with the .22L and I use the .22 WMR for squirrels and Chipmunks. I am thinking about going up in caliber, so I may buy another just for the hell of it.

Single 6

Tons of fun to shoot, accurate, and well made.

Another vote for a Dan Weston if you can find one. Accurate as hell.

My dad has an old Ruger Single Six w/o the transfer bar mod. Tons of fun and you can switch to a .22wmr cylinder whenever you want. I want a Bearcat for my personal collection. they are a bit smaller from what I understand, but I love the look of them.

Don't forget Ruger is making a 22 GP100 these days.

I like the S&W 18 and 48 more than any other rimfire revolver, but I prefer to carry stainless belt guns, so I'm more likely to carry a Rossi 518 (22LR) or 515 (22MAG) with larger Rossi target-style grips installed that any brand/model of CM revolver.

If I'm carrying a handgun just for plinking, without a need to shoot CCI snake-shot loads, I often carry a S&W 422/622/2206 with a 4.5" barrel and adjustable sights.

EDIT: I almost always have my "shooter", as opposed to "collector", revolvers tuned by Ahlmans's in Morristown, MN, and think that their pistolsmiths are good, quick, and reasonable.

I like the 4" S&w kit guns, but they are expensive. I had a Taurus stainless 4" copy, but the timing was never right and it would bind up at times. It was accurate though. Now all I have is a 1959 Ruger Bearcat, and it does all I need with a .22 handgun.

I went out yesterday looking for the next impulse buy and looked specifically at .22 revolvers. For a “carry a lot and shoot a little” gun the Ruger Single Six really does make a lot of sense, particularly the blued version with an aluminum grip frame. Ruger’s website lists them at 32 ounces which is two ounces heavier than their SP-101 but real world prices for NIB are also $150-200 cheaper. The stainless models are 8 ounces or more heavier and also a bit more cost.

For a high volume plinker the single actions are kind of a pain to load and unload but just for carrying around and being ready when needed they are great.

Yep, Single Six.
I'll take the convertible model.

i am a big Ruger fan and i have shot a couple of Six's that were friends guns. none of them were very accurate in my book. are you guys that have them, are you getting accuracy like a good mark II pistol?

I had an S&W 34 for a long time but it was never that accurate. I also had a Ruger Bearcat that was really accurate but would hit 6" high and left at 50'. I have a Single Six that is showing promise but if Ruger ever makes any more adjustable sighted Bearcats (besides the one they gave to John Taffin.) I'll buy one on the spot.

I am a Smith fan.. Have several Rugers as well.. But I just prefer the Smith.. Mine have all shot super right from day one.. All of my Rugers have had trigger work..

Here's a few for ya.

http://grabagun.com/ruger-bearcat-22lr-ss-wd-4-2-6sh-as.html


http://www.gunbroker.com/Revolvers/BI.aspx?mfg=1000240&mo=3001707

+1, The Smith is a little heavy and bulky, but you can actually hit what your aiming at when you need it. Many of the small ones are handy to carry but hitting anything rodent sized at 25 yards is far from a sure thing.....all this revolver talk makes me want to get it out and shoot it.

IME across several .22 revolvers and semi-autos I don't believe the average .22 revolver will keep up with the average .22 semi-auto, at least not on paper. That's based on a few each S&W Model 17's and 18's, a couple of 63's and one 34, plus a Colt Diamondback and Trooper, an old H&R 9someting9 and one Single Six versus multiple Ruger Mk II's and a couple III's, a Smith 41, Colt Woodsman, Browning Challenger, Nomad and Buckmark and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting.

On the Single Six convertible specifically, I believe that their bores are .224 for the .22 WMR whereas .22 LR bullets are .223. I had the Single Six a long time ago and it was okay but "okay" to a 16 year old kid was hitting a tin can at 50 feet. The new Single Ten is supposedly bored properly for the .22 LR but I have no experience with them to say for certain, and how much that really makes a difference I couldn't say either.

Jim, that Dan Wesson that i had back in '79 sure would run with a lot of these semi autos. that aside, i could live with decent groupings from a revolver but the ones i got with the single six's i shot just weren't close to decent.

Yeah, it isn't hard and fast since some individuals will cross the line. The Colt Trooper was exceptionally accurate but it was a .22 on their Mk III .357 frame and way too heavy for a practical carrying revolver. But every Ruger Mk II or III I've owned, probably 9 or 10 by now in all flavors from skinny barrel fixed sights to their heavy Gov't target model has been one raggedy hole accurate.

In the field I'm sure the shooter's individual skill is a much greater factor than a few fractions of an inch difference in grouping ability.

I keep looking at that Single Ten since it is such a nice revolver and supposedly with a proper diameter bore. At 32 ounces for a blued model it's right in a sweet zone for me, not too heavy for carrying but with enough heft to add some steadiness, plus the grip is sized right, not too small and not too big. Wouldn't be my first choice as a high volume plinker although the time it takes to load and unload would probably save on ammo...

that Dan Wesson was on their 357 mag frame as well.

Been a big Smith fan many years and have four of their handguns in 22LR. A sweet model 41 7", a 617 no dash 4", 617-2 10-shot SS cylinder 6", and my favorite, a K-22 Combat Masterpiece (Pre-18) made in 1952. In my estimation, the K22 CM would be hard to improve upon for the OP's intended purpose.