Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 22 rimfire pistol?

Looking for a 22 auto. Which would you all recommend? Ruger? Smith? or Walther?

Thanks.

Ruger First..
Browning Buckmark second...

Ingwe

with all due respect, ingwe, i differ.

s&w m617. 10 shot. silly accurate. of course it's a revolver, but feels just like a 686 or 625

no muscle memory fade.

love mine. really...

-tom

I'm a "wheel gun" guy myself and couldn't agree more on the 617..

But the OP asked for autos....soooo....

BTW....can't wait to fondle the reintroduced K-22!!!

Dat one makes me giddy!!

Ingwe

Find a S&W 2206, the stainless version of the 422/622.

Jeff

I tend to agree with Ingwe. I have a Ruger Mark II that, when scoped, will put a 10-round magazine into 1" at 50 yards. Anjd have seen more than one that will do that.

But then there are quite a few really accurate semi-auto .22's.

Ruger 22/45 for me. Get the fluted barrel hunter model.

Why not find a Colt Woodsman? Go retro......

Browning Buckmark...period

Sweet...forgot about that one...

Ingwe

High Standard supermatic, another retro that will indeed shoot. Ask the competators who faced them.

Theres that one, and if moola is no object, a S&W 41...


Ingwe

I'm just not a Ruger semi-auto guy and haven't owned a Ruger handgun in any configuration for some time. I grew up in house where handguns, with only a few exceptions, were made either by Colt or by S&W.

Jeff

I'm also not a Ruger Semi-Auto guy ... But I love my Vaqueros.

However, while looking hard at (and for) a .22 LR semi-auto pistol, I settled on a new Ruger MkIII, and am glad I did.

I was aware of a recent "Gun Test" magazine article that had the Ruger MkIII ahead of the Browning Benchmark and the Beretta Neos .22 LR Pistol in every test catagory. (But, the article only confirmed what I already suspected.) The article did however influence the particular Model MkIII that I purchased.

I could not find these "Gun Test's" results" on-line but I did find a "Gun Report" test on-line that chose and tested the SAME Model MkIII, and both test reports came up with the same results.

Both "Gun Tests" and "Gun Report" chose the most INEXPENSIVE Ruger MkIII pistol for their tests.

It was a very plain and basic blued model with a tapered 6" barrel. Also, both tests noted that "this" 6" model had a perfect balance (compared to others, including ones with a 4" barrel. Also they found that the Ruger grip angle was most comfortable and facilitated stability and shoot-ability. (If that's even a word?)

I had almost bought a beautiful Browning Benchmark .22 LR pistol that I believe was a Talo Exclusive that was priced at Scheels notably below other Benchmark standard model pistols. I just didn't have the money at the time ...

But I do think the Ruger MkIII pistols are best ... but still, there are many other .22 Pistols out there that ARE great- and may be the "best" for you.

Ruger MKII or MKIII

...my first question always is...what are you going to use it for???

Bob

I learned to shoot a handgun using a 5.5" S&W 41, so there is only 1 way to go from there for the non-competative shooter, down.

Since there aren't very many S&W 2206s around, few people have any experience with them, so as such they aren't likely to be the 1st 22LR handgun thought of when offering a "what to buy" opinion. From the posts that I've read here and on RFC, folks who own 2206s aren't likely to want to part with them.

Jeff

The Ruger Mark III or Mark II (used) is relatively inexpensive, widely available, accurate, reliable and comes in all shapes and sizes including two different grip configurations - something for everybody. Have owned several in various barrel and sight configurations and have never had an innaccurate one.

Used a stock target model to shoot in the State Gallery championships and didn't embarrass myself, shot Hunter Pistol silhouette with another one and went undefeated in our club shoots for two years so they do work for more than rolling tin cans - a task at which they excel.

Trigger pull ain't a S&W - they are usually crisp enough but heavy and have some overtravel - but a decent smith can lighten them or you can replace them with a Volquartsen. I had one of those and they're good but unless you need a match winning competition quality trigger the stock Ruger cleans up pretty good.

Have had a Browning Nomad, Challenger, Colt Woodsman, couple of Buckmarks and a S&W 41 (now there's a nice auto!) but for all around use without spending a lot of money you'd be hard pressed to beat a Ruger.

Hard to go wrong with a Ruger. I don't have one of my own so I have to borrow my Dad's every once in a while so I can get pissed trying to put it back together. He says it's easy if you follow the directions but he'd be disappointed if I didn't bitch about it. Don't know if the new ones have the same assembly.

I picked up a used S&W 41 this year. It's practically a religious experience shooting that gun. If you're patient you MIGHT be able to find one in the $600s but that's still not real cheap.

RJM--just for plinking and getting my sons into shooting a pistol.