Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Your Favorite All-Around Rimfire Handgun??

Colt Woodsman Sport circa 47/48. Short barrel version. Sits in an El Paso floral carved rig or the original box when in the safe. Love that little gun. It was the first gun I ever shot. Thought it was the loudest boom in the world!

Probably my S&W Model 45, a "Model 10", fixed sights and all, in .22 LR.

Ruger MKII stainless target with bull barrel.

Some really nice .22s out there...

I have been thinking about this question since posted. It doesn't say "favorite" .22 handgun or favorite .22 Target gun or Hunting gun it says "ALL-AROUND" gun and that is where I run into the roadblock to answering.

If one only does one thing with their .22 handgun such as shoot Bullseye then it is a simple matter of choosing ones favorite Bullseye gun. But with each additional discipline one uses a .22 handgun for, such as hunting, teaching, trapping, metallic silhouette competition, concealed carry/self-defense, plinking, hiking/backpacking...the compromises get bigger and bigger.

So this is where I get stuck for an answer as I do all of the above with a .22 handgun from time to time.

Probably the closest I can come is a 4" S&W Model 48 .22 Magnum with the extra Rimfire cylinder. It is accurate enough for Bullseye although somewhat handicapped for Rapid Fire. I can shoot it just about as well long range as a 6" for plinking and MS shooting. With small grips it isn't too heavy or muzzle heavy for teaching new shooters and although I prefer stainless for a hunting/hiking/backpacking like the above Model 63 it would just take a little more care to keep clean.



With new grips...



The second runner up would be a 1911 with interchangeable top ends. A Marvel Longsilde for competition and standard Conversion Unit or for that matter an ACE for everything else...

ACE



Sorry to over-annualized this...Bob

I foolishly sold my 4" model 18, Smith and Wesson. The one I have had the longest is a High Standard Double Nine. My grandfather gave it to me when I was a kid. I have no earthly clue how many rounds have gone through it, or how many squirrels and rabbits I have bumped off with it. I have it in semi retirement these days, mostly shooting a 4" bull barreled Ruger MkII, 22/45.

I bought a MkIII with a 5.5" Bull barrel for Mrs. Tide, the first Christmas we were together, and Tide Jr. got a Ruger Bearcat for Christmas in about 2006 or 2007. He'd have been around 9 or 10, then I guess.

We love shooting them all.

Probably a toss up between a S&W 18 4" with the three T's and a High Sandard Citation Supermatic 6".

I always liked my SS Ruger single six, for general outdoor knockin' around.


maddog

Lookin' back, my first Single Six convertible. It had the short barrel, blued finish. The flexibility of switching to .22 magnum when I needed more "snot" was handy. That gun shot well with both long rifle and magnums. I can't say that for any of the dozen or so I've owned since.

If someone were asking for a recommendation on what to buy today, I'd tell them just what I told myself a year or so ago: Ruger Mk III, 5-1/2" barrel. The trigger is absolute CRAP, so plan to install a Volquartsen trigger. If you don't like 3-dimensional spring loaded jigsaw puzzles, save yourself some frustration and take it to a gunsmith for installation. With the more complex Mk III mechanism, which has a mag disconnect the Mk II lacked, I found it a lot more challenging to install the kit than I had on older mk IIs.

Tom

Ruger single six, stainless 6.5 inch. Shoots everything from short to lr to 22 mag. This is my second one and is actually accurate with both cylinders. The first one I had was picky with the mag cylinder and would only shoot the accu tip with good results.