Best All Around .22 Pistol?

[PistolPete]

Here is the deal. I want to get a .22 pistol so I can take my fiance shooting and because sometimes my range has .22 only shoots so I want to pick one up. I'm having an SVI Limited gun built. Should I just get the Marvel conversion for it? This is what I was really thinking but after mags and such it will be around $600. I like this idea though cause then i'll be shooting the gun I'm familiar with.

However, I was thinking of just buying a Ruger MK II for like $250 and being all set. Then I will have yet another gun to have fun with. Are there any other good .22 pistols out there? Has anyone used the Sig Trailside .22? What are your opinions on this?

Thanks,

Pete

[tightloop]

Get a 5.5inch Mod 41 Smith, expensive, but worth it.

[kindlyoldcoach]

I was thinking of just buying a Ruger MK II  for like $250 and being all set.  Then I will have yet another gun to have fun with.  Are there any other good .22 pistols out there?

Ruger MkIIs have got to be the most traded-off pistols on earth. To me, there's really nothing appealing about them except the price. They're not all that fun to shoot (the sights are smallish, and their triggers can be quite junky-feeling) and they're difficult to take down without smacking them hard.

My opinion: spend a bit more and pick up either a used Smith 41 or a High Standard Supermatic. You'll have something that's accurate, easy to shoot well, relatively easy to keep clean, and worth keeping.

And if your financée develops a knack for it and wants to try out formal bullseye competition, you won't need to upgrade the pistol to give her the warm & fuzzy that using a competitive tool confers. Both of these pistols are regular winners at the club and regional level. Just hand her a box of match-grade standard velocity ammo and point her to the line.

I've learned to avoid buying the same type of pistol twice. Took a while, though.

[SiG Lady]

Ruger Mark II's are not cheap NEW, but are amazingly accurate and reasonably easy to find in shops or privately for less. I had a trigger job and some tweaking done to mine, put comfy Hogue grips on it and it ended up being really nice. Not your ordinary field-strip-for-cleaning procedure, though, and needs special tools and special attention in some cases. The 'government issue' model has a very long, very heavy barrel which is good training for getting used to the weight and developing some strength against wobbling in aiming. The Sig Trailside, on the other hand, is light as a feather... if you like that kind of thing. I hear the Marvel .22 conversion kit is the most accurate--still will cost you upwards of $300 or more.

[warpspeed]

I shoot a Browning Buckmark w/ a dot for rimfire events and it is amazingly accurate w/ CCI Blazer ammo.

[Steve Anderson]

The Beretta 87T is a superb rimfire, and optic-ready. I own 2.

Other .22 hotshots around here like the rugers...

SA

[rhino]

You can't wrong with a Ruger (I prefer the 22/45) or a Buckmark.

The Kimber .22 looks like a neat item too, but you could do that with a conversion kit too.

Thanks for starting this topic. I need to shoot my .22 some more because I need to work on trigger control and follow through (again ... still). I am inspired!

[kindlyoldcoach]

You can't wrong with a Ruger...

I have no hands-on experience with the .22/.45. As regards MkIIs, based on my experiences in both service conditions and NRA/ISSF bullseye, I must respectfully disagree.

In my mind, the stock Ruger MkII is to .22 what the Glock is to centerfire: NOT what I'd choose to hand to a beginnner, under any circumstances other than outright unavailability of everything else.

It is much easier to learn and progress with tools ergonomic and accurate enough to take blaming the tool out of the equation, ESPECIALLY at the rank of virgin. (I am thinking of Pistol Pete's rookie ladyfriend here.) I have yet to handle an out-of-the-box Ruger .22 that inspired such confidence. Their stock triggers, in my experience, SUCK. Like they were dipped in oil and kitty litter before shipping. And their factory sights are straight out of the 30s.

I can always tell when someone at the club is selling a MkII; the air is filled with the unmistakable sound of the pistol being taken apart for close inspection. We're on our second conference table. Rather than wake the household up at 2300 after a range session, people simply tend to not clean them.

You can spend money on MkIIs to make them shootable; Tom Volquartsen will sell you everything you need. But you very quickly arrive at Smith 41 pricing.

Smith 41s, High Standards, and the target iterations of Buckmarks I've handled all have crisp triggers and nice big sight blades, as shipped.

An experienced pistol shooter can always make his/her brain deal with "service conditions", but when I have a newbie on the line, I deliberately hand them the most accurate, most ergonomic pistol I have available. And if I had to run out and buy a .22 trainer tomorrow with my money, my last choice of those mentioned would be a Ruger.

No rudeness intended. Just my two pence.

[eric nielsen]

I also have a financee. She is 5'1", 95lb, and tiny hands. I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Walther P22? The guy in Dillon's magazine likes it, I'm looking for a 2nd opinion.

Susan would like the Walther because of the small grip and light weight. She picks up my match guns, says "whoa, heavy" and puts them right back down. If there is another LITE .22 out there that shoots, I'm interested in that too.

Thanks for any & all replies.

[kindlyoldcoach]

If there is another LITE .22 out there that shoots, I'm interested in that too.

For someone built on a bicycle frame as mademoiselle seems to be, I'd say the old (and unfortunately, rare) skinny-barreled 5-1/2" Smith 41 with home-shaved stocks might be the answer. There's a lot of wood that can come off those stocks.

I have seen but not touched a Walther P22. It does look small enough, though. Like, kid-sized.

[jeff89]

I've got the Ruger Government Target Competition Model and LOVE it! Like siglady said very accurate and mine came from the factory with a very good trigger on it. The contoured wood grips made the gun feel very good in my hand. Paid $350 for it. Haveing said that I tried the 22/45 model and did not like how it felt in my hand, the sights, trigger or anything else about it

I wouldn't trade mine for any other .22 pistol

Jeff

[TBF]

Any opinions on the Beretta Neos?

Optics ready out of the box, and the grip looks fairly small.

Don't know about trigger feel or reliability, have not shot one.

Travis F.

[John Dunn]

I grew up shooting a Ruger Target model MkII. The sights seemed more than adequate (better than the fixed sights), the trigger was and is awesome, don't know when that changed. Accuracy was decent, although probably not up to competition standards, don't know, because we mostly shot at cans and bottles. Of course my brother and I fed it whatever was on sale at the time.

If you are going to shoot matches with it, I have no idea what's the hot ticket these days, but for plinking, hard to beat the Ruger. It is not that big a deal to take them apart, so don't let that stop you.

The Smith 41 is a sweet shooter, and the one I borrowed had a great trigger, but I think the mags needed tuning as I was getting consistent 2nd round failures to feed with a variety of ammo.

The snakiest move would be to let the fiance handle a couple and make the final pick.

[EricW]

I think Ruger MkII's or 22/45's are fine for the price. If you want a real gun, buy an early Colt Woodsman.

For God's sake, don't let anyone talk you into buying a Sig Trailside for any reason. Unless it's free, it's too much to pay. The Mk II is built like a Swiss watch in comparison.

[PistolPete]

I think I'll prob. do what I was originally going to do. I will prob. just get the marvel conversion for my SVI. It is more expensive but at the end of the day it will be using the same gun I'll be using all the time. I won't have to "relearn" the feel of the gun. Only difference being no recoil.

Who here is using the Marvel conversion? What are your thoughts on it?

One of my friends has this conversion on a 1911 and it was a blast to shoot. I'm just wondering if using the SV frame if the gun will still be too heavy for my fiance.

Pete

[Flexmoney]

The Beretta 87T is a superb rimfire, and optic-ready. I own 2.

I have shot Steve's Beretta .22 caliber. We were easiely hitting a 10 inch plate at 100y +.

And, his gun seem to run better than many that people bring to the various matches. That is a big concern.

It is fairly small gripped (likely a good size for the ladies).

Like EricW, I like the Colt Woodsmans/Huntsmen. I actually have a Match Target model. nice, but I don't shoot it much. I am scared that I would treat it like my Glock, thus trashing a fine pistol.

Shred says that if you go for a Marvel, to beg them to loosen it up a bit...small loss in accuracy, traded for extra reliablity.

[EricW]

Don't fret too much over what 22 to get. They're cheap and easily saleable. Don't like it? You're probably out of all of 75-100 bucks - worst case. That's about the cost of a night out these days. No biggie.

[Limitless13]

I have a MK2 and I absolutely love the little thing. It's extremely accurate ( in my case ) and I have only had ammo related reliability problems. Mine has the smaller bull barrel and that makes a difference for me compared to the other longer versions. Just my .02 .

KS

[Guest Larry Cazes]

Steve and Flex.....Is the Beretta 87T the same as the new Beretta Polymer frame NEOS .22?? I won one of these this weekend in the raffle for the Bay Bridge Charity Match. It looks like a Buckmark top with a polymer grip frame. By the way, I also love my MKII which I've had for about 12 years and would recommend one to anybody.

Larry

[jhgtyre]

I have a Ruger MKII, cheapo skinny barrel model, and a 22/45 bull barrel model. Both run great. I have Tasco PDP5's on both of them and use them for our monthly .22 steel match. I have also owned a MKI and it ran great as well.

Guns that I no longer own because they were a pain in the a$$ include:

A High Standard Supermatic Citation. It was SOOOO mag sensitive and ammo sensitive that I had a very hard time with it and it had to go.

A High Standard Field King. See comments above. A friend also owns a HS but he finally got all his mags tuned and it works for him.

A Walther P22. What a total hunk of junk. It jammed with all ammo I tried in it. The trigger sucked and the accuracy was about 10" at 15 yards. I bought the "Target" barrel for it and it still only got down to about 6" at 15 yards. I may have gotten an extreme lemon though. Mine was one of the first ones produced and I know others who own them and seem to like them.

Taurus .22 revo. It was pretty cool but the trigger was pretty bad and no one seemed to want to do a trigger job on it. I tried lightening the springs but that only resulted in failure to fire problems.

-ld

[texasag93]

Ruger MkII, Browning Buckmark are my to favorites. The Neos I handled had a HORRIBLE trigger. Mk II is my top pick. Get adjustable sights, makes it that much easier to hit point of aim. I have had no problems with my Mk II in the 10 yrs and 1000's of rounds through it. TXAG

[scooterj]

If you plan on doing mag changes, go for the 22/45 not the MK II. The 22/45 has a mag release like that of a 1911. The MK II has the mag catch on the bottom of the grip, which is the reason I traded my MK II for a 22/45. I'm glad I made the swap.

[Run n Gun]

Another vote for the Ruger 22/45. Mine has a 5 ½” bull barrel and adjustable sights and will shoot nickel size groups (25yds) all day long. It has the additional benefit of being of similar size and weight to my 1911 AND it has the controls in the same place with the same functions. The best part? It cost me $199 NIB with two magazines.

Ed

[L9X25]

Eric,

If you would like to let her try a S&W Mod 41, I have one that is available for you to borrow. It is the 7 1/2 light contour barrel and has the stock wooden grips that make it "pretty fat" but is a wonderful pistol to shoot. Trigger is so light and short that it will spoil you for about anything else. Even have enough mags to shoot an IPSC match (which I have done before).

Just let me know.

Leo

[Flexmoney]

Steve and Flex.....Is the Beretta 87T the same as the new Beretta Polymer frame NEOS .22?? I won one of these this weekend in the raffle for the Bay Bridge Charity Match. It looks like a Buckmark top with a polymer grip frame. By the way, I also love my MKII which I've had for about 12 years and would recommend one to anybody.

Larry

Not the same.