Best .22 pistol for Long term use

[dcriner]

First, do you like the looks? Pick it up - how does it feel in your hand? Most .22 pistols will cycle decently.

Anyway, that's how I selected a Ruger Mk III standard.

[Neverhome]

I have only owned my Ruger MK III for a couple of months but I can tell you it is one of the most accurate and well balanced .22 caliber pistols I have owned. Lat week at the range, shooting from a sandbag rest at 25 yds., using a red dot scope, I consistently hit pennies glued to a backstop. Can't get much better than that for accuracy.

Neverhome

[Country101]

My vote is for the browning buckmark. A second choice would be the ruger mkIII. Both very solid and dependable. Browning just gets the nod from personal preferance.

[Ledslnger]

Both the Buckmark and Ruger Marks are great. I would look around for the best deal on either one of them. Whatever you find at a great price, well you can't go wrong. Personally, I would try to go Stainless since it sounds like you want to keep this thing forever. But, initial cost will be higher. Anyway, good luck in your search.

[dragonfly]

By now, you have probably figured out it depends on whether you are a chevy or a ford guy... And, at this point you need to find a buddy or two that has a Ruger and and Buckmark and try them out. Or rent both at a range and try them out. Buy the one you like the best. But try to shoot both more than one time, in other words, don't rush to judgement. It means you will just be wanting the other one that much sooner. And if you decide on the Ruger, the Ruger Standard A-100 frame, or Ruger Mark II are as good as the Ruger MK III. The III just has more lawyer gadgets on it that makes it a PITA to take down and clean.

The general rule, consistent across the forums is: You will spend a hundred dollars or better to get the Ruger to shoot as good as the Buckmark out of the box. That is generally a true statement to get the smooth trigger, trigger pull, and over travel removed. I have had a Ruger standard since 1980 and really wasn't happy with it until I got a Buckmark a few years ago and found out that .22 pistols really can be accurate. So, new sights, new trigger with O/T adjustment and sear in the Ruger and now it shoots as good as the Buckmark. I did do the the Hegis flip on the sear spring on the BM, but that is a no cost item.

Read the forums. If you don't belong to RFC, go over there and join up and get to know many of the same folks, and lots of new folks, that have lots of knowledge, experience and opinions. The neat thing is, you will end up with at least one of each - of several - by the time you are an old guy like me. My medalist was made in 1963, the year I graduated from college with my BS F. df

And one last note: I have a Ruger Bearcat and a Single Six that I bought when I was in college. Great revolvers. The bearcat walked a lot of miles of forest with me when I was in Oregon and Montana. Lots of foolhens and grouse came back to camp for supper during the seasons. Lots of porcupines never ate another sampling.

[sbw9056]

Originally Posted by One Shot

You won't go wrong with the Ruger Mark III.

Ditto
Mine is 20 years old with countless rounds through it.
Still runs like a champ.

[Big Shrek]

Chevy = Ruger...always need improvement & tweaking

Ford = Beretta Neos...same as above, but with more style

Volvo = Browning...solid all the way

Ferrari = High Standard of Connecticut...the ONLY U.S. pistol mfr to ever win Olympic Gold. They're the best we had...
Almost any HS pistol will eat all three of the above any day of the week. They are freakishly precise
Even rusty ones...lol


After that go finda Hammerli

[olafhardt]

I am a revolver guy. I hate stuffing bullets in magazines. I have often wondered if starting with an empty gun could a da wheely eat cartridges faster than an auto? This seems to be worth considering. Also policing bress can be a lot simpler.

[Zane71464]

Originally Posted by Big Shrek

Chevy = Ruger...always need improvement & tweaking

Ford = Beretta Neos...same as above, but with more style

Volvo = Browning...solid all the way

Ferrari = High Standard of Connecticut...the ONLY U.S. pistol mfr to ever win Olympic Gold. They're the best we had...
Almost any HS pistol will eat all three of the above any day of the week. They are freakishly precise

After that go finda Hammerli

A big +1 on the High Standards.
I owned one just long enough to get to like it and get used to it.
Then what did I do,, let it go and still kicking my butt about that.
(other then the fact, it was such a fast shooter and me not being
able to contol the urge to put 10rds in the bullseye at a very fast
time and going through a few hundred rounds every time I shot it,
well...it's history!)

[hardluk1]

I have a colt huntsman that beter than 45 years old and never gave me single problem.

[CJ_56]

I like Ruger MkII's better than the MkIII's. From my experience they run more reliably. My friend has several Rugers and Buckmarks and by far the best shooter he has is a MkII. I tend to not buy .22 pistols but I have a bunch of .22 rifles.

High Standard does make an excellent revolver. The Single Six is another fine revolver. Most likely they will outlast a semi-auto but that's a lot of ammo to go through anyway. I'm not about to say it can't be done. I can shoot up 1000 rounds a day, every day if I get going and I'll be wishing I had more to shoot. I've done it at times. But I got tired of spending so much money on ammo. That was just my .22 ammo some of which cost $45 a brick. Actually I shot a bunch of stuff that cost about $200 a brick at the time too but that was given to me by a sponsor. I have a river of brass running through my yard if that tells you anything. And this doesn't even count what I spent on centerfire ammo at the same time. I was shooting a lot of .45 and 30.06 ammo at the time too not to mention a lot of shotgun shells. It takes a lot of ammo if you want to be a really good shooter. And sometimes it doesn't matter how much you shoot. You can be like me and never become world class at shooting. But it's a heck of a lot of fun to try. 3000 rounds a weekend sounds easy to do to me. I know there's been times I have shot more than that. I didn't shoot that way through the winter or on rainy days and I still ended up shooting about 150 bricks in a year. I still shoot about 75 a year easy.

[Zane71464]

...dang CJ, and I thought I was rough on my .22's!

[Smoke]

I will have to agree with CJ56 if you can find a Mk II buy it, if not go with the the Mk III.

[CJ_56]

They will wear out on your Zane. That's a fact.

[flintlock]

You can't beat the Ruger MKII for a pistol, or the Single Six for a .22 revolver.

[Bindernut]

Since no one here has mentioned the SP101 rimfire except one reference to it's small grip (which is true...it is a compact revolver after all).
the other guys have reviewed the autoloaders and the Single-Six pretty thoroughly so here's my take on the little SP.

I own one and love it.
Mine is a 1990 model, 6-shot, 4" full-underlug barrel, with adjustable sights. (a variant not in the current catalog). Second year of production, Ruger offered oodles of variants back then.
I have kinda small hands, so with a Hogue Monogrip installed it fits my hand perfectly. The factory grip is too small for me to use for long range sessions...it was designed as a concealable self-defense gun after all.
With the 4" barrel with just a .22 diameter hole down the middle, the gun has a nice heft to it, it balances well, and the recoil is basically zilch like almost every other .22lr handgun.

Concerning the new high-profile adjustable sights on the current 8-shot .22LR model...I like em. The only thing I'm not wild about is the fiber-optic front blade...but that's just my personal preference.


The only thing I could think of that might shy you away from the SP101 is the pricetag.
It is rather expensive, but it's built like a tank and will last a lifetime.
If your local shop doesn't have the .22lr one in stock, ask to handle one of the other caliber SPs. They all have the same grip feel, but that 4" .22lr barrel will have a little more heft out front than a shorter barrel in a larger caliber.

Attached is a picture of my pet. It's the last handgun I'll ever part with because it just plain fits me perfectly.


Now as to the other suggestions of Ruger or Browning autoloaders, or the Single-Six/Single-Ten SA revolvers...
I've had several Ruger autoloaders, one Browning Buckmark, one Single-Six, and my SP101.
There's not a thing wrong with any of them.
As others have already stated, find a shop that's got a few in stock and see how well they fit your hand.

[Zane71464]

Nice Bindernut and also good thoguht with the change of grips.
In reference to the fiber-optic front blade, good point as well. I myself
had a "time" getting used to that.
And a friend of mine that bought a new one is still haveing a hard time
getting used to it. Say's he can't get it "down", but as I told him, he'd
bought it new (and not sure he had done his "homework" on it before buying
it) and he'd better get used to it or do some changes or, SELL it to me!!

[Regular Joe]

I had to have a token .22 auto pistol, and the Ruger .22/45 stainless 4" serves that role. For a fair comparison, go over to rimfirecentral.com and read up in the various brand categories to see what people do with their pistols, and what, if anything goes wrong. Mk.II has a very strong following. Watch out for plastic parts in the Browning actions, and (soft) Zinc slides on the Walthers.
There has NEVER, EVER been a .22 made in any form that doesn't have an ammo preference. My .22/45 works very well with Aguila Target Pistol ammo, which is still relatively cheap.

[CJ_56]

I didn't mean to imply that HS only made nice revolvers BTW. They certainly do make fine semi-autos too. They are very accurate. But the most accurate .22 pistol I ever shot was a MkII Ruger. I had no problems hitting a 1" target from 75 yards with the one my friend has. And that's just using a rudimentary rest. I shot off the top of a fence post. Of course that pistol has a 12" bull barrel on it. That does make a big difference.

I haven't seen anyone mention the S&W .22 pistols which are also very nice. The 41 is very nice. They actually have several that are very accurate and dependable. I have a .44 mag S&W 629 myself and it shoots very accurate. Bob Munden certainly manages to get a lot out of his S&W's. I believe he uses a 629 for much of his shooting although it's a stripped down model. I've seen him bust balloons at 250 yards with a short barrel S&W holding the gun upside down. He probably gets a better view of the target that way considering how much hold over he has to be using. He probably doesn't hit the balloon itself but rather busts it with shrapnel bouncing back off the steel panel he has the balloons tied to. Still that's pretty fair shooting. I can shoot water bottles at 150 yards with my 629 pretty regular. But you won't see me draw and shoot 2 balloons separated by 8 feet and re-holster my revolver in .02 seconds like Munden does. Yes that 2 hundredths of a second. That's some amazing stuff. You can't even make out more than one shot by listening to it. You can't even see him draw the gun from the holster either much less shoot twice and re-holster. But you can see it on slow motion video. He freaks me out. The best I can do is about half a second to draw and shoot just once and hit what I'm shooting at. BTW don't try this at home until you practice doing it dry firing about 1000 times.

[craicbard]

I purchased both guns that you are considering last fall, 2011, that is, the new Ruger 101 .22LR and the Ruger Mark III, Standard, with a 4.75" barrel.

They are both well made and with care should last a lifetime. If I could only keep one of them, it would be the Mark III handsdown. While the 101 is a fine gun, shooting it in single-action will bloody your thumb due to the long pull and an annoying poorly designed, deep-ridged thumb pull. In double-action, the pull is far to much at 18 pounds or so. Perhaps a trigger job and lots of use may exacerbate these issues. Naturally, due to these issues the accuracy is not as good as it could be, at least for the novice shooter. Bottom line: if you want a thing of beauty, buy the 101.

My preference is the Mark III, a very sweet gun, accurate beyond my capability, flawless in action, sweet trigger pull, light enough for an old guy like me to use regularly. By far its the best .22 handgun I have ever used and I own five .22LR handguns.

You can buy two Mark III standard semi-autos for the price of one 101 and you will wind up with twice the gun for half the money -- a deal hard to beat.

[gvw3]

My son has a Browning Buckmark and its a nice shooter.

[Sotw]

Question for those of you with Rogers. I put a red dot on my 22/45 and having trouble finding a holster. Anyone got any ideas?

[aqbill]

Shrek and Zane have it right...it's hard to beat a nice High Standard but...if you want to try, then perhaps a Smith & Wesson 41 or a Colt Woodsman. All classic American iron. Treat it well and you'll have a solid investment, too.

[CJ_56]

Just to get back to the OP's question here. He only mentioned two choices. Among those two choices the revolver will likely last longer than the semi-auto but both will last a very long time. I know the MkII's are accurate enough to hunt squirrels. I've shot some MkIII's but not nearly as many as I have MkII's. I know the MkII's will shoot as well as a lot of rifles. I will have to say that hunting squirrels with a pistol is not an easy thing. Rifles follow the movements of a running squirrel or rabbit much better than handguns. It can be done if you really practice a lot. But there's a reason most people hunt with rifles. Heck most people hunt with shotguns when it gets right down to it. A running animal is hard to hit but if you learn the tricks it can be done. You have to learn how to lead a critter and how to predict a turn. I've shot a bunch of animals on the run or on the wing. Bats are the toughest I've ever shot because they change direction about every 18". But even that can be done. With squirrels you just have to follow the limbs and how they run. With rabbits it depends on whether you're hunting with dogs or not. A dog chasing a rabbit will make it change direction often. The trick is to shoot right after a direction change before they get to the point where they will change direction again.

Good luck with your hunting. I think I'd get the semi-auto just so i could take multiple shots quicker although shooting a revolver fast can be done. It's just not as easy as it is to shoot a semi-auto fast.

[Regular Joe]

The Ruger Gov't target model is the one to beat, if you can. My first Ruger was the 1947 model that my dad got for graduating high school. That one had well over 200,000 rounds thru it when I got rid of it. Bad blood.
The Ruger can't be worn out by mortal men, and once you find the ammo it likes, the cartridge itself is the only limiting factor.
Get whatever you want, but you will always know that you should have tried the Ruger. If you live well, and use your brain, one day you will own the Ruger.