Recommendations for a .22LR handgun

[TexasTornado]

100 percent reliability is right up there with honest politicians and unicorn jerkey

Unicorn jerky sounds tasty.

Sure, if you like the taste of glitter.....

[WTR]

I was lucky growing up. I had access to my Uncle's K 22 Masterpiece and his Colt Woodsman.......both extremely accurate and reliable.

[C-dub]

I have a Colt 1911-22, Ruger Single Six .22, and now a Ruger Mark III .22 Hunter. All three are great and loads of fun when kept clean. The Single Six is less dependent on cleanliness than the semi-autos. An advantage to the Colt is that the controls and size are the same as the full size .45 and it will hold 12 rounds instead of just 10.

The Mark III out shot the Colt in accuracy when I had them both out together after just getting the Mark III. I haven't had the Single Six out with the Colt yet, but think it will also be more accurate. It will be interesting to get them all out together. I have a feeling the Single Six will beat them both.

As for being inexpensive to shoot, that is true when you can find .22 ammo.

C-dub, Does your Single Six have a fully adjustable rear sight? I'm seeing lots of .22 available; even .22 WMR.

It does. My FIL left it to me after he passed. It was made in 1956.

[rentz]

ive have/and have had a few semi auto 22 pistols and i wouldnt really say any of them were "reliable" theyve all been very ammo finicky.
my ruger mk3 will only work with cci mini mags, anything else and its a jam o matic (and for some reason even with a trigger kit i cant hit the broad side of a barn)
Had an sr22 same thing, only worked reliably with minimags
yet the ruger 10/22 will feed just about anything as will my 22lr AR

I have read great things about the new sw victory 22lr though

[TXPeaceOfficerDave]

My wonderful wife bought me a Walther P22 three years ago. Things shoots fantastically and will eat any ammo I feed it.

[TXPeaceOfficerDave]

As nutty as this sounds I've carried my Walther P22 as a carry gun concealed many times.

Here is a thought for you. If you don't think that a .22 hyper velocity load will maim or kill you very quickly then you need to come to the range with me and let me show you the gel penetration and the impact damage on a few fruit items. Trust me. .22 LR in hyper velocity is very very deadly. I know of a South Carolina officer that died on impact from a .22 revolver to the chest cavity. Not pretty.

[TEX]

My suggestion if you want a dedicated .22 handgun is the S&W M&P Compact. Good ergonomics, good trigger, good accuracy with correct ammo, reasonably priced and my has eaten everything I have fed it. IMHO, the only thing they could have done to improve it would have been to use double stack magazines which would have given you about a 17-18 round capacity instead of ten. The R&D would have been more, but the increased manufacturing cost would probably have been less than $3.

Your other option is to use a .22. conversion kit which are available for many Sigs (from Sig), Glocks, and 1911s. I think there are even some for CZs (from CZ).

[Ryan]

I've had one of these little Walther P22's for about 10 years or so. The wife loves to shoot this little pistol. Is it the perfect gun? No. Has it ever jammed? Yes. Is it reliable? Maybe 1200 rounds through it, and only 2 or 3 misfeeds(sp?). I've had more bad rounds than misfeeds. Would I carry it, or let my wife carry it? No. It's an inexpensive little gun that's fun to shoot, and we have killed more than a few snakes and turtles with it.

I second this. I like this gun so much I bought 2 of them. They are not without some kind of failure every now and then though. But as all have stated... what .22 doesn't?

[Hoodasnacks]

I've had one of these little Walther P22's for about 10 years or so. The wife loves to shoot this little pistol. Is it the perfect gun? No. Has it ever jammed? Yes. Is it reliable? Maybe 1200 rounds through it, and only 2 or 3 misfeeds(sp?). I've had more bad rounds than misfeeds. Would I carry it, or let my wife carry it? No. It's an inexpensive little gun that's fun to shoot, and we have killed more than a few snakes and turtles with it.

My dad, brother, and myself all have one of these with the 5" barrel. Each one has probably had more than a few thousand rounds through them. Not perfect, not as accurate as a Ruger or Buckmark but fun to plink with. One day we went through a brick a piece try just having fun but that was before .22 ammo became like the Loch Ness Monster.

I will add my vote on this--I bought one, it had horrible reviews, but I dared myself to make it work. The wife loves it. It was cheap. If you keep it clean and keep the barrel nut tight, it shoots pretty reliably. I rarely have issues when using high velocity ammo. And when plinking, it is good practice on clearing anyway

[Agoraphobic Penguin]

I've only shot a sr 22 and a 22 lr M&P. I preferred the Ruger over Smith & Wesson. The Ruger resembles a modern combat pistol and also has a safety, which gives you options. Also is DA/SA and holds 10 rounds in a magazine. The Beretta Neos seems to be popular for youth and more precise shooting but I've never shot it. I was considering buyin the Taurus 22 lr from Academy because the price is very low but its small barrel and size seems like it would be uncomfortable to shoot.

[Middle Age Russ]

Among .22 pistols I have or have shot...
Ruger Mark II 5.5" Bull Barrel Target -- Eats nearly anything and very good/excellent accuracy. Terrible to field strip and reassemble, but EABCO markets a handy take-down mechanism that I may check into. Grip angle very different from 1911. Heel-type magazine release.
Ruger Mark III 22/45 5.5" Bull Barrel Target -- Eats nearly anything and very good/excellent accuracy. Terrible to field strip and reassemble, but EABCO markets a handy take-down mechanism that I may check into. Grip angle / control placement similar to 1911, but magazine insertion is not straight in-line with the grip angle. Some issues feeding/extracting that may be related to the loaded chamber indicator.
Beretta Neos 6" - Eats nearly anything and very good/excellent accuracy. Trigger out of box was unsatisfactory, but a trigger job later and it is a good shooter. Relatively easy take-down. Grip angle very different from 1911, as are controls. Large/wide hands will find the safety uncomfortable when on safe.
SIG 1911-22 -- 1911 styled single action semi-auto. Eats nearly anything and good/very good accuracy. Take-down requires a hex wrench. No Speed-bump on grip safety, so some folks have difficulty with the gun due to the curved mainspring housing.
Kimber .22 conversion on Kimber 1911 frame -- feeds/runs CCI Mini-Mags fairly reliably - any other ammo is questionable. Good/very good accuracy.
Walther P-22 -- Not finicky about ammo. Good/very good accuracy. Early examples prone to several issues.
Ruger SR-22 -- More finicky about ammo than the Mark series. Good/very good accuracy.
S&W 22A 6" -- Not finicky about ammo. Very good/excellent accuracy. Easy take-down. Grip angle similar to 1911, but grip overly large and not a good fit for me/my wife and the new shooters we work with. Magazine release is on the grip front-strap. Also, slide manipulation is more difficult than similar guns like the Neos (due to how the surfaces are milled for gripping the slide).
S&W M&P 22 (full size) -- Replica of the full size M&P pistol without interchangeable backstraps. Not finicky about ammo. Good/very good accuracy. Easy take-down.

Ruger Single Six - Single Action Revolver generally styled similar to a Colt 1873. Eats nearly anything and very good/excellent accuracy.
Chiappa 1873-22 - Single Action Revolver generally styled similar to a Colt 1873. Haven't shot it yet.
Heritage 22 - Single Action Revolver generally styled similar to a Colt 1873. Eats nearly anything and good/very good accuracy.

YMMV, of course, with any given one of the guns mentioned above since each company has released both good and not-so-good examples of each of these models.

On my rimfire handgun want list are the S&W Model 41, S&W Model 17, a few of the High Standard models, the H&R Sportsman 999, the Thompson/Center Contender and the Dan Wesson .22 pistol pac. I hear good things about the S&W Victory, but have not shot one yet.

[stroo]

Browning Buckmark. Great gun!

[puma guy]

I have a Colt 1911-22, Ruger Single Six .22, and now a Ruger Mark III .22 Hunter. All three are great and loads of fun when kept clean. The Single Six is less dependent on cleanliness than the semi-autos. An advantage to the Colt is that the controls and size are the same as the full size .45 and it will hold 12 rounds instead of just 10.

The Mark III out shot the Colt in accuracy when I had them both out together after just getting the Mark III. I haven't had the Single Six out with the Colt yet, but think it will also be more accurate. It will be interesting to get them all out together. I have a feeling the Single Six will beat them both.

As for being inexpensive to shoot, that is true when you can find .22 ammo.

C-dub, Does your Single Six have a fully adjustable rear sight? I'm seeing lots of .22 available; even .22 WMR.

It does. My FIL left it to me after he passed. It was made in 1956.

Cool! I love those little pistols.

[JRG]

I've had one of these little Walther P22's for about 10 years or so. The wife loves to shoot this little pistol. Is it the perfect gun? No. Has it ever jammed? Yes. Is it reliable? Maybe 1200 rounds through it, and only 2 or 3 misfeeds(sp?). I've had more bad rounds than misfeeds. Would I carry it, or let my wife carry it? No. It's an inexpensive little gun that's fun to shoot, and we have killed more than a few snakes and turtles with it.

My dad, brother, and myself all have one of these with the 5" barrel. Each one has probably had more than a few thousand rounds through them. Not perfect, not as accurate as a Ruger or Buckmark but fun to plink with. One day we went through a brick a piece try just having fun but that was before .22 ammo became like the Loch Ness Monster.

I will add my vote on this--I bought one, it had horrible reviews, but I dared myself to make it work. The wife loves it. It was cheap. If you keep it clean and keep the barrel nut tight, it shoots pretty reliably. I rarely have issues when using high velocity ammo. And when plinking, it is good practice on clearing anyway

I have one also. It performs admirably with high velocity ammo. It chokes on regular bulk ammo. It is horrible to reassemble after cleaning. Very easy to take down, but that recoil spring is awful to get back into position.

I also have an LCR in 22 lr. It is an 8 shot revolver. It is fun to shoot even with the long trigger pull.

Joe

[Lynyrd]

I've had one of these little Walther P22's for about 10 years or so. The wife loves to shoot this little pistol. Is it the perfect gun? No. Has it ever jammed? Yes. Is it reliable? Maybe 1200 rounds through it, and only 2 or 3 misfeeds(sp?). I've had more bad rounds than misfeeds. Would I carry it, or let my wife carry it? No. It's an inexpensive little gun that's fun to shoot, and we have killed more than a few snakes and turtles with it.

My dad, brother, and myself all have one of these with the 5" barrel. Each one has probably had more than a few thousand rounds through them. Not perfect, not as accurate as a Ruger or Buckmark but fun to plink with. One day we went through a brick a piece try just having fun but that was before .22 ammo became like the Loch Ness Monster.

I will add my vote on this--I bought one, it had horrible reviews, but I dared myself to make it work. The wife loves it. It was cheap. If you keep it clean and keep the barrel nut tight, it shoots pretty reliably. I rarely have issues when using high velocity ammo. And when plinking, it is good practice on clearing anyway

I have one also. It performs admirably with high velocity ammo. It chokes on regular bulk ammo. It is horrible to reassemble after cleaning. Very easy to take down, but that recoil spring is awful to get back into position.

I also have an LCR in 22 lr. It is an 8 shot revolver. It is fun to shoot even with the long trigger pull.

Joe

I hear you on that dang blasted spring. I finally found a good method, but it's hard to keep that thing straight.