Perfect .22 cal plinker

[wheels]

That is why I made my list and published it. I found a remfire forum where there are a lot of .22 shooters talking about this very topic. I have sent this discussion link to S&W and Tarus. Yes the market for the .22 has changed since the days you could ride your bike with your plinker and get ammo. I think you summarized the issue perfectly. Ruger is a great value, but tough to put back together. You must clean a .22 or it won't work right. It's not a glock or XD. The DA wheel guns have a very hard trigger.

I think the .22 should be able to fire any round - especially the cheap ones and not jam. So that puts the semi-auto's out of this list.

Michael - can you get some of your friends at Tarus and S&W to take a close look at this list? I think it would be great to have a .22 that can shoot like my XD. The XD goes bang all the time no matter what kind of round is in the gun. It's easy to clean and it's easy to be accurate. I think .22 shooters have been putting up with crap for too long. We should not have to spend $1000.00 for a target pistol, when we can get guns like the glock, 1911 or springfields that always work.

Since the rimfire taks so much effort to fire, isn't there a way to use mechanics (geers) to multiply the force applied to a hard spring? Is there such a thing as an electric trigger? Maybe the design of the gun should be different than what we have been shooting for so many years?

[ncrguy]

Here is a link I found on the S&W forum for speedloaders for the 617: http://www.msnusers.com/Speedloader/shoebox.msnw. I have a 617 10 shot with a 6 inch barrel. I love it. The trigger pull on my gun is about the same as on my .357. I have not had any problems with it and decided buy it when I originally went out to buy a .22 auto pistol. I guess I am just a wheelgunner at heart!

[Snake45]

Ruger is a great value, but tough to put back together. You must clean a .22 or it won't work right. It's not a glock or XD. The DA wheel guns have a very hard trigger.

I think the .22 should be able to fire any round - especially the cheap ones and not jam. So that puts the semi-auto's out of this list.

Wheels, with all due respect, are you paying any attention at all to what people are telling you here? The Ruger is NOT hard to put back together, you just have to know HOW, same as anything else you do in life. It's apparent that you're inexperienced but ingorance is NOT a virtue and there's no reason to write off a perfectly fine firearm just because you don't want to take two minutes to learn how to run it.

As to revolvers having a "hard trigger," have you ever tried a Smith or anything besides your H&R? Every H&R I've ever handled DID have a "hard trigger," but you might be surprised at how smooth a modern DA revolver (such as a Smith or Taurus) can be. And if you're going to be using it for hunting, "competition," and plinking, just cock the damn thing and you'll have about as sweet a trigger pull as you can get on a handgun.

Cheap .22 ammo will not cause a gun to "jam." The cheap stuff might have a few more duds in every thousand rounds than the most expensive, but I've found even the cheapest stuff to run very well in a wide variety of guns. Yes, you might have to try a few brands to find what works best for you. All part of the fun. And if the occasional "click" instead of "bang" is a day-ruining event in your life, then I suggest you forget about ANY .22 firearm of ANY kind, rifle or pistol, because they are ALL going to do it sooner or later. You just jack the dud out and drive on. It ain't rocket surgery. 

PS: Oh, BTW, Hi Michael and good to be here! Looks like a nice place you got going! Drive on!

[wheels]

Snake your right.

You can pull the hammer back on a DA revolver and you have a great trigger pull. Would you agree that would be a bit tough to rapid fire accurately?

I think your also right about the ruger. Put a little effort into learning how to put it back together and your good to go. Every review I have read from people about putting it back together shares their pain on putting it back together. My intention of this post is to get a better .22 than what we have available. The ruger is the best value. Its obviously not as easy as a wheel gun, XD or Glock. At least for most people. Dissin the ruger is not my intention.

We live in a fantastic time. We should be able to have a .22 that is better than anything we have ever shot before. It should not cost $1000. It should be easy to clean and it should always work.

Does anyone know of electric triggers for guns? What if you had a wheel gun or a semi-auto with an electric trigger? What if it was not super heavy?

[waterburybob]

I've got a number of .22 pistols - both semi's and revolvers.  I have to say right now my favorite shooter is the Ruger 22/45 with the Tactical Solutions Pac-Lite receiver like Michael has. It's very accruate and a blast to shoot.

I love my S&W M41 and my K22 masterpiece, but as Michael said, that Ruger is a tremendous value.

[Sponsor]

[Snake45]

You can pull the hammer back on a DA revolver and you have a great trigger pull. Would you agree that would be a bit tough to rapid fire accurately?

I think your also right about the ruger. Put a little effort into learning how to put it back together and your good to go. Every review I have read from people about putting it back together shares their pain on putting it back together.

What if you had a wheel gun or a semi-auto with an electric trigger? What if it was not super heavy?

You might be surprised at the rate of fire you can attain with a DA revolver by cocking it with your off-thumb. You can also do damn good work with the smooth DA trigger of an S&W. Yes, this takes a little effort. Most worthwhile things in life do. The gun is not going to shoot itself.

I can't help it if you are listening to people who have never bothered to read their Ruger manual to learn how to put the thing back together. All I can tell you is that if you're doing it right, it goes back together faster and easier than a 1911. Doesn't get much easier than that. If you don't do it right, yes, it will give you problems until you accidentally stumble upon the right combination. Been there done that. But it's no harder to do it right than to do it wrong.

If you don't like the Ruger, look at Browning's .22s. I've never used one but those who have both guns seem to rate them about equally with the Ruger.

You don't need to spend $1000 to get a decent .22 handgun. Used Rugers can be had for $200 and if you want an even better trigger, you can have that cleaned up for $50-100. The Brownings aren't much more. Used S&W K22s and Model 18s seem to go for about $400, sometimes less, and they're good to go right out of the box. New Tauruses can be had for even less than that.

Electric triggers? Not for me. My Dad taught me long ago: Trust physics always, chemistry usually, electricity NEVER. I will NEVER own any gun that relies on batteries of any kind to go bang.

Tens of millions of us are getting along just fine with stuff that's on the market now and has been on the market for DECADES. You don't have to waste time reinventing the wheel. Pick a system, spend your money, and then get to work SHOOTING IT. That's what all the rest of us have done. 

[Pathfinder]

You don't need to spend $1000 to get a decent .22 handgun. Used Rugers can be had for $200 and if you want an even better trigger, you can have that cleaned up for $50-100.

Tens of millions of us are getting along just fine with stuff that's on the market now and has been on the market for DECADES. You don't have to waste time reinventing the wheel. Pick a system, spend your money, and then get to work SHOOTING IT. That's what all the rest of us have done. 

Amen, Brother, Amen.

A local store had a Ruger Mk II for 150 after some gunsmithing. I should have bought it but it was 30-40 over Blue Book for its condition. I decided not to buy when they refused to tell me what gunsmithing had been done.

[woodsman]

It sounds like your mind is sort of set on a revolver, but let me also make a case for the semi-auto pistol. Either the Ruger Mk II (I'm not a fan of the new features of the Mk III) or the Browning Buckmark will do the trick. You can find used examples of either in your price range. Both have decent triggers (Buckmark probably has an edge out of the box, but Mk II/III have outstanding after market options) and good accuracy. Both IMHO have excellent reliability (a lot depends on the quality of the ammo you use). Both offer a myriad of shapes and sizes to suit every taste. As for cleaning, there is no need to disassemble either gun for standard cleaning. Use of the new spray type degreasers and cleaner/lubricants (I like the Shooter's Choice Polymer Safe Degreaser and Tetra Cleaner/Lube) make it unnecessary.  Give one these guns a whirl, I think you'll like it. Worst case, you'll have something to trade in for that wonder wheel gun you seek. Good luck and shoot safe.

[Snake45]

Hey Wheels, I started a poll over at rimfirecentral.com on the question of Ruger .22 pistol reliability. As of this moment there have been 54 responses--1 "Below Average" reliability, and the other 53 all "Very Reliable." The comments posted are also interesting. Check it out here:

http://rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174979

[Mike McLaughlin]

If I knew a perfect (name your caliber) plinker existed, I'd have one. Or more. But, here goes:

S&W Model 63. 22lr, or short(er). J frame, 4" barrel, sort-of-target sights. I have one, and I'll have it until I'm 6 ft. underground. And maybe then, too. I hope my wife unloads it before she has me cremated. It is a Double Action revolver, has Decent DA & SA pulls, but not down where you want them.

Ruger Bearcat. 22lr. Single Action only. Similar in size to S&W J frames.

Don't know what either gun is going for used, you can probably find typical prices on the web.

Don't like black sights? Get over it.

If the front sight width and the opening in the rear sight are correct, there will be daylight (or target) showing equally between the edges of the front sight and the edges of the opening in the rear sight. There are fancier sights available, but they are rarely, if ever, better than black front sight & black rear sight. Of course, if you want a barbecue gun, you could put a gold insert in the front sight, etc. White dots are OK, as are tritium sights, if you want a self-defense gun.