.22 pistol suggestions?

[TheCilician]

I'm lookin to buy a new .22 pistol...but I've never had one...any suggestions on reliability, and accuracy?

Also looking in the 250-350 range...no more for a .22 ^^

[wellfedirishman]

Ruger bull barrel pistol, used

Look for a Ruger Mk I, II or III with a bull barrel. You should be able to get a decent used one for $250 or so.

They are accurate, reliable, and last forever. My first pistol is a Ruger Mk I 22 5.5 inch bull barrel from the 1970s that had been shot in bullseye competition for years by its previous owner.

It is probably my best semi-auto, and I have several.

[Vacaville]

Ruger Mark II or III. I've got a Mark II 22/45 Target model and I love it. Super reliable and very accurate.

[ChaparralCommando]

The Browning Buckmark and the Ruger Mk2/3 are the standards. I have a Buckmark Camper model which is a pretty good value, in your price range. There are all kinds of accessories for Buckmarks and probably the Rugers too, so if you want you can trick them out in the future like the competitive shooters do. My buddy has a Ruger and likes it a lot. Both are very accurate and reliable.

[TheBundo]

I'm lookin to buy a new .22 pistol...but I've never had one...any suggestions on reliability, and accuracy?

Also looking in the 250-350 range...no more for a .22 ^^

I bought a Heritage Rough Rider at Alquist Arms today for $209, with a great "bird's head" grip/handle, and it comes with 2 cylinders, one for 22LR and downward, and one cylinder for 22 Mag. Lifetime warranty. Great deal, IMO, feels as solid as a Ruger

[TheCilician]

Ruger Mark II or III. I've got a Mark II 22/45 Target model and I love it. Super reliable and very accurate.

I'm finding more and more, as I get into guns that Ruger is the best for anything that shoots .22 haha

[TheCilician]

I bought a Heritage Rough Rider at Alquist Arms today for $209, with a great "bird's head" grip/handle, and it comes with 2 cylinders, one for 22LR and downward, and one cylinder for 22 Mag. Lifetime warranty. Great deal, IMO, feels as solid as a Ruger

Good deal, I'll check it out.

[Gary13]

I bought a Heritage Rough Rider at Alquist Arms today for $209, with a great "bird's head" grip/handle, and it comes with 2 cylinders, one for 22LR and downward, and one cylinder for 22 Mag. Lifetime warranty. Great deal, IMO, feels as solid as a Ruger

Got my 22/45 from them. Good folks with good prices. I may have to look into getting one of those.

[TheCilician]

BUt what do you guys think about buying a SIG or even a COLT (even though both are in the $800's) and getting a .22 conversion?

What do you suggest ?

[socalr6]

sig mosquito? Anyone have one of those? Looks tacicool

[kalguns]

I like the ruger bearcat. you can shoot .22lr, .22short and .22 mag

[sb_pete]

Ruger MkII would be my first suggestion. I wouldn't worry about the bull barrel either. They look cooler, but the tapered barrels are still very accurate and are much nicer to handle. They point better IMO, and the extra weight of the bull bbl makes it unpleasant for girls to shoot in my experience. Since the .22 pistol is the first gun I start out new shooters with, this can matter. Anyways, the bull bbl does look cooler and is slightly more accurate. Really, I would just look for them and buy the first one you find at a good price (assuming it is in decent shape anyways).

The MkI is also fun and I have one, but the heel mounted mag release gets annoying.

The buckmark is cool, because you can change out barrels down the line and have multiple bbls for one gun. (you can also do this with the rugers, but since the bbl is the serialed part, it requires an FFL for each one). Tactical Solutions makes very cool upper replacements for both the Ruger MK series and the Buckmark. There are also Volquartsen units.

Colt woodsman's are also nice, but I don't really care for their look personally, ymmv.

The Sig Mosquito and Walther P22 both share the same problem. Because they use a full slide over the bbl, and because .22lr is so weak a cartridge, they don't cycle well with anything but high velocity ammo. They look really cool, but the feed ramps have issues with many types of ammo, and they don't reliable cycle with anything but high velocty stuff like CCI stingers which cost ALOT more than the bulk pack you can shoot out of other guns all day long.

The Sig conversion suffers the same issues as the mosquito from what I hear, but I have no personal experience so take that with a grain of salt or three.

The Marvel conversion for 1911's is amazing. It eats anything and is highly accurate. My friend has one and it is a joy to shoot. Like many 1911 conversions it does not use a full slide, so the manual of arms is slightly different, but the end result is that they function as reliably as the MK/Buckmark/Woodsman guns. Kimber , TacSol, and Ceiner also make conversions as do many others, but I have no experience with these.

The CZ Kadet is maybe worth looking into for the tacticool setup, or the Kadet conversion in conjunction with a CZ75 since you are thinking about the Sig or 1911 conversions. CZ75's are great guns and great bargains. The Kadet package is a little expensive (~$400 iirc), but the savings over a Sig or 1911 would easily outweigh that.

There are other options as well, but those would be the main ones I would be looking at. Once again, I think you will have the most fun and best value out of a simple used Ruger MKII though.

Hope that helps,
-Pete

[TheCilician]

The CZ Kadet is maybe worth looking into for the tacticool setup, or the Kadet conversion in conjunction with a CZ75 since you are thinking about the Sig or 1911 conversions. CZ75's are great guns and great bargains. The Kadet package is a little expensive (~$400 iirc), but the savings over a Sig or 1911 would easily outweigh that.

There are other options as well, but those would be the main ones I would be looking at. Once again, I think you will have the most fun and best value out of a simple used Ruger MKII though.

Hope that helps,
-Pete

I've been looking into the CZ 75 lately, and i've decide to probably go for that. I might as well pay some more and get 2 calibers out of it.

Thanks for all your suggestions though....perhaps ill buy a ruger when i have some more cash.

[Turo]

The MkI is also fun and I have one, but the heel mounted mag release gets annoying.

Really? I've always liked the mag release on those, different, but my thumb was never able to push the regular mag releases. maybe because it was a few years ago and my hands were smaller.

Anyway, @ OP: you really can't go wrong with a ruger mkII/III, they're pretty darn accurate and for the price they can't be beat. that said, I wouldn't get a mkI just because the one my family has is prone to jam anytime we put more than a few mags through it at a time.

[Seed]

I've been looking into the CZ 75 lately, and i've decide to probably go for that. I might as well pay some more and get 2 calibers out of it.

Thanks for all your suggestions though....perhaps ill buy a ruger when i have some more cash.

I have the CZ P-01 with the Kadet Kit and it works quite well and is accurate. I had a mosquito. I enjoyed it also but prefer the P-01 with the Kadet. $$$ though.