Any .22 Pistols actually work as designed?

[OldBroad44]

Agreed. Years ago had Buckmarks, High Standards, etc. and they all had issues. Ruger Mk design just works.

Hmmmm. The Ruger MKs, Colt Woodsman, and old long barrel High Standard target pistol I had/have all have the grip to barrel angle similar to the old 9mm Luger. Maybe that has something to do with the reliability in .22. ???

 

[kmk1012]

Hmmmm. The Ruger MKs, Colt Woodsman, and old long barrel High Standard target pistol I had/have all have the grip to barrel angle similar to the old 9mm Luger. Maybe that has something to do with the reliability in .22. ???

My 22/45'2 have the grip angle of a 1911, all run flawlessly like their MK counterpart. In Ruger's case, it's in the design. Only the bolt moves, not a whole slide.

 

[clueless]

I have a Sig Sauer .22 Mosquito. Damn thing jams more than it shoots, use only quality CCI mini mag ammo as recommended by Sig, but it is a jam machine. Had a stovepipe jam at the range and the round discharged when trying to unjam it. I treat all guns as death bringers, so it was aimed safe down range and the round went into soil, but it still scared and stunned me at what a low quality hand gun this is. I know the Mosquito is not really a Sig, but does anyone know of a .22 pistol that doesn't jam and actually will shoot more than just certain high quality .22 ammo? I have two .22 rifles, a Sig 522 and a Ruger 10/22 and they eat any ammo I feed them, never jam, never misfire.

I have a recent Kel-Tec P17 which has been quite reliable and seems to work with a variety of ammo. With fewer than 10 rounds it will even cycle TAC-22, which fires a subsonic, lead bullet. Kel-tec does not recommend such low power ammo but nice that it has this margin. In addition to bargain price, it also has an excellent trigger.

 

[Richard H]

I have a Sig Sauer .22 Mosquito. Damn thing jams more than it shoots, use only quality CCI mini mag ammo as recommended by Sig, but it is a jam machine. Had a stovepipe jam at the range and the round discharged when trying to unjam it. I treat all guns as death bringers, so it was aimed safe down range and the round went into soil, but it still scared and stunned me at what a low quality hand gun this is. I know the Mosquito is not really a Sig, but does anyone know of a .22 pistol that doesn't jam and actually will shoot more than just certain high quality .22 ammo? I have two .22 rifles, a Sig 522 and a Ruger 10/22 and they eat any ammo I feed them, never jam, never misfire.

If you don't mind a bit quirky looking gun then how about the Beretta Neos 22? I have one and have put several brands of ammo through it and have never had even one jam or misfire. It is also quite accurate.

 

[tinhorn]

Oh, I see this is in the Semi-Automatic subforum, not the Revolver subforum. Never mind.

 

[kmk1012]

Oh, I see this is in the Semi-Automatic subforum, not the Revolver subforum. Never mind.

You've read too far into it, the mods haven't been watching this one, LOL. If I recall, the thread titles is…….

 

[SurlyJohn]

Any type of .22 could be discussed here, I did place it in the semi-auto forum originally, but it is an open question to all .22 caliber shooters. I have my share of revolvers, and I love them.
It is a great thread with a ton of relevant information. Certainly made my mind up about my next .22 handgun. The Mosquito will be retired if Sig can't fix all it's built in issues.

 

[Alexx1401]

Oh, I see this is in the Semi-Automatic subforum, not the Revolver subforum. Never mind.

The Mods will normally allow a LOT of thread drift as long as people do not get all inflamed and start acting the fool to each other. The drift has never bothered me as I normally enjoy all the back and forth and stories. Not to mention the next button is always been easy for me.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I am noting a theme that beretta makes a good .22

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I am noting a theme that beretta makes a good .22

Not the 22 bobcat! That is one of the worst pistols I've ever owned and I've had tons of them over the years. I discussed all of its really bad design faults in other threads so won't list them here (it would take too long). That gun put me off Beretta permanently it was so bad (which is not fair to Beretta as they make some good guns). Hateful, Hateful, gun. To be avoided IMO. Just a horrible gun.

 

[FourTeeFive]

Hmmmm. The Ruger MKs, Colt Woodsman, and old long barrel High Standard target pistol I had/have all have the grip to barrel angle similar to the old 9mm Luger. Maybe that has something to do with the reliability in .22. ???

I love High Standard pistols but they seem super finicky. Maybe it's their lighter slide or tighter tolerances, but I never found them very reliable. The Ruger Mk models tend to run better than other 22 semi autos. 22LR is pretty dirty ammo and it seems to provide functional challenges after a box or two of rounds.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Not the 22 bobcat! That is one of the worst pistols I've ever owned and I've had tons of them over the years. I discussed all of its really bad design faults in other threads so won't list them here (it would take too long). That gun put me off Beretta permanently it was so bad (which is not fair to Beretta as they make some good guns). Hateful, Hateful, gun. To be avoided IMO. Just a horrible gun.

mine is fantastic. thousands of rounds through it, Unless you never clean it mine digests about anything. (it takes about 500 rounds suppressed to gum up.) To be honest I would highly recommend one after my experience with it. It is natively subsonic so shooting rounds that would be subs out of a rifle barrel is sketchy with it. But works more often than it should. I did get one magazine from Beretta that was pure crap and caused jams though. It was the 4th magazine I got. Also, another magazine barely fits 1 more round than stated capacity and if you put it in, it will change the feed angle to jam. If you put the stated capacity in it, it works fine.

 

[Alexx1401]

mine is fantastic. thousands of rounds through it, Unless you never clean it mine digests about anything. (it takes about 500 rounds suppressed to gum up.) To be honest I would highly recommend one after my experience with it. It is natively subsonic so shooting rounds that would be subs out of a rifle barrel is sketchy with it. But works more often than it should. I did get one magazine from Beretta that was pure crap and caused jams though. It was the 4th magazine I got. Also, another magazine barely fits 1 more round than stated capacity and if you put it in, it will change the feed angle to jam. If you put the stated capacity in it, it works fine.

I have had a couple of the little .22 versions of these over many years and same results. Wife for a good while carried the .32 version we still have. I almost bought another .22 for her to use for cheap practice a couple times. Both times we ran across a used one she was balking at it over the price. Should have just bought one anyway when she was not with me.
They seem to hold value VERY well as the rare times I see a used one they want pretty much what a new one runs at least around me here. Like all mass manufactured anything some bad will always slip by. If someone gets one that will not work mags is the first thing I would try and see if that was the problem. As much as they cost I could see someone really having a bad taste in their mouth if they buy one and it will not feed but from my experience I would not hesitate to buy another one.

 

[MichaelH]

Swear on the TX22. More reliable than a Mk III 22/45 I had, though I bet the Ruger will last longer.

Except for Golden Bullets. I can't make those shoot in anything.

 

[gclarkso]

Try out a Taurus Tx22. Mine has eaten everything I've fed it.

 

[Tlock]

We have a handful of the awc technologies amphibians in ruger mark3....they are paperweights from the factory, the guns never ran right from the factory. We sent a few back with no results.

 

[gclarkso]

My mid-seventies Colt Woodsman Target eats anything. Never a misfire in 35 years. Ok, maybe once.

 

[clueless]

We should add that all these semi-auto 22s have a blowback action. That means that they get dirty more quickly than the typical centerfire handguns, and need to be cleaned more frequently to continue running reliably. Common areas needing regular cleaning are the bolt/barrel interface and the bolt recess, especially under the extractor(s). A surprisingly small deposit in either of these two areas can prevent the bolt from fully closing or limit the stroke of the firing pin. No doubt this would be affected by the choice of ammo.

I purposely tried to see how long I could go with a P17, shooting mostly 36gr CCI Mini-Mags. The pistol was running perfectly over several trips to the range, and I am guessing 200-250 rounds. Then it just stopped firing the chambered rounds. I manually cycled 4-5 rounds, but no-go. The ejected rounds looked like they had a decent strike but apparently it was not quite enough. The gun did not seem particularly dirty on disassembly. A swab with solvent did not pick up much on the bolt/barrel interface. There wasn't much to see on the bolt around the firing pin protrusion either. After wetting the bolt in that area with solvent and then scraping under the ejector with a plastic tool, a small amount of residue could be seen when wiping the tool on a paper towel. I finished cleaning with a brush, then lightly oiled and put it back together. The problem was gone, and my belief is that it was fixed by the cleaning.

I have seen exactly the same thing on a Browning Buck Mark, but more often. At least my particular one seems to be especially prone to fowling all around the rim groove in the bolt. I was fed up with that pistol until I learned how sensitive it was to this and how to clean it. Now instead I appreciate it for its target accuracy.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

.22 pistols that work as designed? Well, my second series Colt Woodsman, made around 1957, seems to work as designed. The Rugers are usually durable and reliable. I have a 22/45 around here somewhere. Heck, even the cheapo Phoenix HP22 works fairly well after you make a couple of small modifications.

 

[DLS]

To add to my earlier post (#12) regarding my new Sig P322. It's now on its 6th brick worth of ammo and running fine with every brand of ammo thrown at it.

All my buds at work are taking it out to shoot it because, like all gun nutz, who's going to pass a chance to shoot a new gun. They plan on shooting a mag or so and end up running all the .22LR they brought with them! I installed a Romeo Zero Elite around the 3k round mark and the addition has not caused any functioning issues.

So, give it a try if you can. It's another great option in a well-designed, great shooting .22