.22 Revolvers - ejumicate me please.

Mr. Friendly

Mr. Friendly

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 96.9%
29   1   2
Location
British Canuckistan
so, I love .22LR. while it doesn't have the bang and shock of centerfire, it's a fraction of the cost to shoot and I'm okay with that.

that said, I'd like to buy a good .22LR revolver. I want SA/DA, and aside from the SP101 and the Alpha Proj, I don't know what else is out there.

can you advise?

thanks! :)
 
S&W model 17 and 617 are popular. Can be a touch pricey but excellent guns. For the price I would give the alphas a go, but haven't seen one yet. Not a huge commitment at their price. If you want cheap buy an H&R, they come up on the EE a lot
 
The S&W K frame .22's came in a few different models over the years. I believe that the first was the K22. Then it became the Model 17. These two versions being blued models. At some point they introduced the stainless 617 6 shot. This was converted to the current production 617 10 shot model.

Along with the Smith K frame rimfire guns we should include the Colt Officer's Match. A lot more rare and typically even more costly when you do find one in decent shape. But according to the stories they are as good or maybe better than the Smith & Wesson K frame guns.

NONE of these are cheap guns though. Typically any of them in good used condition will cost you $50 to $200 more than a new Alpha Project gun. But all of them have a far nicer stock trigger than the SP101-22. But then trigger pulls can be somewhat massaged with a little effort and money. But if you allow for that then the advantage is still with the S&W K frames since they become that much better as well.

I've got a 17 and I've handed and dry fired an Alpha Project stock gun. The AP gun isn't a Smith but from the descriptions it would seem to be better than an SP101 that is straight out of the box. And if the gun was able to consistently fire the rimfire loads with the Rusty Wood mainspring switch I can say that you would be pretty darn happy with the Alpha Project path.

I've seen a few threads now about folks with the AP revolvers in center fire. But if anyone has bought and posted about a rimfire model I must have missed it. Hopefully this thread will bring them out of the wood work.
 
Last edited:
Mr. Friendly said:
question about the K frames. can you swap out .22LR cylinders for .22WMR cylinders like you can for a lot of SA pistols?
Click to expand...

Nope, not at all. The design of the cylinder crane and ejector rod and the need to fit the cylinder to the gun means that this sort of swapping is limited to the Single Six Ruger.

Besides, most folks shoot one 50 round box of WMR than put the cylinder back in the bag never to use it again since the WMR ammo costs as much or more than center fire ammo.
 
Its_a_living said:
Hi Standard Sentinel is a cheap and fun DA/SA .22 LR revolver. I owned one for a few years and had tons of fun with it before selling it off to make more gun locker space.
Click to expand...

I've had a Hi Standard revolver and currently have two Iver Johnson revolvers. To be fair the DA pull on all of these is harsh enough that it realistically renders the guns single action only. I know the guns will go BANG! in DA. But the triggers are so horrible in DA mode that the shooter either needs to be VERY well grounded in the basics of trigger pull and follow through or darn lucky to get a reasonable grouping with these guns in DA mode. Not to mention the trigger finger muscle cramps.... :D Besides which I found that they really don't group as accurately as the S&W's by a LONG shot. There may be specific examples of these revolvers that shoot well but the ones I've had shoot groups about twice as big as my Smith 17 when shot back to back.

.... Which means for some folks they are just fine. And certainly my top break IJ Sportsman is hellishly fun thanks to the 9 shots and the top break "spray" of casings at the end. But if I want to shoot well it's not the gun I reach for.
 
I'm keen on the K17...just need to figure out which one.

that said, I see that there may be a DA one from Charter Arms. any thoughts on that one?

also, someone has PM'd me with an offer for a H&R model 650 in SS. any idea what their value would be? appears to be in good condition. it's not DA...but I may consider it.
 
I have a Colt Officers Model Match and it's great.
Very accurate and great trigger. It goes to the range every time I do.
 
I've got an M17 as well. Great handling .22, excellent fit and finish, fun to shoot.

Might be a bit pricier than other .22 wheelguns, but will worth it.
 
Try to find an old Harrington and Richardson 9 shot. its single/double action, 9 shots, cool historically, very accurate, different, and CHEAP. They can still be had in great shape for less than 3 bills. Mostly $225-$250.

I suspect these will go up in value, as they are great and getting more rare. You can find them from way back in the 40s and 50s too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom