Best .22lr pistol?

JohnGl said:
my buget can be 1500, it can be 400, it can be 500


I wont spend 1000 if 500 will get me a better pistol :)
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Well, my vote goes to the Ruger MKII/MKIII series of pistols then. Everyone has stock of new ones, deals can be found on older ones, and magazines and other accessories are easy to find.
 
ive got a dozen 22 pistols and out of all of them i keep coming back to the Browning Buckmark with the heavy barrel and FO sites.
ive recommended it to a lot of people and most have picked one up and they all say the same.
for price and quality and accuracy the Browning Buckmark has it dialed in.
i put the quality of the new buckmarks over the new rugers, ruger quality has been diminishing over the last couple years what with them scrambling to keep up to demand, which is very unfortunate because im a ruger fanboy.

dont get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the S&W M&P22 or the ruger MK2 or 3 or Lite or even the GSG/Sig 1911-22 or the S&W 422 or 22A, ive got them all and they are all fun plinkers.

so this is my recommendation to you, if you want the best bang for your buck, best price, quality, accuracy then the buckmark is where you should probably be looking. also keep in mind that the buckmark is easy to take down and clean, not gonna say anything about my ruger but we all know how much fun they are to take down!

i have the Browning Buckmark Pratical URX so it has the nice grip on it and the fiber optic sites, i believe there is a lower priced one and a couple priced above this one as well. i paid $483 4 years ago.

here is their current line up of guns off their webpage

hope that all helps.

BrowningBuckmark221_zps5b680212.jpg


oh, and it also comes with a top rail that you can put on if you want to run a red dot, and Browning makes its own cheap red dot as well, i picked one up and put it on for a bit, went back the Fiber Optic open sites as they are really good IMHO.

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Canadian_Zuk said:
No they don't. They make junk that looks cool and disappoints the owner. That was my experience along with 2 fellows at my range.

Ruger MkII would be my recommendation.
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Lol I love how polite people are on these forums.

I've never had any such issues with mine, and I own three different ones. And it is true, they do look cool. They also have upgrade kits available as well as spare parts kits.
 
wayupnorth said:
ive got a dozen 22 pistols and out of all of them i keep coming back to the Browning Buckmark with the heavy barrel and FO sites.
ive recommended it to a lot of people and most have picked one up and they all say the same.
for price and quality and accuracy the Browning Buckmark has it dialed in.
i put the quality of the new buckmarks over the new rugers, ruger quality has been diminishing over the last couple years what with them scrambling to keep up to demand, which is very unfortunate because im a ruger fanboy.

dont get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the S&W M&P22 or the ruger MK2 or 3 or Lite or even the GSG/Sig 1911-22 or the S&W 422 or 22A, ive got them all and they are all fun plinkers.

so this is my recommendation to you, if you want the best bang for your buck, best price, quality, accuracy then the buckmark is where you should probably be looking. also keep in mind that the buckmark is easy to take down and clean, not gonna say anything about my ruger but we all know how much fun they are to take down!

i have the Browning Buckmark Pratical URX so it has the nice grip on it and the fiber optic sites, i believe there is a lower priced one and a couple priced above this one as well. i paid $483 4 years ago.

here is their current line up of guns off their webpage

hope that all helps.

BrowningBuckmark221_zps5b680212.jpg
Click to expand...

I tried one of those a couple weeks ago along with a Ruger MkII. Found the Buckmark to be much more accurate in my hands. Could be unfair because the particular MkII was very well used (but also appeared to be in good condition, but the owner told me it's been used a lot). Anyway, for what it's worth my point is that while I'm a shameless Ruger fanboy, I preferred the Buckmark.

But I don't plan on getting either and my personal preference is my SP101 22 revolver, for simplicity and in principle at least, flexibility with ammo (presumably will fire even the dirtiest 22s, I'd also like to try 22 shorts but haven't been able to find any). The Smith 617 is beautiful but I didn't want a 22 revolver that was as large as my GP100 357 and costs more. I guess I just wanted a little brother for the 357.
 
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in comparison to the Ruger 22/45 Lite that i picked up at the same time.

the browning came with the nice (super uber nice) grips already on it and the Fiber Optic site already on for the $483 price.

my Ruger 22/45 Lite i had to pick up Fiber Optic sites for it ($90USD) plus shipping and replace the grips with some nice squishy Hogue's ($50 with shipping) just to get up to what my Browning came with for a total price of $445 plus the 150-160 add on's and the ruger still isnt as nice to shoot as the browning.
if you get up to the Ruger Hunter level of MK2/3 then for the current versions your looking 500-800 depending on the models.
personally if your gonna go the Ruger path go big and get the Mk3 target or hunter, pay once cry once.
and get the easy disassemble upgrade put on it to save your self some pain.
I didnt add the price of my custom made comp on to the above price as that was a add on i did for fun.

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Bittereinder said:
I tried one of those a couple weeks ago along with a Ruger MkII. Found the Buckmark to be much more accurate in my hands. Could be unfair because the particular MkII was very well used (but also appeared to be in good condition, but the owner told me it's been used a lot). Anyway, for what it's worth my point is that while I'm a shameless Ruger fanboy, I preferred the Buckmark.

But I don't plan on getting either and my personal preference is my SP101 22 revolver.
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i know right, its pretty sad when ruger fanboys cant even recommend rugers to people!
also, i have the SP101-22 and its a nice little shooter.
i had to swap out my springs for lighters once to make it so i would stop crying when i tried to shoot it though.
those springs...... ughhhhh!
nothing makes you feel like more of a dainty then not being able to shoot a 22 revolver because the springs are too heavy!!
 
wayupnorth said:
i know right, its pretty sad when ruger fanboys cant even recommend rugers to people!
also, i have the SP101-22 and its a nice little shooter.
i had to swap out my springs for lighters once to make it so i would stop crying when i tried to shoot it though.
those springs...... ughhhhh!
nothing makes you feel like more of a dainty then not being able to shoot a 22 revolver because the springs are too heavy!!
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Hear you, I also did the Wolff spring swap.
 
I'd say MKII / MKIII, and with the extra budget get a VQ accurizing kit. Add in a bushing if you get a MKIII.
 
My experience witt 22lr pistols is and has been

Walter p22, (Traded but was a good pistol while I had it, but known to have metallurgy issues)

Sig Mosquito, (Catastrophic failure, I have the parts in a Ziploc bag) I hear the new ones are built to better quality, they are a comfy gun to hold

Ruger Mk3, Still have it and its a good accurate pistol, I'll be hanging onto it

Browning 1911-22, Not as accurate as the Mk3 but by far a ton more fun to shoot and by far my favorite

S&W MP22, Didn't like how it felt in my hand and had a few feeding issues, Ended up trading it to my buddy

Arminius HW9 revolver, By far the most accurate of my 22 pistols, A pain to load but it wont be seeing a new home anytime soon

That's my input
 
Yes, the Ruger MK's are a good pistol, but perhaps a little boring, until you fieldstrip them for cleaning.
The GSG 1911-22 is a fun gun, reliable and accurate.
 
I'm waiting for a Beretta Model 71/74 owner to pipe in here.
I like my Star Model F, but the fact is spares are pretty much zero in this country, to support it for long term use.
And total steel in frame and more importantly the slide, demands high speed ammo for proper functioning.
 
trebor2880 said:
Yes, the Ruger MK's are a good pistol, but perhaps a little boring, until you fieldstrip them for cleaning.
The GSG 1911-22 is a fun gun, reliable and accurate.
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A loop of small diameter galvanized steel wire comes in handy for rotating the take down lever from the grip frame. I learned this the hard way! :p Not sure if the MkIII's are set up that way still.

I was looking at the Alfa .22s the other day. They seem quite rugged & smoothly constructed. I don't know how long spare parts will be available for them though.
 
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I'm on my 4th 22 pistol. I've had a Beretta neos, M&P 22 and a Browning buckmark. I just got a Browning 1911-22 and I've shot a few hundred rounds of different ammunition and not one malfunction! (Remington golden bullets, cci blazer, cci mini mags and even a ton of cheap Winchester 333). It's a very cool pistol -85% replica of an original 1911. my version weighs in under a pound at 16oz. It's a perfect size for a 22 pistol

The sights are the small 1911 combat sights, but I painted the front and have adapted to them, so now I'm hitting bulls eyes more frequently.
 
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