By ALL means buy a nice .22 pistol. You can all share it so it'll be money well spent. And it'll pay for itself in the savings in other caliber ammo in no time at all.
The key is finding one that is reliable. And if weight is an issue that's also another thing to think about.
The well respected (and much deserved) favourite is the Ruger Mk II or II or 22/45 (all the same gun with some minor options). But being a big lump of steel it is heavy. But it shoots really nicely and is reliable.
I've shot my range's S&W 22A for about 300 rounds. A few fail to ejects but I chalked that up to too little maintenance since with the low pressures of .22 rounds and the apparently really dirty byproducts it seems that .22's need to be cleaned more often. But on the whole it was a nice light pistol that shot well.
I'll be getting a used S&W 422 soon and from all the info I found it's a really nice shooter as well. And again it's a very light gun that even the lightest of folks would not find at all hard pressed to hold out at arm's length for a run of 10 shots.
Then there's the Tanfoglio Force 22 that I bought recently. Light, accurate and has a full sized CZ pistol like feel. A little more money than some but not as much as others. And from what I've seen and tried it's at least fairly easy going about the ammo it uses.
There's heaps of other options but these are the ones I've directly had a chance to shoot.
From a cowboy action standpoint there's also the Ruger Single Six. Maybe a little fussy to load the cartridges through the gate but a simple gun to understand and no issues at all about the quality of ammo it digests. A buddy bought one recently at the same time I paid for the 422. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.
The key is finding one that is reliable. And if weight is an issue that's also another thing to think about.
The well respected (and much deserved) favourite is the Ruger Mk II or II or 22/45 (all the same gun with some minor options). But being a big lump of steel it is heavy. But it shoots really nicely and is reliable.
I've shot my range's S&W 22A for about 300 rounds. A few fail to ejects but I chalked that up to too little maintenance since with the low pressures of .22 rounds and the apparently really dirty byproducts it seems that .22's need to be cleaned more often. But on the whole it was a nice light pistol that shot well.
I'll be getting a used S&W 422 soon and from all the info I found it's a really nice shooter as well. And again it's a very light gun that even the lightest of folks would not find at all hard pressed to hold out at arm's length for a run of 10 shots.
Then there's the Tanfoglio Force 22 that I bought recently. Light, accurate and has a full sized CZ pistol like feel. A little more money than some but not as much as others. And from what I've seen and tried it's at least fairly easy going about the ammo it uses.
There's heaps of other options but these are the ones I've directly had a chance to shoot.
From a cowboy action standpoint there's also the Ruger Single Six. Maybe a little fussy to load the cartridges through the gate but a simple gun to understand and no issues at all about the quality of ammo it digests. A buddy bought one recently at the same time I paid for the 422. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.
