I haven’t owned a .22LR pistol in close to 30 years. Last week on an impulse, I bought a Ruger Mark IV Tactical. I’m regretting having been depriving myself unnecessarily for so long.
What a sweet shooting, well made pistol! It’s not “small” by any means; even though it’s a fairly short barreled version of the Mark IV, it’s HEAVY. You know there isn’t anything on it that’s plastic past the grips.
I spent most of the day at the range yesterday & burned through close to $70 worth of ammo...yup, two 500 rd. Boxes. What a laugh; I can go to the range for an hour and burn through $70 worth of 9mm in under an hour.
I spent a couple hours Thursday going over the gun with a fine tooth comb. I don’t know how Ruger builds these to this level of perfection for the price they charge. I’ve had custom built guns costing 5 and 6 times this much that weren’t built to this level of precision; everything is polished, no machine marks, tolerances so close in some cases you have to lube it by wiping an oily rag over it gently; no room for drops of oil, they get squeegeed out.
The one button takedown is a HUGE improvement. They were such a PITA to reassemble in earlier generations, this thing can be taken down for cleaning in under 10 seconds....well under. Reassembly takes the same amount of time.
The sights on it are good, but with the top rail, a bit tougher to acquire. I had a Vortex Crossfire sitting around, virtually new, and with a rail already there, there really is no good reason NOT to put a red dot on it, so the Vortex was mounted. I spent the first ten minutes at the range dialing in the RDS, then started shooting some groups. AMAZING! Holy Crap, does this thing every shoot! 3 & 5 yds, 10 rd groups were pretty much one ragged hole...I’ve never shot so well! I pushed out to 15 then 25 yds & they opened up...2, 2 1/4in. Shooting offhand, completely unsupported! I rested it on my range bag and ran full mags for groups at 25 yds. The smallest group I shot was 1.45in.
I was/am stunned at how accurate this gun shoots; my favorite semi auto is my Glock 48. I’ve run 4450 rounds through that pistol since getting it on June 2, so I’m very familiar with it, and very comfortable with where and how it shoots. I shoot it better than any pistol I’ve ever owned, and I know without a doubt I would really struggle to shoot 3in, 10 rd groups at 25 yds resting on a bag, but sub two inch groups were normal with the Ruger. I’m thinking I may put a compensator on it; obviously not for recoil, but to increase my speed a bit by reducing muzzle flip.
I really wish we had the latitude to use these for plinking/squirrels, gophers...they’re as accurate as my 10/22, and it’d be way more fun.
It may have been an impulse buy, but it was a good impulse, for once. Very impressed with this pistol. If you have the opportunity to shoot one, take it. If you already own one; you know what I’m talking about.
What a sweet shooting, well made pistol! It’s not “small” by any means; even though it’s a fairly short barreled version of the Mark IV, it’s HEAVY. You know there isn’t anything on it that’s plastic past the grips.
I spent most of the day at the range yesterday & burned through close to $70 worth of ammo...yup, two 500 rd. Boxes. What a laugh; I can go to the range for an hour and burn through $70 worth of 9mm in under an hour.
I spent a couple hours Thursday going over the gun with a fine tooth comb. I don’t know how Ruger builds these to this level of perfection for the price they charge. I’ve had custom built guns costing 5 and 6 times this much that weren’t built to this level of precision; everything is polished, no machine marks, tolerances so close in some cases you have to lube it by wiping an oily rag over it gently; no room for drops of oil, they get squeegeed out.
The one button takedown is a HUGE improvement. They were such a PITA to reassemble in earlier generations, this thing can be taken down for cleaning in under 10 seconds....well under. Reassembly takes the same amount of time.
The sights on it are good, but with the top rail, a bit tougher to acquire. I had a Vortex Crossfire sitting around, virtually new, and with a rail already there, there really is no good reason NOT to put a red dot on it, so the Vortex was mounted. I spent the first ten minutes at the range dialing in the RDS, then started shooting some groups. AMAZING! Holy Crap, does this thing every shoot! 3 & 5 yds, 10 rd groups were pretty much one ragged hole...I’ve never shot so well! I pushed out to 15 then 25 yds & they opened up...2, 2 1/4in. Shooting offhand, completely unsupported! I rested it on my range bag and ran full mags for groups at 25 yds. The smallest group I shot was 1.45in.
I was/am stunned at how accurate this gun shoots; my favorite semi auto is my Glock 48. I’ve run 4450 rounds through that pistol since getting it on June 2, so I’m very familiar with it, and very comfortable with where and how it shoots. I shoot it better than any pistol I’ve ever owned, and I know without a doubt I would really struggle to shoot 3in, 10 rd groups at 25 yds resting on a bag, but sub two inch groups were normal with the Ruger. I’m thinking I may put a compensator on it; obviously not for recoil, but to increase my speed a bit by reducing muzzle flip.
I really wish we had the latitude to use these for plinking/squirrels, gophers...they’re as accurate as my 10/22, and it’d be way more fun.
It may have been an impulse buy, but it was a good impulse, for once. Very impressed with this pistol. If you have the opportunity to shoot one, take it. If you already own one; you know what I’m talking about.
