Three Small .22 Wheelguns: We Loved the Taurus Ultra-Lite
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-SW317.pdf
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-SW317_2.pdf
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-Taurus.pdf
We gathered two of Smith & Wesson’s $600 feathery-light eight-shot revolvers and a $400 Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine and put them through our wringer. Here’s what came out.
Smith & Wesson’s eight-shot revolvers are feathery-light in weight but heavy in price. The Air-Lite with a 2-inch barrel (left) and fixed sights lists at $633. The one with 3-inch barrel and adjustable HIVIZ sights (center) goes for $691. In contrast, the Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine (right) costs only $375, though it is heavier. It outperformed both of the Smiths in the most critical aspect of gun performance — hitting the target.
Last month we reviewed a batch of Walther .22 semiauto pistols, and we have a couple more from other makers in the works. The autos shot well enough, but some shooters will never like self-loaders. Also, some folks don’t want to leave behind all that brass, which the autos fling everywhere. The solution is to get a revolver, so — in keeping with our small-gun scenario — we gathered two of Smith & Wesson’s feathery-light eight-shot revolvers, one with a 2.0-inch barrel and fixed sights ($633), the other with a 3-inch barrel and adjustable “HIVIZ” sights ($691). We also got a Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine ($375), which seemed to have a mix of the S&W’s features at the cost of a significant weight penalty, but with the benefit of a huge price reduction.
How We Tested
Our test team included two primary shooters with close to 100 years of handgun shooting experience. Both shooters have competitive shooting backgrounds. One was a lefty. Our main shooter uses the handy Merit (www . meritcorporation . com) optical attachment on his shooting glasses, which gives a precise sight picture that largely eliminates the age factor. We used several other experienced shooters to help us gauge the gun’s overall function.
We tested all three revolvers with Winchester Super X Power-Point HP, CCI Velocitor Gold Dot HP, Remington Rifle Target, and Eley Pistol Xtra. We also tried a few CCI CB caps in each of the guns, which we could easily shoot without ear protection, and with which all three guns gave about one-inch groups from six yards. These might be useful for low-intensity practice, or for special close-range applications. All in all, each gun digested approximately 200 rounds apiece in accuracy, chronograph, and performance assessments.
For accuracy testing, we shot from a solid back-rested seated position at 15 yards. This maximizes the distance to the sight picture, which results in increased accuracy. The setup eliminates head and gun motion. One reason we avoid Ransom Rest testing is that if the individual can’t make the gun perform, it makes little difference how well a machine can shoot it. We printed our groups on targets with a 4-inch black bull, and measured the groups with a dial caliper. After we put them through our wringer, here’s what came out:
S&W Model 317-2 Air Lite No. 160222, $633 MSRP
This amazingly light little revolver held eight shots. Among the other favorable first impressions were the minimal black-rubber Uncle Mike’s Boot grips, a clever lanyard slot behind the grip, the near-total absence of steel on the gun, the bobbed hammer that still permitted hand cocking, and the pleasant light-gray color of the “Clear Coat” finish.
Smith achieved much of the light weight (we got it at 10.9 ounces) by cutting into the gun deeply along the (aluminum) cylinder flutes, into the rear strap and bottom of the trigger guard; and through innovation such as inserting a thin, rifled steel tube into the alloy barrel shroud from the back, giving a large reduction in weight while still permitting an all-steel rear-barrel face where gas cutting could occur. The cylinder as well as the frame, crane, and barrel shroud were all made of aluminum alloy. The gun was tightly fitted, and used the long-proven S&W method of locking the ejector rod into the barrel lug at its extreme forward tip, combined with the usual central locking pin at the back of the cylinder. The gun had a storage lock that required a special key to put on or take off. The sights were a serrated, sloped-ramp front post and a square notch cut into the top rear of the frame. These sights gave a good sight picture, as long as they could be seen in silhouette, which in our testing turned out to be almost never. With all normal lighting, the sights tended to disappear against each other, which we found fatal to practical shooting accuracy on the range.
The single-action trigger pull was your typical magnificent, clean, crisp S&W at 3.2 pounds. The DA pull, though, was off our scale and was probably close to 14 pounds. We thought it was too heavy, but the smooth and well-placed trigger made it seem less in practice than it actually measured. All fitting was tight, with no slop nor looseness anywhere. The design of both of these S&W revolvers enclosed the eight case heads with the outer rim of the cylinder, which would help keep dirt out of the guts, especially if this short gun was packed in the pocket like it seems designed to be carried. This light revolver seemed to be more like the sort of thing you’d put on your key chain than something you’d pack in a holster.
When we shot from a solid seated rest at 15 yards, we were appalled at our poor initial results. Groups of 6 or 8 inches were common. Most of the problem was our inability to clearly define the sights. Light gray against light gray on a cloudy, bright day with light snow falling gave us very poor definition of the sights. We blackened the front sight and tried again, and our groups were much better. Best five-shot group was 2.3 inches at 15 yards with Remington Target Rifle ammo, and four of those were only 1.4-inch extreme spread. Despite our best efforts, we were unhappy with the shooting results. The center of impact of all groups was 3 inches high and 1.5 inches right at 15 yards. The front sight needed to be higher and over to the right, but there’s no easy way to change all that. The sight blade was integral with the barrel shroud. We concluded this was at best a short-range handgun. We did informal testing with other types of ammo to see if it made a difference to accuracy or impact results, but it didn’t. Rapid-fire double-action shooting at close range gave generally very good results and did so easily, which on the whole we found more satisfactory than slowfire at longer ranges. Recoil was absolutely not an issue with this gun. We never felt it.
S&W Model 317-2 .22 LR HIVIZ No. 160221, $691 MSRP
The differences between this longer-barrel version of the Smith 317 and the shorter one were immediately obvious. It had an inch more barrel, a light-gathering, plastic-tube front sight, and an adjustable rear. Combine those with bigger grips, and you get what looked like a handgunner’s .22, one with which he can expect to do some really good work. Or so we hoped, until we examined the sights closely. The rear was a V-notch, which was designed to mate with the circular green-glowing bit of plastic set into the front sight ramp. We found it took very little light to get that green glow, but it got mighty dim and even disappeared in low-light or back-lit situations. The top of the front sight was rounded, so when the sights were back-lit you had to guess where the top of the front sight was, and match that with the top of the rear, all the while trying to see enough light on the sides of the thick front post to be able to center it within the vee. The intent was good with these sights, we thought, despite our problems. Most of the time the shooter saw only the round green glow, and when that green dot was in the very bottom of the notch, the top of the front sight aligned perfectly with the top of the rear. The attempt here, we’re guessing, was to emulate the British express-rifle sights, but the best of those have a wide vee and a clearly defined, small round bead that makes acquiring the sight picture easy and fast. They also have the benefit of a long sight radius, and if you know how to use ‘em, they can bring home the bacon every time. We found that to not be the case with the sights on this S&W.
We liked the larger grip, which permitted all our fingers to rest in the right place. The grip wrapped around the back strap, which gave a longer trigger reach. The overall feeling was that the gun was just about as light as the smaller one (it weighed 12.5 ounces empty), but the longer barrel and adjustable sights should have made it into much more of a handgun.
On the range, we put five CB caps in 0.8 inches from six yards, which was promising, but then the careful 15-yard shooting proved our fears to be correct. We had the devil of a time holding elevation. All of our groups were vertically strung, with width about one-third of the vertical measurement with all loads tried. The little Walther P22, reported in the February 2006 Gun Tests, shot circles around this otherwise finely crafted S&W. Only at close-range rapid fire were we able to use that green dot to good advantage. We were then able to shoot fairly round groups quickly, and got much better groups than with the shorter-barrel gun fired from the same short (six yards) range, on the order of one inch versus three. We got our best slow-fire results with a six-o’clock hold on a black four-inch bull, holding very firmly. We also tried centering the green dot in the bull, but it didn’t work well for us. One thing we did notice was that glowing green dot stood out well against most backgrounds in the woods. But we still concluded these were about the worst set of sights we’ve seen on a handgun for precision shooting.
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-SW317.pdf
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-SW317_2.pdf
http://www.gun-tests.com/newspics/pdfs/18-3-Taurus.pdf
We gathered two of Smith & Wesson’s $600 feathery-light eight-shot revolvers and a $400 Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine and put them through our wringer. Here’s what came out.
Smith & Wesson’s eight-shot revolvers are feathery-light in weight but heavy in price. The Air-Lite with a 2-inch barrel (left) and fixed sights lists at $633. The one with 3-inch barrel and adjustable HIVIZ sights (center) goes for $691. In contrast, the Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine (right) costs only $375, though it is heavier. It outperformed both of the Smiths in the most critical aspect of gun performance — hitting the target.
Last month we reviewed a batch of Walther .22 semiauto pistols, and we have a couple more from other makers in the works. The autos shot well enough, but some shooters will never like self-loaders. Also, some folks don’t want to leave behind all that brass, which the autos fling everywhere. The solution is to get a revolver, so — in keeping with our small-gun scenario — we gathered two of Smith & Wesson’s feathery-light eight-shot revolvers, one with a 2.0-inch barrel and fixed sights ($633), the other with a 3-inch barrel and adjustable “HIVIZ” sights ($691). We also got a Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine ($375), which seemed to have a mix of the S&W’s features at the cost of a significant weight penalty, but with the benefit of a huge price reduction.
How We Tested
Our test team included two primary shooters with close to 100 years of handgun shooting experience. Both shooters have competitive shooting backgrounds. One was a lefty. Our main shooter uses the handy Merit (www . meritcorporation . com) optical attachment on his shooting glasses, which gives a precise sight picture that largely eliminates the age factor. We used several other experienced shooters to help us gauge the gun’s overall function.
We tested all three revolvers with Winchester Super X Power-Point HP, CCI Velocitor Gold Dot HP, Remington Rifle Target, and Eley Pistol Xtra. We also tried a few CCI CB caps in each of the guns, which we could easily shoot without ear protection, and with which all three guns gave about one-inch groups from six yards. These might be useful for low-intensity practice, or for special close-range applications. All in all, each gun digested approximately 200 rounds apiece in accuracy, chronograph, and performance assessments.
For accuracy testing, we shot from a solid back-rested seated position at 15 yards. This maximizes the distance to the sight picture, which results in increased accuracy. The setup eliminates head and gun motion. One reason we avoid Ransom Rest testing is that if the individual can’t make the gun perform, it makes little difference how well a machine can shoot it. We printed our groups on targets with a 4-inch black bull, and measured the groups with a dial caliper. After we put them through our wringer, here’s what came out:
S&W Model 317-2 Air Lite No. 160222, $633 MSRP
This amazingly light little revolver held eight shots. Among the other favorable first impressions were the minimal black-rubber Uncle Mike’s Boot grips, a clever lanyard slot behind the grip, the near-total absence of steel on the gun, the bobbed hammer that still permitted hand cocking, and the pleasant light-gray color of the “Clear Coat” finish.
Smith achieved much of the light weight (we got it at 10.9 ounces) by cutting into the gun deeply along the (aluminum) cylinder flutes, into the rear strap and bottom of the trigger guard; and through innovation such as inserting a thin, rifled steel tube into the alloy barrel shroud from the back, giving a large reduction in weight while still permitting an all-steel rear-barrel face where gas cutting could occur. The cylinder as well as the frame, crane, and barrel shroud were all made of aluminum alloy. The gun was tightly fitted, and used the long-proven S&W method of locking the ejector rod into the barrel lug at its extreme forward tip, combined with the usual central locking pin at the back of the cylinder. The gun had a storage lock that required a special key to put on or take off. The sights were a serrated, sloped-ramp front post and a square notch cut into the top rear of the frame. These sights gave a good sight picture, as long as they could be seen in silhouette, which in our testing turned out to be almost never. With all normal lighting, the sights tended to disappear against each other, which we found fatal to practical shooting accuracy on the range.
The single-action trigger pull was your typical magnificent, clean, crisp S&W at 3.2 pounds. The DA pull, though, was off our scale and was probably close to 14 pounds. We thought it was too heavy, but the smooth and well-placed trigger made it seem less in practice than it actually measured. All fitting was tight, with no slop nor looseness anywhere. The design of both of these S&W revolvers enclosed the eight case heads with the outer rim of the cylinder, which would help keep dirt out of the guts, especially if this short gun was packed in the pocket like it seems designed to be carried. This light revolver seemed to be more like the sort of thing you’d put on your key chain than something you’d pack in a holster.
When we shot from a solid seated rest at 15 yards, we were appalled at our poor initial results. Groups of 6 or 8 inches were common. Most of the problem was our inability to clearly define the sights. Light gray against light gray on a cloudy, bright day with light snow falling gave us very poor definition of the sights. We blackened the front sight and tried again, and our groups were much better. Best five-shot group was 2.3 inches at 15 yards with Remington Target Rifle ammo, and four of those were only 1.4-inch extreme spread. Despite our best efforts, we were unhappy with the shooting results. The center of impact of all groups was 3 inches high and 1.5 inches right at 15 yards. The front sight needed to be higher and over to the right, but there’s no easy way to change all that. The sight blade was integral with the barrel shroud. We concluded this was at best a short-range handgun. We did informal testing with other types of ammo to see if it made a difference to accuracy or impact results, but it didn’t. Rapid-fire double-action shooting at close range gave generally very good results and did so easily, which on the whole we found more satisfactory than slowfire at longer ranges. Recoil was absolutely not an issue with this gun. We never felt it.
S&W Model 317-2 .22 LR HIVIZ No. 160221, $691 MSRP
The differences between this longer-barrel version of the Smith 317 and the shorter one were immediately obvious. It had an inch more barrel, a light-gathering, plastic-tube front sight, and an adjustable rear. Combine those with bigger grips, and you get what looked like a handgunner’s .22, one with which he can expect to do some really good work. Or so we hoped, until we examined the sights closely. The rear was a V-notch, which was designed to mate with the circular green-glowing bit of plastic set into the front sight ramp. We found it took very little light to get that green glow, but it got mighty dim and even disappeared in low-light or back-lit situations. The top of the front sight was rounded, so when the sights were back-lit you had to guess where the top of the front sight was, and match that with the top of the rear, all the while trying to see enough light on the sides of the thick front post to be able to center it within the vee. The intent was good with these sights, we thought, despite our problems. Most of the time the shooter saw only the round green glow, and when that green dot was in the very bottom of the notch, the top of the front sight aligned perfectly with the top of the rear. The attempt here, we’re guessing, was to emulate the British express-rifle sights, but the best of those have a wide vee and a clearly defined, small round bead that makes acquiring the sight picture easy and fast. They also have the benefit of a long sight radius, and if you know how to use ‘em, they can bring home the bacon every time. We found that to not be the case with the sights on this S&W.
We liked the larger grip, which permitted all our fingers to rest in the right place. The grip wrapped around the back strap, which gave a longer trigger reach. The overall feeling was that the gun was just about as light as the smaller one (it weighed 12.5 ounces empty), but the longer barrel and adjustable sights should have made it into much more of a handgun.
On the range, we put five CB caps in 0.8 inches from six yards, which was promising, but then the careful 15-yard shooting proved our fears to be correct. We had the devil of a time holding elevation. All of our groups were vertically strung, with width about one-third of the vertical measurement with all loads tried. The little Walther P22, reported in the February 2006 Gun Tests, shot circles around this otherwise finely crafted S&W. Only at close-range rapid fire were we able to use that green dot to good advantage. We were then able to shoot fairly round groups quickly, and got much better groups than with the shorter-barrel gun fired from the same short (six yards) range, on the order of one inch versus three. We got our best slow-fire results with a six-o’clock hold on a black four-inch bull, holding very firmly. We also tried centering the green dot in the bull, but it didn’t work well for us. One thing we did notice was that glowing green dot stood out well against most backgrounds in the woods. But we still concluded these were about the worst set of sights we’ve seen on a handgun for precision shooting.
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