Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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Well the wife and I went to a range recently to try out revolvers and .22's. I have a littel money saved up and it is time for a new firearm. I want a .22 for a cheap way to practice and I want a revolver. So we went to a range that had unlimited trade ups on hanguns. In 22's we fired a SR22, 22/45, M&P22 and all of them had some sort of failure at one point or another. Next, we tried a S&W 686 and we shot one inch groups at 15 feet. Then we tried a LCR and 642 and the kick was too much for my wife.

So my few questions?
Are most 22's that unreliable? Is it worth owning if it wont be foir self defense?
What revolvers will feel and kick similar to a 686 without costing so much?
I fired a Ruger SP101 a few months ago and it felt similar, but I am wondering if you guys have better suggestions?
Last edited by HiPower226 on Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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.22's can be very reliable & very unreliable. What kinds of failures were you having?

In the 686, which is an exquisite revolver, were you shooting .38 Special, .38 Special +P or .357 Magnum?

To my mind, in that category there is nothing finer than the S&W medium frame .38 Special revolvers - the Model 10 (blue steel) or Model 64 (stainless steel). They're available used for a fraction of their worth. I got lucky with the Model 10 I have on the way at $250 but $400 is easy to find.

There is also The new production Model 66 in .357 Magnum but it will cost as much as 686 but it will be slightly smaller and lighter.

Others will tell you about Ruger and the rest. I'd suggest saving your money until you can afford the best. :whistle:
Last edited by wlewisiii on Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

3
Unfortunately in my experience semi-auto .22s will have reliability issues. This is as much because of the ammo as the firearms.

The Ruger 10/22 rifle is something of an exception. The 22/45 you tried is probably close to tops in terms of semi auto handgun reliability in .22 rimfire.

This is just me passing on received wisdom, because I personally do not carry for self defense, although I have my permit: Most people will tell you a .22 is a pretty small caliber to be carrying for self-defense. Then again, too small is better than too-big-and-left-at-home.


You could get a revolver in .22 you know?


As far as similar feel and kick to the 686 - other more qualified folks will have specific advice, but the major factors for felt recoil are:
- Weight, the heavier the gun the more it soaks up the recoil for you
- Cartridge -- generally speaking the bigger the cartridge the hotter the load and the bigger the boom. (however, see below re: loads)
-- Load for the cartridge -- the truth is, cartridges can be up-loaded or down-loaded - Self defense loads will be loaded hot and have harder recoil, and target loads will be loaded lighter (typically).

Example: My 7 inch barreled Schofields are pretty heavy. Add to that the light recoil of 750 FPS loads in .38 special that are meant for cowboy action shooting and it has essentially zero recoil. Wonderful to shoot.

The nice thing about a .357/38spc is you have a pretty wide spectrum to choose from in terms of what kind of ammo to use, so you're likely to be able to find something comfortable.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I'd suggest trying a K frame in .38 Special (they're certified for +P) then.

This is one that is out there as an example: http://www.jgsales.com/smith-wesson-64- ... 67404.html

Load it with this: https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l ... tail&p=108 which is their version of the classic "FBI Load" and you'll have the finest personal defense firearm ever made.

The Ruger SP101 you tried is a good firearm - I'd happily trust my life to one. That said, if I have a choice, I'd always take a S&W first. In fact I used the last Ruger I owned as a down payment on a S&W 625 :smart: So you know I'm a fanboy.
Live like you will never die, love like you've never been hurt, dance
like no-one is watching.
Alex White

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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HiPower226 wrote:Well the wife and I went to a range recently to try out revolvers and .22's. I have a littel money saved up and it is time for a new firearm. I want a .22 for a cheap way to practice and I want a revolver. So we went to a range that had unlimited trade ups on hanguns. In 22's we fired a SR22, 22/45, M&P22 and all of them had some sort of failure at one point or another. Next, we tried a S&W 686 and we shot one inch groups at 15 feet. Then we tried a LCR and 642 and the kick was too much for my wife.

So my few questions?
Are most 22's that unreliable? Is it worth owning if it wont be foir self defense?
What revolvers will feel and kick similar to a 686 without costing so much?
I fired a Ruger SP101 a few months ago and it felt similar, but I am wondering if you guys have better suggestions?
Two things are almost universally true of 22 semiautos-

1.) They don't run well when dirty, and rental guns are not cleaned often.

2.) They are sensitive to ammo and ranges don't usually have/sell the good stuff.

Quality 22 semi-autos are plenty reliable when properly fed and cared for. Don't take your experience at the range with rentals as representative.

The comments about a model 10, 60 or 66 are right on. They're all amazing guns, as are both the Ruger SP 101 and the Ruger Security Six. Keep your eye out on the used market, as there's a lot variability in price on all of the above. The police trade-in guns are, as mentioned, often excellent options.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I love my Browning Buckmark. One of the best values in an accurate 22. And has been said, pretty much all of the troubles I have had have been due to getting lazy about cleaning. A few FTF from cheap ammo, but that's not the gun's fault.

I'm of the general opinion that every gun owner should have at least one .22 pistol. They are great for so many things Teaching, practice, budget shooting, and not least of all, plinking cans off a fence.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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22 semis are like European cars. Very reliable, if you buy premium gas and take car of them

If the gun is clean and you are shooting CCIs, you shouldn't have any troubles.

After that, each semi seems to like a different diet. I have buddy with a Ruger that likes Thunderbolts and chokes on Remington bulk. My Sig was the opposite.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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+1's to Swissdog and Senior; unless something's fouled up, a fail to fire in a good .22 is almost always incomplete priming in low-quality ammo.

Especially now, manufacturers (other than CCI it seems) are cranking out .22 way faster than they should and quality has suffered since December 2012.

Fail to feed and fail to eject; probably dirty or a tuning/ammo power mismatch issue.

Truly a good firearm kit should include both a .22 and a .38 revolver or, if the barrel is 6" or more, .357. Don't fall for the short barrel .357 unless you plan on only shooting .38 in it, which is not a bad plan, it will be ultra sturdy (so last a long time) and heavy which will absorb recoil and spread the impulse over a longer time period.

.357 is designed for a long barrel for the burn time to achieve the higher velocity; it's wasted in a shorter barrel and the increased muzzle blast and flash is not a plus for the shooter.

It took awhile of breaking in and tuning, but I'm now very pleased with my 22/45 purchase. A very customizable platform and the threaded barrel has been a big plus too.
"il corporativismo è la pietra angolare dello Stato fascista" Translated, this means: "boom-shacka-lacka-lacka,-boom-boom-boom.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I have 2 Smith and Wesson 686+ (7 shot) and they are VERY fine revolvers. One has a 4" barrel and the other has a 6" barrel and I would like to get one with a 3" barrel. I also have a 6" bbl S&W 10 shot 617 which in my opinion is the finest .22lr revolver being made today. Its trigger is smooth and it is very accurate out of the box and it is built like a tank. It is quite expensive and is very hard to come by but it is worth the wait , it took me 7 months to finally get my paws on one. A 4" 617 is in my future when I can get the money together.
I also have a 22lr Ruger SP101 which is also a great revolver, perfect size to pack or wear on hike and will last a lifetime. It is also more available than the 617 and is about $200 cheaper. The only problem it seems to have is the DA trigger pull is very heavy, probably 14 lbs. Mine is still quite new and I plan on using it for awhile to see if the trigger gets smoother before I have a trigger job done on it.
In my opinion you can't go wrong if you buy a S&W 686 and a 617. You could then shoot .22lr, 22 shorts, 22longs, .36spl and .357mag. You would then have a pair of revolvers that will last a lifetime and your grandkids will probably shoot them when they grow up.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I'd second the idea of a K frame or similar revolver for self defense. Any stainless steel S&W or Ruger will do and be easy to clean. A revolver is what I leave at home for wife and daughter, I carry one too, but I think especially for self defense for someone who does not practice faithfully, revolvers make better choices.

For a practice gun, .22 semis make the most sense. Any of the mentioned models are fine, if it aren't mentioned stop by and ask.

If self defense is the mission and a .22 is the caliber, the only gun that makes sense is a revolver, because a misfire means a simple trigger pull fixes it. A quality revolver with a 4" barrel is quite a bit more money than a .22 semi. And any rimfire DA revolver will have a heavy trigger pull, due to needing a lot of firing pin force to reliably set off the cartridge.

Tiny .22 revolvers have tiny energies - less than you might want for self defense. Even powerful .22 rounds capable of 200 ft/lbs out of a rifle barrel manage only 65ft/lbs or less out of small pocket guns. They are still deadly, that energy will puncture a skull or penetrate a sternum, but shot placement becomes real important.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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Always look for a Ruger 22 revolver lots of fun. My Ruger MKIII is also a jewel. As for the Revolvers I love my 686+ in both the 6" and 3" shot 38 or 357. You can look at the Rugers GP100 and in the used market the Security Six. I wish I had kept my Security Six 6" from years ago.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I'm gonna echo recommendation of the Ruger Marks. I don't own one but I know of several people that do, and they quite like them. Their prices are pretty reasonable, too. The one I like is my Single Six, but not everyone digs loading and unloading one at time through a loading gate.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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swissdog wrote:Two things are almost universally true of 22 semiautos-

1.) They don't run well when dirty, and rental guns are not cleaned often.

2.) They are sensitive to ammo and ranges don't usually have/sell the good stuff.

Quality 22 semi-autos are plenty reliable when properly fed and cared for. Don't take your experience at the range with rentals as representative.
Yes, this. I've put probably 250 rounds so far through the Ruger Mk III I bought a month ago. Not a single FTF.
Anything unattempted remains impossible.

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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I love shooting .38 out of my 66 4-1/2" barrel. (used under $400) When I'm feeling saucy, I shoot some .357 too. The nice thing about a .357 gun is you can shoot the .38's all day, and the .357 when you feel like it. If you buy a gun chambered in .38 you have to get another gun in .357 if you want to shoot it.

I have a Walther P22. My wife and daughter love it. I get bored with it. I do not have FTF issues because I use decent ammo and meticulously clean and oil the thing after each use.

So, my recommendation? If you're going to get one, get the 66. Firing .38 out of it is little more felt recoil than that of the P22. But really, what you need to do is get both.

Also, if your consideration for buying a .22 is "cheap ammo" may I inform you of the scarcity of cheap .22 right now. .38 is re-loadable.

That's my .02 for what it is worth. Good luck. (Buy a 66)
E pluribus unum

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I'm fond of the SP-101 in .22LR I just picked up, although the trigger is heavy. It's an option if you want both 22 and a double-action revolver. Not cheap, though. Also picked up a speedloader for it from a brand called Speed Beez and it works pretty well.

If I could only have one .22, though, it would be either a Ruger Mk1/2/3 or a Browning Buck Mark. You just can't go wrong with either.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I've got a few handguns for purposes of comparison. Of them, the one that sees by far the most use is the Ruger Security-Six in .357 Magnum. It gets fed a very steady diet of both .38 Spl and .357M loads. It has yet to fail me and I doubt that it ever will.

Any similar revolver would yield similar results. In addition to the ones already mentioned by others, a Taurus Model 65 or 66 would be another good choice.

Among the .22LR's, it's hard to beat a Ruger 10/22 rifle. Marlin's Model 60 is also an excellent choice.

Whichever way you go, be sure it's something that the two of you like, regardless of what we or anyone else may say.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I recently picked up a Ruger Police Service Six with a 4" barrel in excellent condition for $325. Nice handy little revolver that's lighter than the GP100, but still pretty tough. Some consider it and it's cousin the Service Six the best revolvers that Ruger ever produced.
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Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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SmokeFan wrote:
swissdog wrote:Two things are almost universally true of 22 semiautos-

1.) They don't run well when dirty, and rental guns are not cleaned often.

2.) They are sensitive to ammo and ranges don't usually have/sell the good stuff.

Quality 22 semi-autos are plenty reliable when properly fed and cared for. Don't take your experience at the range with rentals as representative.
Yes, this. I've put probably 250 rounds so far through the Ruger Mk III I bought a month ago. Not a single FTF.
I am pretty sure my wife's Mk. III is in the thousand round range since I last meaningfully cleaned it and have had zero issues, but we feed it all CCI mini-mags. Some gun platforms thrive on crappy ammo (AK and SKS come to mind) but 22 semis are not in this group. The issues I have had with 22's have, with few exceptions, been due to crappy Wal Mart bulk pack stuff.

Re: Looking for a Revolver or .22. Not sure

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I have 3-Taurus Trackers - 1 ea. M992 x 4" SS and M992 x 6.5" Black - both with .22 LR and Mag cylinders; M17 x 6.5 SS. All fun guns to shoot and no problems.
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