Ruger SR22

[Anianna]

I spent about six hours out siting and shooting my Ruger SR22 today. I shot Federal bulk ammo and some "standard velocity" from "Olin Corporation" that had been given to my husband by somebody he used to work with (in other words, I have no idea where it came from or how it was taken care of before we got it). I was shooting out in the woods where it's dirty and there's lots of leaves. I'm clumsy and dropped a few rounds in the dirt and leaves and didn't bother being careful about cleaning it.

All that said, I shot several hundred rounds without problems. I then allowed my kids ages 7, 8, 10, and 11 to also fire. My youngest son is a scrawny, weak little thing, but after I helped him the first few times, even he was able to pull the slide back on his own. All of them handled the kick without issue. I felt this was an absolutely great choice for teaching them to shoot. I highly recommend this weapon for anybody who wants to teach children to safely handle and shoot a gun with something children are capable of actually handling safely and with something that isn't going to kick too badly.

Here are the features I already mentioned in my previous post in the "recommend a .22" thread (I forgot to mention that it also came with a zipper case to keep it in):

I handled it some today and love the slide action. On my Sig Sauer .380, I have to work pretty hard to get the slide all of the way back and it requires me to fully grasp the top of the slide. I am able to "finger and thumb" grasp the rear of the slide on the SR22 and pull it back fully, so no chance of getting a finger pinched in the ejection slot.

Some things you guys might be interested to know:
The SR22 has a visual inspection port to see if the chamber is loaded without moving the slide.
It comes with the standard small grip and a larger grip and it is relatively easy to switch the grips
Both rear and front sites include easy to see white outlined dots
Rear sight is adjustable
The trigger guard is oversized so you should be able to use the firearm even with gloves on or if you have really big fingers
The hammer spur is grooved for easy manual cocking if you want to start firing in single action mode
Magazine release works from either side of the gun, so is great for lefties and righties
Magazine disconnect is designed to keep the gun from firing when the magazine is removed even if there is a cartridge chambered
It does have a slide stop (my Sig Sauer does not)
The safety can be operated from either side of the gun and is also a decock. If the hammer is decocked using the safety, the hammer is held away from the firing pin as it is released without having to manually block it.
It came with two mags and a factory supplied locking device
The manual says the gun can be safely dry fired without damage as long as the gun contains an empty magazine

I did a takedown of the SR22 and found it very simple and straight forward. I was also able to get it back together easily (I don't seem to have the strength or dexterity to get my Sig back together myself and generally require my hubby's help with it).

So far, I am extremely happy with my purchase. I will let you guys know how it fires as soon as I get a chance to do some shooting.

This gun is great for anybody looking for a small caliber CCW, anybody who doesn't have a lot of upper body strength, anybody with small hands, for teaching children gun safety and handling, for anybody who has joint issues or another medical problem that makes it difficult to operate firearms that require more strength to operate moving parts, or for anybody who just wants a nice .22 to go plinking with.

[400 Grains]

Thanks for the update. Looks like Ruger has another winner. I've got a family member that one of these might be just the ticket for.

[Sheriff McClelland]

Thanks for the field report . We noticed this right off . The other 22's like the Walther & Mosquito while decent guns tended to be ammo finicky . The SR22 seems to "eat" anything (within reason) .

Ruger has a winner .

[TacAir]

Thought I'd throw in an extra 2c.

I had a Walther 22 and gave it to my son - nice pistol and all but the zinc slide and the oddball magazine release were off putting.
Takedown for cleaning was no issue, and the magazines broke down for cleaning, as they should.

The safety was fine etc, all in all, well worth the money. It was picky on ammo.


So - 'my' dealer finally got in some SR-22s.

Fit and finish were fine, changing the grip was not as easy as on the Walther, but following the printed directions got the job done - would have liked a larger, large grip - but, this is OK.

The safeties are many and oddball on the Ruger. You push UP to take off the safety, something that is going to take a while to burn into muscle memory.
I'm agnostic on magazine safeties, but the one in the SR 22 works.

SA and DA. Long pull on DA but not too hard on my old fingers. Ditto on the Walther. SA very crisp, withthe trigger sitting well to the rear of the guard. Very little takeup in SA and none that I could feel in DA.

As noted above, the SR-22 ate the cheap bulk yellow box ammo no problem, unlike the Walther. Nice to know I can use my cheapo ammo.

Magazines
The SR-22 magazines have two floor plates, nice touch. They come apart, for cleaning. As it should be on 22s, it is a dirty typs of ammo by its very nature.

Then there are the springs. Looks like Bill's foilks decided to cut corners - and IMO badly on this part. The magazine uses round coil springs and of very narrow diameter - and they are easilty bent (don't ask, but we did find all of the parts). Both the follower and base are thin plaastic.

The Walther magazines use Z type steel springs, as do all my other pistols.
This Ruger is the first I've seen in my many years of shooting to use this type spring.

It's a shame really, the pistol is otherwise what I expected for the price point, shoots well to POA but the really cheap magazines do leave a bit of a bad taste...

If I had to do it all over, would still stay with the SR-22, just wanted to let folks know of a potentail failure point. So, be careful when you clean the magazines.

[beheadtheundead]

Another vote for the SR22! I purchased one a few weeks ago and have already put a solid 800 bulk rounds through it. I had one failure to feed after about 300 rounds but that is the only malfunction so far. Very pleased with it.

[hutchsaiga]

Another vote for the SR22! I purchased one a few weeks ago and have already put a solid 800 bulk rounds through it. I had one failure to feed after about 300 rounds but that is the only malfunction so far. Very pleased with it.

I have 4 or 5 of the federal 550 bulk packs through mine and love it also. Very rare that it fails.. the only thing im not crazy about is the mag catch seems to very spongy and you definatly need to get a firm slap on them to prevent failure to feeds. I forsee a future issue with magazine release, but havnt had an issue yet