.22 pistol choices

**pghplr** · December 7th, 2006, 12:17 PM

I've been wanting to get a 22 pistol for target shooting. I see the current ad for gander mountain has 3 on sale for $199.99

Beretta U22 NEOS 22LR Target Pistol
Ruger 22/45 Mark III
Smith & Wesson No Bull

Just curious as to which of those would be the best overall target gun. The sale ends on the 9th and chances are I may not get around to it for this sale but of those 3, what do you think? I'll be googlin for info myself, but hey, whats a forum for, right? My experience with 22pistols are display cases and watching others shooting them. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks

**jcisbig** · December 7th, 2006, 12:46 PM

You should definitely get the ruger. Almost everyone trusts it...

**Karys** · December 7th, 2006, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by pghplr

I've been wanting to get a 22 pistol for target shooting. I see the current ad for gander mountain has 3 on sale for $199.99

Beretta U22 NEOS 22LR Target Pistol
Ruger 22/45 Mark III
Smith & Wesson No Bull

Just curious as to which of those would be the best overall target gun. The sale ends on the 9th and chances are I may not get around to it for this sale but of those 3, what do you think? I'll be googlin for info myself, but hey, whats a forum for, right? My experience with 22pistols are display cases and watching others shooting them. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Oh boy! You opened up a can of worms now!

My $0.02...

You can't go wrong with the Ruger. The only bad thing about it is it's a pain to get back together after you field strip it. My 22/45 Mark II hardly jammed until after I had a disgusting amount of ammo through it. The Rugers are easy to work on and parts are cheap and easily available too. I must have close to 75,000 rounds through mine.

I have no personal experience with the Beretta.

I have friends that used to have different .22 pistols from Smith. Notice I said "used to have". The only .22 autos I see on Smith's website are the model 22 and model 41 which are what my friends had. Neither of them worked all that well. I have no idea what you mean by "No Bull".

I'm sure there are members here that have had great experiences with the Smith and Beretta .22's. I'm not putting them down necessarily, just relaying my experience.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that better than 90% of the bullseye shooters I shot with and against were shooting a Ruger in one form or another, at least until they could afford a Hammerli or other exotic and expensive target pistol.

**GRIZZLYBEAR** · December 7th, 2006, 02:34 PM

In the league that I shoot most of the shooters are using the S&W Model 41 or the old High Standards...guess it just depends on the part of the country you are from.

I stick to the my Model and Series 70 gold cup.

grizz

**aubie515** · December 7th, 2006, 10:32 PM

Out of your three choices, I would say the Beretta NEOS because it is a modular system. You can do more to it than the other two pistols.

On another note, have you considered a used Ruger MKII/III? I personally dislike the 22.45...I dislike the wide grips and the plastic pistol grip.

You should be able to find a used Ruger MKII/III in the $200 range.

Browning Buckmarks are good as well...a lot easier to take apart for cleaning...the Ruger MK series are more of a challenge to reassemble.

**Lycanthrope** · December 8th, 2006, 12:01 AM

I've had bad experiences with reliablility with 2 Neos......

I like the 22/45 grip angle as it is the same as my 1911's and 2011, but the sights aren't much to write home about. If I had my choice for an 22 pistol I'd get a .22 Marvel conversion for my Kimbers or STI.

**fultonCoShooter** · December 8th, 2006, 04:53 AM

i have a 22a and a ruger mark1 .22

out of the 3 i wouldnt pick any of the ones u listed

i would get this from buds gun shop

it is a special edition similar to the one i have and its only $250. before shipping and registration

smith and wesson are awesome i was havening a problem with a mag. they sent me 2 new ones at no charge $40 dollars worth of mags for free. now that service. also it guaranteed for life.

remember your most likely going to have this pistol for life so id spend alittle more and get something you like not because it was cheep.

**greener** · December 8th, 2006, 11:58 PM

At the same price, the one that "feels" better is the "best" one. I'm not sure I've picked up a Neos more than once, so I don't know anything about them. I do have a 22A and a Ruger MKIII Hunter. Both shoot much more accurately than I do. Both seem to be very reliable. Although the 22A is a bit pickier about ammo, when I'm having problems, I have the same problems with both pistols. That seems to indicate that the ammo is the problem and not the pistol.

Both the Ruger and the 22A will be accurate and reliable. The Ruger has the advantage of more aftermarket parts for upgrade. I don't think you can go wrong with either pistol.

**pghplr** · December 9th, 2006, 12:08 PM

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I'm going to look into the Ruger. Personal preference aside, it seems you can't go wrong with them. I don't know if I should start a new thread with this question but..how often do you or should you clean a 22 pistol, rounds fired? I ask cause I have a Marlin 60 rifle that I stripped and cleaned once in 25 years just recently. Though I often cleaned the barrel and what I could reach without stripping. It never failed, however, the gritty sound of the reciever was hurting my teeth! It was like wet sand in there. Not a pretty sight at all.

**TRB** · December 9th, 2006, 02:43 PM

We have all three pistols in the rental case at the range. The Smith is down for repair the most often. S&W chose to use inferior metals in some of their castings on this particular model. That said, it's a lot of fun to shoot and if you purchase one it will probalby not take the kind of abuse that a rental gun does.

The Ruger and the Neos are like the Energizer Bunny. As long as they are clean they just keep running. The Neos is popular with people who have smaller hands. The Ruger is popular with 1911 fans because of it's grip angle.

All three shoot good. The Ruger is a little more accurate than the others. But that is opinion. Take it for what it is worth.

Pistols chambered in .22 are notoriously picky in what they will digest. Two people can have the same model and one will run fine on one brand and the other will not. If you are going to shoot .22 you will have live with this fact of life.

As far as cleaning goes, .22's are dirty. Clean your pistol often and it will give you little or no trouble.