2022 .22 Showdown

[LockedBreech]

As much as it embarrasses me to admit, ever since I sold my Beretta Bobcat and gifted my brother my Ruger SR22, I have been without a .22LR training pistol for several years. My recent range trips have led me to the reluctant conclusion that the lack of a .22 trainer combined with the current price of ammo is hurting my handgun fundamentals a bit. Additionally, my fiancée would benefit because I am teaching her to shoot almost from scratch and I don't know that anything I could tell her would benefit her as much as a few long range sessions practicing low-recoil fundamentals.

In the time since I last had a .22LR pistol, the amount of options is....rather staggering, as evidenced by lots of individual threads about .22 options. Here is my understanding of the best current candidates:

1.) Glock 44. This one makes the most sense off the bat. My work, home, and travel pistols are a pair of G17s and a G19. Training with a Glock seems like a no-brainer. But I have heard mixed results on reliability/quality.

2.) Sig P322. We really like our M17 and P365, so this one also makes sense. However, it's new. I am leery of new designs especially from Sig. Might want to wait a bit longer.

3.) Beretta M9-22. Everyone says these are amazing and I love Berettas, but reluctantly I think it's a bad choice given that all my defensive-use guns these days are strikers.

Runner-ups:

4.) Ruger SR-22. It's also a hammer-fired gun but I remember it being a very easy shooter and very reliable.

5.) M&P .22. Nobody talks about these. Do they suck? I carry an M&P Shield Plus so it makes a degree of sense for training.

Are there options I'm forgetting to consider? Should I wait for the Sig to mature? Quit overthinking it and get the Glock? For a plinking/training gun this is a surprisingly difficult decision.

[Duces Tecum]

1.) Glock 44. This one makes the most sense off the bat. My work, home, and travel pistols are a pair of G17s and a G19. Training with a Glock seems like a no-brainer. But I have heard mixed results on reliability/quality.

It's a trainer. Do you really want high reliability?


Duces

[JonInWA]

I don't have one, but off the cuff I'd endorse the Beretta M22/.22 92 conversion kit. The DA/ DA/SA trigger skills are transferrable in a beneficial way to your striker fired systems.

Alternatively, the Glock G44 would seem to be the most viable for you.

Best, Jon

[Clusterfrack]

I'm impressed with the Glock 44. The mags are actually not crappy flimsy sheet metal, and reliability seems better than any .22 I've used. It feels like a real gun, not a toy.

If I didn't already have two Ruger Mark3s with a bunch of reliability enhancements, I'd buy a G44--except for the lack of RDS mounting.

M&P .22: a buddy has one, and there was a problem with and the iron sight channel cracking in the aluminum slide. I think he glued it with epoxy I wasn't impressed, but that's how I feel about all M&Ps.

Ruger SR 22: this looks really cool. I kind of want one because TDA... Anyone have experience with it?

But why don't any of these have RDS mounting options? If that's a concern, and it sure is for me, the Mark4 22/45 is still the best option IMO:
https://www.ruger.com/products/markI...ets/43927.html

[Duelist]

Get the G44. There’s a reason it seems like a no-brainer: quit overthinking it and get it done.

[JHC]

I bought an M&P Compact .22 last year and like it pretty much. I bought it for the sweet spot form factor. I'm way more accurate with it than I expected, being able to live in the B8 black at 25 with routine effort. That's not a lay up for me no more.
If the mags gets sandy/dirty they don't want to seat/lock but that learnt me to keep them out of the sand/dirt.

Other than that it's run really well with the several loads I've used. I'd shoot it more but for how much I love shooting my 317.

But the P322 seems like the state of the art today and I am sorely tempted to add one of those. Another sweet spot size-wize IMO.

We also have a "plum" colored SR22 bought for a song. It's another nice little shooter but I've never gotten near the precision out of it that I have with the M&P.

[Moylan]

FWIW, Chris Baker wasn't super impressed with the Sig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiZKoyjU5Ws

I have the Glock 44 and the Ruger SR22 and they are both outstanding pistols. I'm a TDA shooter, but the Ruger in no real sense serves as a trainer for my P07. It's more a gun for teaching newbies. In the OP's situation, I would buy the Glock today.

[Pepper]

There is the FN 502 Tactical too. I picked one up a few months ago and have been happy with it. I added a Holosun 507k and am using it to get some time on a dot.

[1Rangemaster]

I'm in the Glock camp. I have bought several G44s for myself and daughters. A fairly consistent companion is a GEN5 19MOS, so the similarities are a plus. I have also watched thousands of rounds go through G44s at a local range during "fam fire". I have seen occasional failures to fire; I think that's pretty much ammo.
My examples like 37 to 40 grain "full power"-CCI usually.
No easy way to mount a red dot; have to buy an frame mount. GLOCK sights are not my favorite; I CAREFULLY installed Ameriglo fiber optic.
My other suggestion (or addition) would be to get a .22 revolver with good sights(LCRx or S&W?). Learning to work the DA trigger builds some hand strength and helps one to learn "steer" the sights and hike working the trigger(Bill Rogers).
Best wishes in y'all's journey

[okie john]

I use a training pistol only to teach people how to shoot and to reveal flaws in my shooting technique. I'm looking for:

• Extreme accuracy, to better reveal any flaws in any part of my technique.
• A good trigger, to better reveal flaws in my trigger press.
• Light or non-existent recoil, to not distract the shooter from the fundamentals of marksmanship.

For these reason, the trainer doesn’t have to mimic my serious guns. Revolvers and air pistols work just fine. Adjustable sights are nice because they let you center the group easily, but they're not essential. Reliability is nice because it reduces distractions from actual shooting technique, but it's not high on the list, plus most modern 22s are pretty reliable if they're properly lubricated.

I don't use a training pistol to teach people how to clear malfunctions for a couple of reasons. First, the lack of recoil is often the first indication that you have a malfunction in a service pistol. Second, the motions you use to clear service-pistol malfunctions don't necessarily work with the malfunctions you get in a 22, even if the two pistols are nominally the same. The extractors are different (and usually less reliable in the 22), the space around the breech is smaller, etc. A handful of snap caps is a better way to train on clearing malfunctions in a service pistol.

With all of that in mind, my trainer is a Ruger Mk II semi-auto that got the bullseye treatment from Clark Custom Guns back in the 1980s. It’s very similar to this one, minus the custom grips:



The muzzle break was part of the deal. I would not have paid extra for it.


Okie John