.22 Training Pistols

[MDS]

I really would like to know SIG's thougt process for introducing the .22lr uppers into their product line. What did they see as a reason for doing it?

The Profit lives downmarket. Just a guess.

To the OP: I blame my 617 for most of my trigger-pull improvement over the last year. It doesn't feel like my carry trigger, and if I could only shoot and dry-fire with one gun, it would be my carry gun. But doing a lot of intensely-focused dry-fire with the 617 taught my finger-muscles a lot about "trigger mechanics," as TLG once phrased it. These days, I don't dry-fire with it that much, just once in a while to make sure I haven't slipped. I mostly shoot it live now, trying to get the same level of accuracy with DA as with SA. Again, it's not so much that DA/SA is what I shoot "for real" - it's that getting good with DA and SA builds a strong base for any kind of trigger manipulation.

Also, it may be that working with a 617 is mostly valuable for folks at my skill level. (Hint: my skill level is where The Profit lives... )

[Super J]

Get a conversion kit for your Glock

Agreed. I have a advantage arms kit for my Glock and have no regrets. No, it does not have the same recoil, but I can practice my presentation drills and increase my range time for a fraction of the cost

[agent-smith]

So much so that I bought one just like it.

AWESOME!!!

If anyone from S&W is reading this, I've sold like 6 of those 617 revolvers just from letting people shoot mine...just think what I could do if you give me an M&P-22 pistol...

[TCinVA]

Somewhere, bullseye shooters are gathering torches and pitchforks......

The US Olympic shooting team might also think your definition of "better shooter" is a bit narrow.

Perhaps...but I'm not interested in Olympic level bullseye competition. If someone wants to learn to use a service pistol like a Glock 17 well, a Ruger MK-II isn't going to contribute much to that because the Ruger is much easier to shoot. If someone is using a handgun with a trigger pull measured in ounces and a grip custom fitted to their hand then different rules may apply.

As for the accuracy bit, it may be that someone can take my Ruger MK-II and demonstrate it offers superior mechanical accuracy to my AA kit, but I'm not that someone. I have yet to find a target I can hit with the MK-II that I can't hit with the AA kit. As an example, I was goofing around at the range one day and running low on targets and ammo I decided for funsies to shoot at the "o" in the word "Dot" on Todd's Dot Torture target with the AA kit from 5 yards out. The result?



I've managed to get some pretty tiny offhand groups at 25 yards with it, too. I'm hoping to do a little squirrel hunting with it this fall.

[MDS]

AWESOME!!!

If anyone from S&W is reading this, I've sold like 6 of those 617 revolvers just from letting people shoot mine...just think what I could do if you give me an M&P-22 pistol...

Nice, I want some credits, too. I've sold 2 617's, though mostly to recreational "shoot for fun" types who love the Dirty Harry look more than the ability to train their trigger control. The scenario is a "range day" with a bunch of my brother's friends. My brother is unabashedly a "turn money into noise" kind of shooter, and at first all his friends want to shoot with him instead of me - because I've got only 2 kinds of guns and he's got like 20. By chance or whatever, I get one or two of his friends over to my lane, show them some simple fundamentals, and they're shooting groups they never thought possible. (Like, all shots in an 5" circle at 3 yards, when 5 minutes before they couldn't keep all their shots on paper...) They tell some of the other guys that are still blasting away with my brother, and next thing you know I'm putting on a little clinic on shooting groups with my revolver. Long story short, after a long day of shooting the snot out of all the guns in my brother's and my joint arsenal, 9 out of 10 guys love my 6" 617 more than anything else - more than the cool "M16" (actually a crappy bushy,) more than the Glock with the 30-round "clip," more than the sweet futuristic silenced P22 straight out of a James Bond movie. The 617 is a damn fun gun to shoot, regardless of how much it can teach you about trigger control.

[agent-smith]

Deleting stupid joke.

[David Armstrong]

If someone wants to learn to use a service pistol like a Glock 17 well, a Ruger MK-II isn't going to contribute much to that because the Ruger is much easier to shoot.

I've just got to disagree with that. Yes, if all you do is shoot the Ruger it might contribute little to the Glock, but if one shoots the Ruger in conjunction with shooting the Glock it can contribute quite a bit. It is X more sight pictures, it is X more draws, it is X more presentations, it is X more follow-throughs, and so on.