Buckmark, Victory or Ruger MK IV for a 22lr?

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fordtrucks

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which should I get?

I want a reliable, accurate pistol for 22lr to plink and train my daughters to shoot with.

Would probably like adjustable sights but not too worried about them. Would like the option to put a red dot on since I have an extra one laying around. Not too worried about adding a suppressor. Would like it to not be too finicky on ammo.

Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks in advance.
 
I see a lot of Ruger 22's on the Bullseye Pistol firing line. I am currently using a MKII on occasion,

H3zQPWb.jpg

but the thing is still a bugger to assemble. I will remove the upper from the lower, wipe the recesses, clean the bore, etc, and reassemble. Because the barrel attachment is blind, I consistently forget which direction to knock the barrel. Assembling a Ruger MK 1 through III is a hot, wet, mess. Even with lots of practice, the hammer strut gets under a pin, does not line up with the mainspring, the bolt stop pin never slides into place, it is a real bugger to get it to seat. The MKIII is even worse as it has a magazine safety, and with all of these marks, you have to pull the trigger a dozen times to get the hammer to move forward, to release, to get the hammer strut to align with the mainspring. The MKIII is the worst incarnation of the first three Marks. If you ever get a great deal on it, immediately convert it to a MkII configuration, and adjust the price based on the cost of the conversion.

But, I have a shooting Bud, a guy who shot Bullseye Pistol with the Army Reserve, and he is using a MKIV. This is a much better pistol as it is easy to clean. I think it takes standard Ruger magazines. The pistol is inherently accurate, lots of parts around, which is important, and it is a reliable mechanism. So, that would be my suggestion.
 
Ruger has the most aftermarket products available. Brownings are fine pistols as are S&W.

But take said daughters to the store and see how their hands fit the Beretta Neos. I think the Neos, or at least one version of it, fits smaller hands better than the others.
 
I'd go with the Ruger as well. If your daughter can grip it and she decided she likes shooting it can grow with her as her shooting abilities grow. It can be a fun shooter or modified to near anything including mid level bullseye match pistol. And they work well with red dot sights.
 
I'll be honest, there's not a bad or inaccurate one on your short list. They are all excellent.
I would go with the Ruger, because I have a MKII that is a stellar performer.

However, I got to shoot a S&W Victory at the range, and it shot just as well.
 
Victory for the win. Best value in the market. Lower price, no performance compromise. And the aftermarket enhancements are wonderful. I have shot the Rugers and Brownings. Hated them. Big and clumsy compared to the Victory. You should consider that WRT your daughters.
 
If you bump into a Trailside at a good price, they are also fine .22s.

The Ruger and Browning are fine pistols in their own way. I foolishly sold a Ruger as they are very nice guns, and still have my Buckmark. I have no experience with the newer S&W Victory. I love my Trailside.

A few years back there was a Ruger Mk II bull barrel at a local gun show for $375. My buddy was with me and he had been shopping for a Ruger for a couple of years, always being too cheap to fork over the funds on a couple of good deals. When I spotted this one I called him over to look at it and told him if he did not buy it on the spot, I was going to. Too bad for me, he took my advise. It's all good though, he's a good enough friend that when I bought my P-365 recently and loved it so much, I gave him my Shield that he liked so much. :)
 
Also the Victory comes with a Picstinny rail that is easily installed for mounting a red dot.
 
OP, I don’t imagine you are in Houston or nearby. If you were, you would be welcome to try out my Victory.
 
Ruger Mark IV. If you'd asked me back when there were only III's and II's, I'd have said the Buckmark...mine is a hair more accurate. But now that the Mark IV's are out, the Ruger wins for cleanup.
 
Ruger Mark IV. If you'd asked me back when there were only III's and II's, I'd have said the Buckmark...mine is a hair more accurate. But now that the Mark IV's are out, the Ruger wins for cleanup.

Thanks. Easier cleaning is always a good thing.

I’m a Ruger guy (3 lcr’s, lc9s, plus 2 lcp’s, speed six, 3 other lcr’s I’ve gifted to family) so I think the MK IV may be the way I go then based on all the recommendations. Will need to see which version has a piccatiny rail to add the red dot easily now.

Thanks again everyone. Very helpful.
 
Those are all fine guns and I think it would be best to try any you can get your hands on. I've owned 3 Mk pistols and they are good guns but need better triggers. Recently purchased a Buckmark to try. The trigger pull is much better than a stock Ruger and is easier to hit with. The grip fits my small hands better than the Rugers but this is a very personal issue. I put a Burris Fastfire III on the Buckmark and it is almost hard to miss with. It now stays in my range bag because it's too much fun shooting at the swinging steel. It's the only handgun I use every trip to the range.
 
OP it should be obvious that nearly every answer given to your question, including mine, reflect the identities of the guns owned by the people responding. The dominance of Ruger in the results reflects its dominance in the numbers of guns owned. The Victory is a more recent entry to the market and can’t compete on this basis of units already in use. Fair enough.

But it is clear to me that all the choices are stellar and folks like the one(s) they own. You need to check them all out and decide for yourself. Otherwise you are just obeying a self-fulfilling prophecy that the most popular choice In future will be the same as in the past.
 
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Ruger and a VQ sear
This. I have a complete collection of the Mark series, and the only one that did not need trigger work, right out of the box, was the Mark I. Each subsequent iteration, although it had undeniable improvements, also had a few steps backward. The upside is that there are plenty of aftermarket parts, and lots of backwards parts compatibility.
 
I don't have a Victory yet but they look very, very nice to me. I do have a Ruger Mk1 (with a Pac Lite upper/barrel) and a Browning Buckmark.

Both are utterly reliable now, but neither started that way when I first got them. I will say that once each one was running well, I prefer the ergonomics of the Ruger a lot more than the Browning and I'm a lot faster with it. The Browning does feel a lot more like a "traditional" handgun though so IMHO it's a better gun for teaching new shooters with if you intend them to move up to a bigger gun later.
 
My daughter prefers a revolver. I bought her a S&W Model 63 and it is her favorite. She trains with a Ruger Target model (I think its a MK III), because that's what the club provides for free for their youth program, but she didn't like the slide coming back at her or the brass flying out. She's gotten better about the slide coming back and the ejecting brass but she still prefers the revolver.
 
I've never held a Victory, but I have shot and fired a Beretta Neos, Ruger 22/45 MKIII, and Buckmark Camper enough to remember them well. I used to own the Neos, and currently own the Camper.

In terms of hand fit, the Neos fits smallest hands, the 22/45 fits hands one size up, and the Camper fits one size up from that. My daughters used to shoot the Neos and liked it well enough, but none of us like the safety lever location.

The 22/45, with non-detachable grip panels, is still small enough in grip circumference that teenage girl's and women's hands work well with the gun. For me, I need a grip wrap on the Neos and would prefer a grip wrap on the 22/45. While the Camper is just about perfect for my hands, and my hands aren't large either.

The best reasons to get a Neos, IMO, would be the low price, easy optic mounting, easy take down for cleaning, and the small grip. For more money, I'd step up to the Ruger MKIV 22/45 and install an optic rail.

That said, I do prefer the adult hand fit and out of the box trigger of my Buckmark. Of which I installed an optic rail, too.
 
I love my Victory, and when I bought it a few months ago, I had planned on buying the Ruger MKIV. Once I tried the Victory, it was a no-brainer. I did not buy it because it was less expensive, but because I prefered it.

It is accurate right from the box, and doesn't require a whole bunch of mods to be a nice gun, but they are available if you want them.

Here is mine:

7rJSkK4.jpg
 
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