Need Recommendation for a .22 auto pistol

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Route 66

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After years of .45, 9mm, .380, .357 and 7.63s I am ready for a .22 autoloader. I have not followed .22 autos over the years so I need your help from your experiences.

I do not want a .22 autoloader for carry, home defense or hunting. What I want to do is punch paper at the range.

My wants...a decent trigger without long travel and clean break, even adjustable if that's possible but not a fancy/expensive target pistol.

Any suggestions?
 
I have an older Ruger 22/45. I like it because the grip angle and mag release is very similar to conventional centerfire pistols vs most 22's. It is a decent gun. But if I were buying a new one today I'd go with the S&W Victory. My brother has one and I like it a lot. I'll eventually get one, but there are other projects higher on my priority list.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/sw22-victory

The street price is very reasonable, actually less than a comparable Ruger.

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog...s_id/5681/s&w+10201+victory+22lr+55+10r+tb+ss
 
Any Ruger Mk-series, or 22/45. The early Mk-series are highly respected; the latest one is easiest to take down and reassemble. The "bull-barreled" ones with adjustable sights are the "go-tos" for target use. The 22/45 will have a grip angle more like what you're used to in shooting centerfire.

You'll also get well-founded recommendations for the Smith and Wesson Victory and the Browning Buckmark.
 
After 45 years with a variety of .22 LR handguns - various Rugers MKs, Buck Mark, 1911 conversions, CZ Kadet, AMT, S&W and other revolvers - I've somewhat recently discovered the Browning Medalist. I find that gun to be a level or two above any of the others I own or have owned, a fine piece of design and craftsmanship, and super accurate. A nice shooter grade Medalist will cost you approximately $600 and is a bargain at that price, IMO. (Can you tell that I like these guns? ;) )

Here are a couple of Medalists with some other 22 LR guns.
VtSaTHv.jpg

Another high quality gun that is the same as the Medalist except that it has different grips (they are smaller and ambidextrous), a different/smaller rear sight, pencil barrel instead of the heavy barrel, and doesn't have the dry-fire feature (let's you dry-fire without any potential for internal damage), is the Belgium Challenger, a.k.a. Challenger I. (The Medalist in the top Left of the photo above has Challenger grips.) Excellent examples of the Belgium Challenger can be found in the price range of a new Buck Mark or Ruger.
 
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I carry small barrel firearms. So I train with small barrel firearms. One of the most fun, and one of the best I have come across is the Phoenix HPA 22. Feels great in the hand, Very nice trigger, and accuracy for me is exceptional at close range. I find them better shooting than some guns costing three times as much. I also train with a LCR22. cal.

RN8kb4u.png
 
If you can find one, the Norinco Olympia is a pretty good choice. When I am at the range for the .22 target league I get asked about it frequently.
IMG-20170728-120009039.jpg
 
Browning Buckmark, Ruger MK, S&W Victory.

Any of the 3 will serve your needs, just go fondle them all and buy the one that speaks to you. I have a Buckmark and Mark I and like them almost equally, with a slight edge going to the Buckmark.

I'll add the Beretta Neos as a runner up. I think it's fugly but apparently it's not a bad target style pistol.
 
I am going to throw in another one that I don't see as having been mentioned yet. There is the Kel-Tec CP33. I don't have one, but the reviews seem pretty positive. I sort of looks like one of the pre-Lugar auto pistols whose name I cannot remember.

cp33-left__45062.1548887266.png

image from here
 
If you can find one, the Norinco Olympia is a pretty good choice. When I am at the range for the .22 target league I get asked about it frequently.
View attachment 850989

Got one! But I found that I can shoot my Ruger standard model better. Later I bought a Colt Woodsman. And it turns out my Ruger also shoots better than the Colt.

Both the Olympia and the Woodsman win the cool factor though.
 
My wants...a decent trigger without long travel and clean break, even adjustable if that's possible but not a fancy/expensive target pistol.

Any suggestions?

Come on, guys, this is a question with 2-3 correct answers. Get a Ruger Mk _[whichever], a Browning Buckmark (my personal pick), or maybe the new-ish S&W Victory. The first two have huge track records of offering reliability, durability, and accuracy, and will have good triggers that can be made great. The 3rd is working on building that same kind of record.

Colt Woodsmans are awesome... and rare and collectible. Little .22lr pocket guns are what they are... but not known for accuracy and a good trigger. There are all kinds of other guns that could work, but the 2-3 I listed above will easily meet the OP's objectives, are available on-demand, are reasonably priced, have replacement parts in production, etc.

Don't make this hard.
 
I have a Norinco TT-Olympia. It's inexpensive, accurate as hell, easy to take down but I don't know if I can recommend it to someone else: machining is not very good, wooden grips are ridicolous. It doesn't like every ammo but with the ones it likes it's a laser. I like it and I'll never sell it but it's not a quality pistol.
I'd take a CZ Kadet every day of the week and twice on sunday.
 
Everyone loves the ruger but i like my browning buckmark better. IMO it has a better trigger, easier to disassemble/reassemble and
Mags are easier to load.
 
...

I do not want a .22 autoloader for carry, home defense or hunting. What I want to do is punch paper at the range.

...

If you want to punch one ragged hole in that paper, there are several excellent suggestions above.

However, if you want to smile and have fun shooting a .22LR semi-auto pistol with decent accuracy, my two suggestions are a German Sport Guns GSG-1911 or a Walther PPQ-M2. Both are full size pistols that have a very good 'bang & grin for the buck' value.
 
....My wants...a decent trigger without long travel and clean break, even adjustable if that's possible but not a fancy/expensive target pistol.

Any suggestions?
The only way to give you a helpful answer is ……….how much are you wanting to spend? "expensive" to some is $1000+, to others it's any gun over $200.
The most popular .22 semiautomatic pistols I've transferred over the last ten years are overwhelmingly Ruger MkIII & MkIV's …...no other is anywhere close.
 
Stay away from any of the Umarex guns.

I'd also vote for the 87 Target
 
Look for an old Star Model F 22LR, preferably with the longer barrel.
I'm sorry, but that's a terrible recommendation.
I have a Star Model F, its a nice little gun. But good luck finding parts or magazines because Star went belly up over twenty years ago.
 
I carry small barrel firearms. So I train with small barrel firearms. One of the most fun, and one of the best I have come across is the Phoenix HPA 22. Feels great in the hand, Very nice trigger, and accuracy for me is exceptional at close range. I find them better shooting than some guns costing three times as much. I also train with a LCR22. cal.

View attachment 850987
I have never heard or read that in my lifetime. In fact the most common comment about Phoenix is "pot metal junk"
 
It really depends on what you are going to be doing with the gun Hunting, target shooting, training for carry gun etc.

The OP said he wants to "punch paper" with a "decent trigger." He specifically disclaimed HD or hunting.

There is a small set of reasonable, obvious answers to this question.
 
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