Here is a cut and paste of my first impressions of the SR-22p. For the record, I bought a Walther P22 right after they came out. that was one of the worst purchases I have ever made. While Walther has improved it a lot since then, they are still made of lesser materials and seem to still be very picky about ammo, where the SR-22 has reliably fired everything i have run through it.
Finally, last weekend I had the opportunity over two days to put over 400 rounds through the Ruger SR 22p.
Here are a couple pics just to keep it interesting and for those who have not seen it yet.
This was an interesting weekend to be outdoors, in a gravel pit, shooting. I live in close proximity to the Canadian border and luckily, the Abbotsford, BC Airshow was on this weekend. Try and imagine getting to expend over 300 rounds of ammo through a brand new handgun acquisition. The skies are as blue as can be, it is warm but not too warm and as you are shooting , there is a constant supply of military aircraft, showing off in the near airspace. Following the shooting session, getting to wander around on this beautiful, quiet day, hunting for the elusive spent shells of shooters before me, while getting to revel at the amazing sight of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, some of my life long heroes. I can hardly imagine a more American moment.
Supplies for this particular shooting session included A 525 round value pack of Federal bulk .22 ammo, Federal Classic .22 ammo, PMC Scoremaster, CCI Velocitor, and Remington Thunderbolt .22 ammo.
I consider this gun more along the lines of a plinking gun as opposed to any sort of target gun so the majority of targets i brought along were plinking type targets. Everything from pop cans and milk jugs to tin cans of various sizes and small plastic juice bottles. Improvised targets included expended shotgun shells, clay pigeons and clay pigeon parts and rocks through out the gravel pit.
Initial impression? the plinkability of this gun is second to none, of any of the guns I have owned.I shot at targets anywhere between 10 yards and 100 yards away. When i got bored, easily hitting the larger cans, i moved onto the smaller targets, like setting up the shotgun shells on the ground or sticking them on plants. I was stunned at how easily I was able to dispatch these little targets at will.
I had found some unbroken as well as some larger pieces of bright orange clay pigeons and set them up at around 45 yards and even had some at 100 or so yards. It was very easy to hit the broken pieces at 45 yards as well as a small ammo box I had set there too. Then I moved on to the 100 yard target and was eventually able to hit that pigeon as well, though it took a few moments of surrounding it with suppressing fire for good measure before I zeroed in on it.
I also set up one paper target and was of course under-impressed with the group I got. I will never understand how i can hit small targets like shotgun shells at will but then put down horrible groups on paper.
The next day, I put another 100 rounds through the gun with some help from the wife. My wife, 7 year old daughter and I all went shooting. The wife wanted to send some rounds down range through her Walther PK380 and my daughter got to have her first taste of firing a real gun, which I will write about at a later date. While the backdrop on this day's shooting did not include the Thunderbirds, we did get a formation fly-by that included a P-51 Mustang and a Supermarine Spitfire. And a b-25 bomber.
The wife ahot the Sr22 and liked it as well as I do.
So, what do I think of the gun? Pros include the build quality, which is amazing, especially compared to the Walther P22. Also among the pros is the comfort and ergonomics. This is a very good feeling gun with really good sights. The plinking accuracy was stunning to me. It was like it made me a better shooter. It has a very good single action trigger pull but the double action trigger pull is fairly hefty with a bit of stacking, though I was usually able to hit what I was aiming at despite that trigger pull.
The magazines are pretty nice, and easy to load. The gun is super reliable, with only three failures in two days and over 400 rounds fired. All three failures were failures to feed, and all three were with Federal ammo. Two from the value pack and one from the Federal Classic box.
Also among the pros of this gun is the ease with which it can be broken down for cleaning and reassembled.
Number one of the cons for this gun is the trigger reset. It is too far out and there is essentially no positive feeling of reset. It tends to hamper rapid fire shooting because you feel like you have let the trigger out far enough, only to pull the trigger and find out you hadn't let it out far enough.
Another con is that you must make sure you slam the magazine home and pull on it to make sure it is fully seated. It just seems to take more effort to seat it than it should. Once it is in there, it is solid and maybe helps give it the great reliability with nearly all ammo you fire thorough it.
The last con, at the moment is the backwards safety. I still do not understand why they couldn't figure out a way to make it normal. It wasn't a big problem to overcome, it just required a bit more concentration and is annoying.
So, there you have it. I love the thing and do not have that great sense of having made a big mistake like I did after the first time I fired my early build Walther P22. This is one solid, comfortable, fine shooting plinking weapon for a great price. It should be lots of fun for years to come. At least for the next 3,600 rounds.
To end the trip, we moved up to the border and sat in the shade and watched there airshow up close and personal. Just in time to see a heritage flight including a Canadian CF-18 and an A1D Skyraider, one of my favorite planes. This was followed by a performance by a US Navy F/A 18 Super Hornet, a truly powerful and astounding aircraft. And then the Thunderbirds. Just awesome!
On a side note, After I fired 320 rounds through the SR22 on the first day, I whipped out the Gen 4 G17 and fired 30 or 40 rounds through it. As much as I enjoyed the previous 320 rounds, the shots fired through the Glock were certainly more exhilarating and exciting. So, if 40 rounds through a 9mm is better than 320 rounds of .22, then obviously, I need a Gen 4 G20 in 10mm! I should only have to fire 10 to 20 rounds through that to really enjoy it. Sounds like a justification to me!
Price is one of my biggest considerations here.
