I am frequently asked, “What is the Best 22 Caliber Handgun?” The good news is that the answer is pretty short and sweet, as not many are very good. Long story short, the Browning Buckmark and the Ruger Mark series are probably at the top of the heap.
I have had personal experience with 5 Sig Sauer Mosquito‘s, and they are almost as lousy as High Points. I suggest that Sig track them all down and grind their name off, they are a real embarrassment.
I regularly use our 1970’s Colt single action 22 revolver and love it!
I own a Ruger single action 22 revolver, and it is OK, but not great. It spits out a lot of shavings between the cylendar and the barrel.
I use our CZ-Kadet, and it is OK. I would not place it on the top shelf, but it is fairly consistent and feels great in the hand. The weight it great, however the tiny grip portion of the slide makes tactical defense drills difficult.
I use our Walther P-22 some, and it is OK. It has a tiny grip, and even fits large hand OK. It isn’t great, but it is OK.
I use or Smith & Wesson M&P22 some, and it’s large frame makes it comfortable. It is not the most reliable gun, but it is OK.
I don’t use our Tarrus double action 22 much because it spits too many fragments out between the cylinder and the barrel. The Tarrus warranty is regarded as great, but it is slow and when the gun comes back, it is still a low-quality Tarrus.
Our Smith & Wesson double action revolver is OK. We had to have our gunsmith tune it and do some coning, but now it is pretty good. There is certainly room in the marketplace for a company to start making good quality 22 revolvers!
We purchased 3 Ruger Mark III’s many years ago, and while the first few thousand rounds fired had many failure to eject and feeds, once broken in they have served us well. Our first and most used, a basic tapered barrel, now has likely seen over 30,000 rounds fired through it and it has finally given out. I recommend this gun!
I just ordered a Browning Buckmark, which based on reputation is just as good as the Ruger Mark series, maybe even better. Based on its reputation, I would recommend it. I will update this article once I have tried it out.
