List of best target pistols made, past and present?

I know there are centerfire target pistols to be sure, but I usually think .22 when someone says target pistol.

I have an old Browning Medalist. No box, or anything. A shooter, not a safe queen. Beautiful gun. Bought a Nomad to go with it just to have another mag.

IZH-35m - Russian made target pistol. Very well made, super accurate. Wish it was still imported.

Ruger MKII - have several. Would consider any of the heavy barreled models to be budget target pistols. Trigger work and grips and you are in business and will be more accurate than most shooters unless you are using a rest.
 
I have an old Browning Medalist. No box, or anything. A shooter, not a safe queen. Beautiful gun. Bought a Nomad to go with it just to have another mag.
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I'm looking for a "beater" Nomad for the same reason you got one-to feed my Medalist with the magazine from the Nomad. Browning magazines by themselves cost almost as much as an abused Nomad. This way I can have my cake (the Nomad) and eat it too (the magazine). :)
 
It is odd that there is no mention of the great old single shot pistols with 3 and 5 lever trigger actions and full target stocks that were literally put on (like a glove). While they are almost unknown today, they set standards of accuracy that have seldom been equaled by even the best modern autoloading pistols.

Jim
 
bac1023 - thanks for pics. What a great collection. I'd love to know which of those are your favorites and which you shoot the most.

As for target pistols, I do own a S&W PC945 and it is a great gun. Very accurate with a really nice trigger.

I also own a Marvel .22 conversion for a 1911. Very easy to swap out to make your conventional 1911 into a .22 and very, very accurate. In fact, each comes with a test target and, as I recall, for a little extra you can buy one that has an exceptionally good test target.

Finally, not sure if it qualifies as a target gun but I do own a S&W 610 revolver that shoots 10mm. Mine has a 6" barrel, which gives you a nice long sight radius, and if you shoot it single action a very light trigger. I've also found it to be a real tack driver, and the 10mm round tends to shoot pretty flat so it's good if you want to shoot plates out at a 100 yards.
 
I've owned just a few of the nice target pistols some have mentioned and shown here. One Houndog mentioned is one I would not have thought of, the S&W 10MM revolvers. I had a S&W Model 610, actually two at different times, both with 5" barrels. Two of the nicest and most accurate revolvers of any caliber I ever owned.

PS, Houndog, forgot to mention that I do shoot 10MM, 9MM, 38 Super, etc. out to a hundred yards or so. All shoot flat enough to make significant hold over unnecessary.
 
Had to read nearly the entire thread till my favorites were mentioned. Have a IZH35M that I used in a weekly bullseye contest at a local indoor range. It was open as to gun choice so I chose the IZH35 with a red dot sight and Eley ammo. After the first few weeks, few showed up to challange. The last round I used a 6 1/2" model 610 that was my favorite pin gun. Another favorite is a 6" model 19 with 38 SPL wadcutters.

I'm getting ready to sell the IZH35M. Anyone have a feel as to what they would go for these days? Can't find any on the web. Have the case, scope rail & 5 mags, all in great condition.
 
No love for the Beretta M76?

This isn't mine, but mine is similar except it has a stainless slide.

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S&W K38-Masterpiece/Model-14 38spl. Just like pointing your finger and seeing a hole appear where you were looking.
 
Wow, that is crazy. How many do you have in your complete collection if I may ask (bac1023)?

I'm actually impressed you can remember what each gun is.
 
My Bullseye box has one pistol in it at the present time. it is a Colt series 80 Gold Cup. the gun had additional work done to it by the late George Madore.
I use it with a Nelson .22 Conversion. This combo shoots well for me.
the back up gun is a Springfield "loaded" 1911. That gun uses a Marvel .22 conversion.

The most accurate target pistol that I own is a Pardini Free Pistol. In general, the Free pistols from Hammerli, Pardini, Morini, the Russian TOZ are the most accurate .22s that you can buy. They are very specialized, however, and not really what most shooters would consider.
It may well be that the most accurate pistols available today are the even more specialized Olympic ten meter air pistols from Feinwerkbau, Steyr, Walther, Hammerli, Morini....all capable of five or ten shot groups that are the same diameter as the pellet. Ten meter air is a game of tens: the ten ring is the size of the pellet. (Current WR is 594/600).
 
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I'm getting ready to sell the IZH35M. Anyone have a feel as to what they would go for these days? Can't find any on the web. Have the case, scope rail & 5 mags, all in great condition.
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You can probably get some idea of value by looking back through the classifieds at the Bullseye-L forum or the Pilkguns Target Talk site. I believe approximately $700 dollars is the ballpark, but with five magazines you should be able to get more. The problem with the IZH35M is that parts and magazines have become pretty much unobtainable - your five magazines may be worth as much as the gun itself. Might be better to sell the gun with two mags and sell the other three separately. My wife shot a Walther KSP200 for several years - basically the IZH35M in a prettier package - and I looked for extra mags all that time, never finding any.
 
I have been shooting Bullseye pistol for the last three years. What I have noticed about 22 lr's is that the M41 S&W seems to be the most common among the old timers. I have seen a few High Standards, but they are definitely scarce.

I got a great deal on this rare M46 with 5.5" barrel, which is a very rare variation of the M46. I had it drilled and tapped, probably ruining any collector value, but so what, I want to shoot it. I did shoot it this month in a State Championship and it shot better than me.

The S&W M41's are very accurate, good ergonomics with factory grips, and the triggers are wonderful. They are also reliable and parts are available. This is a strike against the High Standard pistols, the owners tell me the magazines wear out and replacement magazines are $100 apiece, or something like that.











I have seen a good number of Ruger MKII's and MkIII's. This is a Ruger MKII of mine. The Ruger is an inherently accurate pistol, if you get one with a good trigger (and you have to look) and you put on a better pair of grips than the factory grips, the pistol will shoot well. It is also cheap compared to the M41 S&W and I think the combination of price, good enough ergonomics and trigger, and excellent accuracy is why I have seen these are on the firing line. The greatest strike against the Ruger pistol, in my opinion, is the difficulty of cleaning the thing. Competition shooters don't want malfunctions due to dirty pistols, so they tend to clean between each and every match. Take down is easy, but not obvious. Reassembly has always been difficult, getting that hammer strut aligned with the mainspring is particularly frustrating and not intuitively obvious. You can't see what you are doing, the hammer strut is hidden in the frame. Each time I do it, I have to relearn the procedure after fumbling around for five to ten minutes. The situation is even worse with the MKIII. The magazine safety is a terrible idea. You have to put the magazine in, pull the trigger, take the magazine out. When trying to get the hammer strut in line with the mainspring, you have to do this about 20 times, and with the MKIII, you forget the sequence sometimes in your frustration.




Rarely will you see something really expensive like this Feinwekbau AW93.



This is a very beautiful, well timed, maxed out bells and whistles pistol. It is so expensive I could only afford to take pictures, which is probably why I have only seen one.
 
I've competed in Bullseye matches since the early sixties. I hated it when optics became "legal" (what's next-using two hands to hold the pistol?) even more than when the American League legalized the "designated hitter" (how more unAmerican can you be?).

But then, I'm a child of the fifties, reared to revere tradition and to disdain change just to make things easier to do. I still shoot with irons and use revolvers on occasion-of course, I don't win much anymore...:o
 
Target Pistols

I'll cast my vote for best Target pistol... The S&W 41 with one upgrade The Clark Custom barrel. Factory barrels are great, but Clark does them better. Factory mags are cheap ($20) and reliable and mine shoot well with most any Standard velocity ammo. Red dots have mounting rail on the Clark plus the ejection port is open (no roof) Threading is a Clark option and I have found no accuracy loss from threading and suppressing. All made in USA. My 2
 
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I have a 1981 Model 41. I got it cheap as it was special ordered and the guy refused it as he did not know they had changed from the 7-3/8" bbl to 7" w/o the compensator a few years earlier. Shop discounted it 20% they got for restocking.
It is picky on ammo and wants to be cleaned often but I have had some great times with her over the last 35 years.
 
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