Which 22 pistol?

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FireForged

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Hey guys! I am ready to buy the Browning Buckmark 22 pistol. My Browning 9mm has been a great gun over the years. Just wondering if you guys can tell me if the Browning 22 is reliable or not. I have had more than one freind tell me that the Ruger semi-auto 22's have problems. Thanks in advance.
 
Every .22 semiauto will have problems,
particularly if you do not clean'em.
Many people do not clean their Rugers,
because they do not know how to assemble
them back together. I got two Rugers MKII,
and I clean'em. These pistols are marvelous
pieces. I'm mostly .22 cal. pistol shooter,
and the only other pistol which I respect
as much as Ruger MKII happened to be Russian
made Margolin pistol, which is out of reach
here in the U.S. Your friends obviously trying to keep you from buying a real good
pistol...Browning is O.K. too, but nothing
to be excited about.
 
Greetings, I'm with my friend Oris on this
one !!! I own a Ruger MK II KMK-512; and
have NEVER had a problem with it. They
MUST be kept clean. My suggestion would
be to always carry a used, old toothbrush
in your range bag; clean the breech quite
often.

Message edited by Dan H. Ford on 11-14-99

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Ala Dan
 
One of my buddies has a Buckmark and shoots lights out with it. For plinking and range fun you have a great .22. I bought a S&W 22a and I really wish I got a Buckmark or a Ruger. Way to many misfires...I know you are going to run into that with .22's but every 10 rounds I usually have at least 1 or 2.(yes I do clean it after every range trip) I thought it was just my piece but I ran into someone on the range yesterday who has had the same problems.

I may trade it in(get hammered but what the heck)on a great looking .22 I saw the other day...a SIG Trailside PL 22. What a sweet looking pistol, I belive Hammerli may make it and it is marketed thru Sig. In any event the Buckmark should serve you well.

[This message has been edited by grapeshad (edited November 14, 1999).]
 
My father bought a Browny 8yrs ago. He ran 100 rounds through it, cleaned it and put it back in the box.

About two months ago I took it out to the range. I ran 300 rounds through it. (Sorry Dad I said 100 but it was too much fun)

I fired Winchester LR 40grain SuperX High Velocity Hollowpoints. I recorded no misfeeds, jams or failures of any type. It was accurate beyond belief on a 50ft range. I don't see them in stores but I plan on getting one if I can't talk my dad out of selling me his.

Some good cheap ammo to plink with is Federal's 36 grain, copper plated, hollow point ammo. You can buy a box of 550 at Wal-Mart for $9. Out of the 550 rounds I didn't have one not fire.

I don't know how I got on .22LR ammo but...one more word on that. Stay away from Remington Thunder. Every round had a different report it seemed. Try sighting your rifle at 100yards with each round having a different velocity.

Good luck with wichever Gun you get. I really was impressed by the Brownie.

Dutch
 
Tried Both I vote for the Ruger. Way more accessories if you want to upgrade too. Kinda like the 1911 of rimfire pistolas. If you're into target pistols try a Benelli.
 
Fireforged,
I have had a Buckmark Plus for 10 years and my father-in-law and one of my brothers both have other Buckmark variations. Funny thing is that the three of us had Rugers when we first got the Brownings and none of us have the Rugers anymore. I am not knocking the Ruger, mind you, but the Buckmarks suit us better. I guess one of the reasons is that the grip angle and controls are very similar to the M1911 and High Power which all three of us also own/carry. The only problems I have had in feeding were when I bought the budget Federal .22 long rifles at Wally World, and that was mostly because they were so weak that they would not operate the action correctly. At last count I had over five thousand rounds through mine, and with the exception of the budget ammunition nary a jam that I can recall. I clean mine once a year.

Take care and God bless,
Paladin
 
Paladin,

You can afford to clean once a year:

5,000 rounds/10 years=500 rounds per year.

I shoot 5-6 thousand rounds a year, so I got
to clean my Rugers a bit more often. I also
completely clean Ruger after 400-500 rounds,
on average.

I do agree that Browning Buck is a good one,
but I really like "heavy and solid" feel of
Ruger MKII much more than any other .22, and also, it really built like a tank...What really amazes me is an extremely high level
of accuracy it delivers - Government Model
with 6 7/8" barrel easily shoots 6" groups
at 50 yards w/o any bullet drop, from the
bench rest, of course...That is something.
 
Gotto say that if you want a 22 that has little kick and is really realiable get the ruger bullbarrel it stays on target and if you give a little TLC it performs AWSOME!!(ATLEAST AS GOOD AS I CAN SHOOT, and that isn't too shabby) Got to vote ruger....
 
Gentlemen,
What I stated about the Browning was meant to be no insult to Bill Ruger's genius but for the life of me I can't favor a weapon that hefts like a P08 Luger over one that feels like a M1911 or a High Power. I also consider six inch groups at 50 yards to be about average for a quality .22 handgun and mediocre for anything that resembles a "target" model. As a point in fact, I have an old three screw Ruger Single Six that will likely beat that mark by a noticeable margin. And you are right, 500 rounds is not that much annually. It is not a pistol that I shoot very often. My main point is that if FireForged is as fond of his HP as he seems to be the Buckmark will be much more comfortable and probably better suited for his needs.

God bless to all,
Paladin
 
Forgot to share some observation in regard
to Ruger MKII - it is extremely reliable when
it is NOT lubricated, I mean no oil is present to collect dirt....And, it is totally
reliable with CCI Stingers,I mean totally reliable no matter what. Those little devils,
Stingers, which are also perfectly sealed from moisure, do have enough power to cycle even awfully dirty pistol 100% of the time....
 
Paladin,

I shot those 6" group with open sights.
I wear glasses, so for me it's pretty
good. Probably, with scope, it will do
much better...

But of course, if man wants Browning, and likes it, let him buy one. I was just touched a bit by what seems like a wrong
reason to buy Buck in preference to Ruger -
"told by friends that Rugers have problems".
 
I recently bought a Ruger .22/45 for plinking and I like it. I've only had the chance to put about 100 rounds through it, but it's been very accurate and fun to shoot so far. I did have one jam, but I was shooting the aforementioned Wal-Mart Federal ammo (550 rounds for $7.96 + tax), so maybe this had something to do with it. Then again, maybe not, but I'll reserve judgement until I've fired a few thousand rounds of various make through it.

This is actually the second Ruger .22 pistol I've owned. The first, a MK II which I was quite happy with, was lost when my parents moved while I was in the army. I bought the .22/45 because I liked the way it felt in my hand.

Good luck with your decision.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
regarding the "difficulty of reassembly" issue in the Ruger MKII or 22/45's that people always complain about, just read the manual.

surprisingly enough, it has exquisitely detailed instructions on how to reassemble the SOB -- just follow the odd "tilt up here, release trigger; tilt down here at THIS angle, release trigger" bit and you'll have no problems.

i got mine back together in about 10 minutes the first time I tried (and this was mostly because i read too fast and skipped a step)... after practicing a few times it's down to about 3 minutes or so.

i have the super cheap bull 22/45, and it's very nice. accurate and a great feel.

but if i could do it again, i'd buy the mkII only to have interchangable grips -- that polymer is slippery as hell after the first 20 rounds and you put down a little sweat. the worst part is that you can't put on hogue grips (not interchangable) OR the handall (the takedown lever in the backstrap of the grip would be beneath it)

next time i go to the hardware store, i'm going to pick up some of that 3M anti-skid grip tape.

-jon
 
I bought a Ruger 22/45 with a short bull barrel and adjustable sights for learning marksmanship more inexpensively than with my 9mm Glock. I picked the short barrel because I liked the balance better.

I like its feel, and the only reliability problem I had was with Federal Classic 22LR ammo. It works flawlessly with CCI Mini Mags and Stingers and with high velocity Remingtons, too. I had the feed ramp polished to help reliability.

Resting my arm on a table I can now do 1 1/2" five-round groups at 12 paces and am completely satisfied.
 
I have ruger 22/45. I like the feel on my hand for my favorite is .45 government . It never has jammed for last 1500 rounds or so. I just run a world's fastest bore cleaner and some spray solvent and let dry. It is accurate and fun to shoot. I used mostly federal, cci and cheap russian ammo. Browning looks nice, would like to have my hands on, no experience with it except with browning citori for pheasant hunting.
Good shooting.
Brian
 
As far as price goes you can't beat that 550 box of Federal .22LR. I have no problems feeding it through my Viper 522 and it has several thousand rounds through it. Too bad it doesn't work for some of you. It's fairly accurate and cheap as dirt.

I bought some CCI Minimags this weekend to try out. Shot them up today and I was impressed with how snappy they were. I'm going to have to resight my rifle with them and see if I can nail that elusive clay pigeon, hanging in tree at 100 yards, one shot pop from a squating position w/no rest goal I have set. :)

Let us know which pistol you end up with. Judging by what is posted here it's just a matter of preference.

Dutch
 
Try a S&W model 617 (10 shot revolver). Never had a failure to feed or fire...although the da firing takes a bit of practice. Also, can shoot flys off the front wall w/uncle Jed.

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Anarchism: The radical notion that I am the sole authority when it comes to deciding what's best for me.
 
I have a Browning Buckmark and a Ruger Mark I. Both are good guns. One thing I dislike about the Browning is that for a complete and thorough cleaning, you have to remove the rear sight unit. Don't really care for that feature since you have to return to the range to ensure that you're still sighted in.

On the Ruger, I would opt for the Ruger Mark II with the 5" heavy barrel. Good, solid reliable gun and it's the gun of choice of Gemtech when they're asked about suppressed .22s. The Ruger is like a Everyready Bunny...it keeps going and going and going. About the only bad thing I can say about the Ruger, until you've got it mastered, they can be a pain to field strip and reassemble.

BTW, if you're interested in revolvers, the Colt Diamondback is tops with me.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
Greetings To All, Would like to pass on some
useful information to the many Ruger Mk II
owner's; as it may be a little bit of help?
Check out the following website for strip tips: www.ontargetguns.com/striptip.html
Hope this helps some. Best wishes to all !!!

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Ala Dan
 
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