Connecticut Preparedness

[PaiN]

I've been looking into getting the "right" .22lr pistol. I've had a Ruger mkIII 22/45 and a SW 617 6". The Ruger's grip never worked for me(and there was no way to change it) the 617, was a great shooter but far to bulky for a .22, I never got anything out of it.

I have narrowed it down to 3 possible choices:
-Beretta Neos U22
-S&W 22A 5.5"
-Sig Mosquito(base)

I'll use it for plinking and plates. I want reliabiliity and decent accuracy.
thanks

[CTSixshot]

PaiN:
You need to buy one of those cell phone .22 Target Models...no roaming fees and no contractual obligations. Excellent range, power and comes with a great family plan.
Thank me for my help!

[JohnFH]

for the money, Smith 22A

only reason I sold mine was the lack of adjustable trigger.

I'm super happy with my Ruger MK III, the target model has an adjustable trigger and there are half dozen grip options.

The one Sig I tried was awful

[equality72521]

The Mosquito has good accuracy, but horrible reliability - unless you're willing to do a ton of work to it. Plinking, yes, Plates, No. I'd recommend it for the "fun factor", but not for anything serious. I can't comment on the others.

[hayes1966]

go with the Ruger MKIII .. more aftermarket parts for it or you could check out th eBrowning Buckmark. I have both if you want to try some time.

[PaiN]

That is what scares me about the Mosquito...I've heard its a very finicky pistol. I am considering it because I know a person willing to sell an almost new (<100 rounds) one with a late SN# Fxxx for $275
As for the MkIII there are more grip options for them but the price jumps up considerably over the Neos and 22A which I can snag new for ~$250

[equality72521]

The later Mosquito serials do have a far better reputation, but they're still not decidedly wonderful. Mine is a late serial, F013XXX. The only modification I made was a light buffing of the magazine follower with 1500 grit, which significantly smoothed out the follower’s motion and increased feed reliability (cheap injected plastic with jaggy seams). It still has its share of malfunctions, around a 7-8% failure rate. It did require some breaking in – about 1000 rounds before it started to run noticeably smoother. It needs to be clean and WET. It loves CCI Mini-Mags, which, by .22 standards is a relatively expensive round to shoot. It hates CCI Stingers. I really haven’t shot anything else out of it. There are some guys on SigForum.com that have done trigger jobs, polished the feed ramp, experimented with dry lubes, among other things, but that’s too much work for me...
$275 is a good price.

[randolf]

I have MKIII and mosquito, I would rather recomment the MK3 because its more reliable and not picky on ammunition, it takes even the cheapest 11 dollar 500 rds , it let me shoot 300 rounds before it start jamming because of dirt. while the sig mosquito it only let me shoot the expensive cci minimag, youll be frustrated with that nice looking gun. the brand new price of mosquito is only 285 dollars at field and stream in middletown,

I have a friend He got this little .22 walther, it works better than my ruger and its as good looking as the mosquito, I never saw him jam it but he said he polish the barrel ramp and thats all the alteration he did.

[PaiN]

Thanks for the opinions, especially the advice on the Mosquito. I have to take it off list, not knowing if my weapon is going to operate when I pull the trigger would make me nuts, That's why I sold off the Mini-30....
I've fired a Walther P22 several times....nice pistol, totally reliable ..but too damn small for my hands

[JohnFH]

Kind of leaves you with the 22A, good little plinker, just not a "bullseye" gun that I wanted.

Firing pins tend to last about 10,000 rnds, but Smith was great about warranty coverage and sent me a cpl when it broke.
I will be getting another for my wife as soon as funds permit, she misses it.

[PaiN]

Kind of leaves you with the 22A, good little plinker, just not a "bullseye" gun that I wanted.

Firing pins tend to last about 10,000 rnds, but Smith was great about warranty coverage and sent me a cpl when it broke.
I will be getting another for my wife as soon as funds permit, she misses it.

Yep....that's about it. I handled a couple of the Beretta Neo's tonight at Cabela's. This pistol is very top heavy and with its narrow raked grip doesn't balance well at all to me. Btw: Cabela's has the 5.5" 22A on sale at $219 but none in stock....go figure right

[PaiN]

I went with the S&W 22A....
5.5" basic


I'm not feeling well today so I parked inside and made some calls, The 22A seems hard to find, its not in stock anywhere and Davidson's only has 4(3 now ) so I ordered it through Gun Genie for pickup at NGX.
I know the 22A is going to serve me well.
thanks for the help.

[equality72521]

Drop us a range report when you get out there with it. I'm curious.

[PaiN]

Got it
Only had time to put 100 rounds of CCI SV through, but I loved every shot. What a great shooter and accurate too. For the first time out with it I was happy with the groups at both 10 and 17 yds.
I'll work with the irons for awhile then try out the Bushnell red dot.

[PaiN]

Now the bad news.
This pistol is completely unreliable. Last night at Silver City it really started acting up. I took it with me when I ran the 10/22 today to give it another chance with a new box of Blazers...failed on every mag Its going back.....
Here's the e-mail I sent off to S&W:

I recently purchased the above 5.5" 22A, with well over 500 rounds through the pistol, at this point, I have not had reliable function. Typically, I have "stovepiping" cartridges either wedged or pinched in the breach and occasional light primer strikes. This is happening in each 10 to 20rounds fired. The weapon is cleaned and lubed after use, even with special attention paid to the breach face and extractor area, I am unable to eyeball any gross defect that could be causing the problems. The following ammunition has been used with no effect on the problem: CCI 40g SV and 40g Blazer(bulk and boxed), Federal bulk 36g HP, Auto-match 40g HV, Lighting 40g HV and Champion HV.