By R.K. Campbell | Contributing Editor
There is no handgun more important in the scheme of things to a handgunner than a good quality .22 rimfire.
All firearms are serious tools and must be handled safely. The .22 caliber pistol is among the great fun guns of all time but also a great general purpose game getter. I have taken more head of game with a .22 than anything else. Sure the heads are small, but the head count isn’t.
Game meat is healthy and harvesting your own table fare is among the proudest American traditions. Many happy hours have been spent teaching marksmanship with a .22 caliber handgun. Quite a bit of emotional attachment is given the handguns we learned on and took our first game with.
My first handgun was an Arminius revolver, a double action with a cheap rib that fell off several times. This revolver did yeoman service for me as a young teen learning to shoot well. Earning a degree in Criminal Justice in the 1970s, our firearms class included firing a Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece .22 caliber revolver. They were ideal for the chore.
As a side note they convinced some of the folks that there was a legitimate use for rimfire revolvers and they did not have to own .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers exclusively. These courses were fired in an indoor range. The .22 is a good bet as a gallery gun, as well. With low recoil and limited muzzle signature there is nothing quite like the .22.
There is a place for the .22 in the outdoors and it isn’t always about hunting. After sixty years of trekking I have yet to have to defend against humans in the wild. (I hit the Tri State Peak at Cumberland Gap last week.) But snakes are another matter and I have encountered a few two legged folk I could have done without the pleasure.
A trail gun is good to have. If all you have is a kit gun you can shoot well you have something. We don’t have grizzly bears in my part of the world. Feral dogs and bobcats have attacked folks within the past year. I might want something bigger than a .22 for coyote but then marksmanship and penetration solve a lot of problems. I think a .22 makes a fine all around general purpose field and trail gun. The need for personal defense isn’t eliminated by traveling far from it.
I sometimes laugh when I read the words of a journalist who mentions biker gangs. Every single biker group I have run across has been peopled by polite friendly folks, some ex-cops, some pastors. I guess the journalist needs to get out more often. We do have train hitching hippies in Appalachia amongst the abandoned towns. I don’t see a collapse of civilization soon. You may not need a survival gun yet, but you need a gun. You just may not always need a big gun.
When choosing a .22 rimfire there are several categories. Since this is a fun gun a lot of leeway may be shown. In a defensive handgun you will find more doctrine from the author and rightly so. The .22 is for fun and lots of fun. Ammunition is downright cheap in today’s dollars; recoil isn’t a consideration and accuracy may be excellent.
A single action revolver may be chosen for ruggedness and reliability. Or you simply like cowboy guns. A double action swing out cylinder revolver is a very good outdoorsman’s gun. Self-loading pistols come in two flavors, traditional metal guns and modern polymer frame handguns. All have their place and I own all types.
The revolvers have taken game while the automatics are generally for training. I need to get out and hunt more as I think often of the nice stews of the past. I have also chopped up a lot of reptiles over the years. Moles cannot be allowed to infest the yard and so on. Downed large game is easily dispatched with a .22 in the cranium. When you make your choice consider that the revolver may be fired with .22 Short, .22 CB Cap, standard velocity, and even shot shell. An automatic demands .22 Long Rifle High Speed. About 90 percent of the .22 ammunition on the shelf is .22 High Speed/High Velocity and it is the least expensive bulk option. Just the same, the inoffensive .22 CB cap is nice to use indoors or when space is limited.
A .22 caliber revolver is a working tool for finishing off downed game (where legal) or taking out rodents. If you need a larger gun be certain to deploy a powerful handgun but otherwise a .22 can solve a lot of problems. The problem may be taking game or getting rid of pests. The problem may be boredom and a .22 plinker sure is an interesting handgun. I do shoot paper targets when testing a .22 and sighting it in but most of the shooting is at steel plates at 25 yards or more, tin cans, or dirt clods.
The classic .22 caliber revolver for all around use is the Ruger Single Six. Rugged beyond question and very accurate, the Single Six is well balanced. The option of .22 Magnum ammunition in the spare cylinder expands your choices in game animals and makes for a potent cartridge for bobcats and coyotes
in its range and given good shot placement. My favorite .22 revolver is the Single Ten 10-shot revolver. This revolver come standard with fiber optic sights. There is not .22 Magnum option, but I seldom use a .22 Magnum.
I also own a classic Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece .22. This revolver has all the class and history possible in a wheelgun. For double action shooting practice nothing beats a .22 double action. In automatics I no longer use metal frame .22s.
The FN 502 is among the most accurate .22 pistols I have tested. This one was purchased to allow the author to explore red dot training and to facilitate affordable practice with an RDS to compliment my RDS equipped 9mm handguns. This is a great shooter, reliable, accurate, and with good combat ability.
A Kel Tec P 17 often rides in the vest pocket when hiking and every ounce counts. This remarkable little piece has never failed to feed chamber fire or eject. It isn’t as accurate as the FN but has minute of pest noggin accuracy at 10 yards. With 16 rounds in the magazine and a weight of only 11 ounces the P17 is high tech indeed. It is high value as well at around two hundred dollars.
If grew up with a .22 you are way ahead. If circumstance forced you into a centerfire handgun as your first pistol that’s ok as well. But it is never too late to get into the .22 pistol world. You wont regret it.
