My .22LR Guilty Pleasure *UPDATED*

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I have a weakness lately for inexpensive .22's, so when I saw a Phoenix Arms HP22A advertised for a great price in the classifieds practically next door (Blindscout = great seller. Buy with confidence), I decided I had to jump.

The HP22A is a small, inexpensive 10-shot .22LR auto from the "Ring of Fire." It's a little smaller than a PPK/S, with a little more "beavertail," and single action.

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The barrel is easily removable, so I jumped on eBay and found a longer, "target barrel," (I can't write that without laughing) for $20, so now I have both configurations.

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Fun little gun, that runs surprisingly well. Not one FTF/FTE on my first outing. It's supposedly designed for SV vs HV ammo, but I shoot mostly Federal Bulk Pak, so that's right in the wheelhouse.

The gun is well known for being a pain in the ass, safety-wise. There's always something that's blocked by one safety or another. For example, you can't remove the magazine unless the gun is on "safe," it has a strange magazine safety, and it has an additional "firing pin block safety" on the slide.

First thing was to fix the safety so you could remove the magazine. It's well documented all over YouTube.

You can see here that the safety has a "tang" that blocks the mag release when in the "down" or FIRE position.

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The solution is simply to clip off the offending tang. Here's the modified (right) vs unmodified (left) safety.

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It also has a magazine safety that blocks the manual safety unless there's a magazine in the weapon. Another pain, but one that's remedied by simply putting a permanent bend in the metal "finger" with a screwdriver. That way, it stays "out" and doesn't block the safety from moving down.

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The mod also allows the mags to drop free. They really shoot out now.

But, every gun has a purpose, and this one is no different. I took the short, "non-target" (snicker) barrel and sent it to Morgan at Class 3 Machining, and less than a week later, I got this back:

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Putting it where it belonged gave me this:

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And then, this:

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I was a bit worried about port bark, due to the "half-slide" action, but it's an extremely quiet host. Certainly as quiet as my 22/45's. And, unlike the PPK/S, it doesn't rip the webbing of my hand open when I shoot it. Now I need one of those .22 micro-cans...

So, it's a fun little gun that took some tinkering to get just right, and $75 to turn into an even more fun suppressor host. Ain't very sexy, and I honestly needed another .22 like I need a hole in the head, but what the hell.
 
Interesting. I have never heard of this gun before, thank you for sharing. Looks like a fun project that didn't break the bank. My most 'fun' gun to shoot also happens to be the least expensive, funny how that works sometimes.
 
Cool have a thing for 22s myself. Although I'm now looking to unload some of mine. Several from the 50s-70s
 
Nice little gun with some very practical modifications. Maybe someday us subjects down here in the people’s republic of mass will be allowed by the crown to possess something quiet like that. ( we can dream can’t we? )
Enjoy
 
it sucks to be old enough to remember when......for you younger guys it's like being blind from birth, you just don't know what you're missing.
 
Yep. I look at that pic and my mind makes a small hidden noise... "Toovff...toovff-toovff-toovff"
 


This video shows 2 things:

1. My comment about "there's always one more safety." I neglected to "deselect" the firing pin block on the slide.
2. How quiet the gun is as a host. Altough iPhones are shitty for recording sound, you can at least get a feel for the volume compared to the slide coming forward, my disgusted sigh for forgetting the safety, and the hammer dropping.
 
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