Thinking of getting a .22 Magnum revolver

T

T-Unit

Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
9,757
Likes
12,414
Location
Not Massachusetts
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
Double action, not single, I want a swing out cylinder as I already have .22 Mag single actions and don't want any more of those. Looking at what's available, Ruger is out because the LCR is only a 6 shot, S&W is too much money, so that leaves me with Taurus, Charter, Armscor, and Diamondback. I've had nothing but positive things with the Taurus revolvers I've bought the past few years, but IDK how their rimfires are. Charter I'm leery of lately due to their QC, but everything I read about their .22's is the triggers are surprisingly good. The Armscor is some imported Czech revolver that costs (and weighs) as much as a Ruger and seems to be so-so with reviews while the Diamondback is cheap, but reviews on that are the trigger and sights suck.

I'm gonna throw this to the NES braintrust for opinions. I want something that holds at least 8 rounds and isn't heavy and has a 3 or 4 inch barrel.
 
I have a 4" Taurus Model 94 10 shot that I got for my students to use at my pistol classes. 1K round and still going strong. Trigger sucks compared to my Smith, but there are spring kits available to help. After all the round through it, the double action has smoothed out quite a bit. It's a solid gun
 
drgrant said:
5/10

At least you're not talking about shitty derringers
But minus 5 for only including junk brands that nobody wants.

Out of that pile of trash id probably pick Taurus tho if forced.
Click to expand...
S&W isn't worth $1000 and Ruger's only DA is the LCR and that's with a 6 shot capacity. Both those options suck.

Alright, would you go with J frame 8 shot 942 or 9 shot Tracker with spare .22 LR cylinder?

BTW, after my last outing with the Bond .38 derringer, I'm not even going to bother with getting the .327 barrel.
 
I wouldn't take a Taurus for free. I'd save up and buy an older S&W.
The trigger is going to kinda suck no matter which brand you buy, it's just the nature of rim-fire revolvers. But the S&W triggers, especially on their older guns will be about as good as they get.
A model 48 K-frame would probably be my 1st choice.
The 51 J-Frame is a sweet little gun, too.
 
Wickedcoolname said:
I wouldn't take a Taurus for free. I'd save up and buy an older S&W.
The trigger is going to kinda suck no matter which brand you buy, it's just the nature of rim-fire revolvers. But the S&W triggers, especially on their older guns will be about as good as they get.
A model 48 K-frame would probably be my 1st choice.
The 51 J-Frame is a sweet little gun, too.
Click to expand...
Edit: These are both 6 shot. I'd still recommend a 6 shot S&W over a higher capacity junk brand.
 
Sparkey said:
S&W 351 PD
Click to expand...
FWIW, I picked up 2 of these last year for myself and my wife. Hers has been flawless for over a thousand rounds, and she carries it. Mine had to go back to S&W twice, and no longer lives at this address. While all this was going on, I was reading on other forums about people having problems with this one and the 351C. Seemed like inconsistent QC.
 
I wouldn't be interested in any of those 2nd tier revolvers.

Get a Smith or Ruger.

If you drop your need for 10 shots, then a whole world opens up. For example. This is a very very high quality gun and it's cheap.

www.gunbroker.com

SMITH & WESSON 648 (no dash) 1989 Mfg. S/N BFA0056 - Revolvers at GunBroker.com : 1071592551

Buy SMITH & WESSON 648 (no dash) 1989 Mfg. S/N BFA0056: GunBroker is the largest seller of Revolvers Pistols Guns & Firearms All: 1071592551
www.gunbroker.com
 
Pistolay said:
FWIW, I picked up 2 of these last year for myself and my wife. Hers has been flawless for over a thousand rounds, and she carries it. Mine had to go back to S&W twice, and no longer lives at this address. While all this was going on, I was reading on other forums about people having problems with this one and the 351C. Seemed like inconsistent QC.
Click to expand...
No problem with the 351c IME. I don’t like the 351pd due to the lock but single or double is a good option on the trigger
 
T-Unit said:
Double action, not single, I want a swing out cylinder as I already have .22 Mag single actions and don't want any more of those. Looking at what's available, Ruger is out because the LCR is only a 6 shot, S&W is too much money, so that leaves me with Taurus, Charter, Armscor, and Diamondback. I've had nothing but positive things with the Taurus revolvers I've bought the past few years, but IDK how their rimfires are. Charter I'm leery of lately due to their QC, but everything I read about their .22's is the triggers are surprisingly good. The Armscor is some imported Czech revolver that costs (and weighs) as much as a Ruger and seems to be so-so with reviews while the Diamondback is cheap, but reviews on that are the trigger and sights suck.

I'm gonna throw this to the NES braintrust for opinions. I want something that holds at least 8 rounds and isn't heavy and has a 3 or 4 inch barrel.
Click to expand...
I bought a nine shot Taurus 22 long rifle revolver some 20 years ago and it shoots perfectly fine. Probably put a thousand to 1,500 rounds through it. I just don't have a exact count
 
I'd rather buy a 25 year old 6 shot DA smith and Wesson than a 10 shot Taurus.

Taurus guns in my first hand personal experience is not that they are bad. It's that they are inconsistent. You may get a good one. You may not.

I've personally had a semi-auto .22 come apart while shooting it and also had a 38 special revolver completely lock up while shooting it.
 
Knob Creek said:
No idea why you would want such a thing. Marginal for self defense and too expensive to shoot for a Range Gun.
Click to expand...

I agree.

Also, because a rimfire round needs a much harder whack to ignite reliably, the DA trigger pull is going to be much heavier, which makes practical accuracy in a defensive situation that much harder.

I once had a real hankering for a 6" Smith and Wesson 617 as a plinker. When I got it I had forgotten that the DA pull would be heavier than a centerfire revolver so ended up shooting it mostly double action. I didn't really connect with the gun so I sold it. A few years later I was going to be shooting revolvers in IDPA and wanted a 4" gun as a trainer. But I wanted a 6 shooter so I would be forced to do the same reloads I would do in IDPA. I ended up getting a beautiful blued Model 17 K22 masterpiece.
 
Last edited:
Self defense is where the .327 is kind of a goldilocks calibre.

I had a woman student who had her carry license, but was having a hard time getting comfortable shooting.

The first time we met, I assessed her as being someone who had pretty good marksmanship skills but her gun handling was atrocious.

She was perhaps the least mechanically inclined person I've ever given instruction to. The answer to me was a revolver.

So I borrowed a Ruger LCR in 38 and she did ok. She had some trouble with recoil management, but I thought we could to better.

I was also able to borrow a .22 LR LCR and we tried that. What I didn't know was that the .22 LR version has a much stiffer mainspring, necessary to reliably ignite rimfire rounds. This meant the trigger was MUCH heavier than the .38 version of the LCR.

So I took a chance and ordered a .327 as well as a larger hogue grip that allows her whole hand to fit on the grip.

When she shot the gun, it was a match made in heaven. The best in the business LCR double action trigger squeeze, combined with the large grip and low recoil of the .327 produced a very shootable gun that she loved.

The extra round over the .38 didn't hurt either.
 
The LCR does have a decent trigger for a DAO. I think it’s even available in a 3 inch barrel. I didn’t buy it because well it’s not a Smith and Wesson
 
Sf Becket said:
The LCR does have a decent trigger for a DAO. I think it’s even available in a 3 inch barrel. I didn’t buy it because well it’s not a Smith and Wesson
Click to expand...

I understand completely. I like my revolvers with a bit of romance. But there is no denying the LCR's functional excellence.

One thing that DOES make a .22 a far better defensive choice in a revolver than a semi-auto centers around reliability. Or .22 LR's lack of it.

In a semi auto if you get a misfire, you have to do some kind of a malfunction drill to clear that itty bitty round from that itty bitty chamber with a traditionally weak extractor working on a soft case rim.

In a revolver, if you get a dud, the natural panicked response of pulling the trigger again swings the bad round out from under the hammer and presents a new fresh round.
 
Sf Becket said:
The LCR does have a decent trigger for a DAO. I think it’s even available in a 3 inch barrel. I didn’t buy it because well it’s not a Smith and Wesson
Click to expand...
I was shooting my .22 LR LCRx this weekend and I'm always surprised at how nice the trigger is for it and how light it is.

I may have to go for it in the 6 shot after all, but I wouldn't mind having it in a longer barrel than 3 inches.
 
Back
Top Bottom