[Brad Johnson]

I spent a great weekend shooting with family and friends, most of whom ended up using my Ruger 22/45 when they ran out of their ammo.

I took 12 boxes of the 525 rd Remington Golden Bullet value packs. I came back with 1. That's about 5700 rounds through the little Ruger. That puts me at around the 21,000 round mark total. Not bad for a gun that costs less than $250 brand spankin' new!

The best part? ZERO failures of any kind! And this was with NO CLEANING. Not even so much as a bore snake all weekend. Needless to say it's got a bad case of the crusties, but it's been soaking in CLP overnight in anticipation of a nice scrubbing when I get home this evening.

What can I say - the little Ruger is a trooper! It's cheap to feed, easy to service, and just darned fun to shoot! I can safely say that it's been the single best gun investment I ever made.

:D

Brad

[Nick96]

I have to agree with you on several points Brad. Most every time I go to the range, either my Ruger "Liberty" stamped .22 auto (which as I recall cost about $85 new) or the Ruger SP101 .22 revolver go along. I have no idea how many rounds have been run through the auto in the last 27 years - but it has to be in the high 20,000's. And it still shoots as good as new.

I alternate between the .22's and what ever center fire handguns I take. End up shooting 2 or 3 times more .22's (I typically wear out targets before running out of .22 ammo). And I'm typically still plinking away after most others have shot up their $20 worth of expensive center fires (50 to 100 rounds).

I too have to agree that the Ruger .22 auto is probably the best handgun investment I've made. It's the most all around:
- Fun
- Inexpensive
- Rugged
- Reliable
- Accurate
handgun I've owned.

The SP101 is gaining ground though. We'll see in 25 years or so.

[blue86buick]

Brad: How was the accuracy with your 22/45? With the value pack ammo, and (maybe?) inexperienced shooters, were they able to shoot accuratly AND consistently? I was planning on a walther p22, but after seeing a bull barrel 22/45 at a gunshop tonight for 230 (20 bucks less than the walther), and the guy telling me his experiences with his p22 and 22/45...I think I'll go for the accuracy of the ruger. Plus, you can get a rapid cliploader for the ruger, but not the walther. :)

[WonderNine]

Of the two value pack bullets I've tried, I rate the Remington as better than the Federal. The Federals don't seem as powerful, and don't cycle the action on my Marlin model 60. However it eats the Remingtons all day long without a problem. The Federals are nice in that they have a copper jacketing, but I'd rather have them put the money into making a load that cycles the action. The Federals do work pretty good in the Ruger MKII though.

[Brad Johnson]

Accuracy has always been excellent regardless of ammo. The gun shoots far better than I do, so any accuracy issues that are ammo related were less than the "shooter induced deviation". :D

About the only problem I ever encountered on a regular basis was with Winchester Wildcat. Accuracy was fine, but it had a nagging tendency for the bullet to wedge against the sharp lip of the feed ramp. Other than that, I had no ammo-related problems at all.

Brad

[1911Tuner]

It's been my experience that Ruger makes a lot of gun for the money. Always sorta considered the baby brother of the
"Big Three",(Colt Smith & Wesson and Ruger) I've often
thought that they could give big brothers some lessons
in metallurgy and rugged durability.

I have several Ruger bolt-action rifles, and while you can
buy a more accurate rifle off the rack, you'll be hard-pressed to
buy a stronger one and that will give you zero trouble.

My bet is that the little gun will outlast you.

Cheers!
Tuner