Tiny .22 LR Semi-Autos

Sterling
Bauer
FTL (Copy of Bauer/Colt Vest Pocket)

There aren't as many out there anymore, mostly because they were unreliable. The best pocket sized. 22 now is the Beretta Model 21. Taurus makes a copy, but I'd stick with the Beretta.

Don't know if you can find one of these anymore but this Model 2213 S&W 22lr has always been one of my favorite pistols. It has very good three dot sights, is all metal, a nice single action trigger with a thumb safety, slide lock back on last round and the magazine release is recessed in the front of the grip.
I have it pictured next to my PM9 for size comparison.

The Walther TPH is still available and is quite small, especially thin, yet reliable and accurate.

IIRC, Bernardelli made an insanely small auto back in the day.

IIRC, the Bauer was never made in LR.

The Bernardelli was made in Short and Long, but I don't think it was ever imported in LR. Iver Johnson built a licensed copy of the Bernardelli in LR, but I've never actually seen one, only pictures. A Turkish company bought up Bernardelli and at least listed the LR as the Salsmar (sp?) in LR. Again, I've only seen pix. They are, as Swing said, insanely small.

The FTL AutoNine/Wilkinson Sherry is about the size of a 1908 Colt Vest Pocket. PSA (U.S. built, licensed Browning Baby clone) once threatened to build the little feller in 22 Short, but I don't think they ever did.

The Beretta 21 is bigger than the Astra Cub, and the Smith and Wesson 2213 is even larger. You might look for a Smith and Wesson Model 61 'Escort'. It is an earlier and smaller version of the 2213. Made in 61, 61-1, 61-2 and 61-3 variations, in blue and nickle plated.

I dont know what you call TINY, but my Taurus PLY-22 has been excellent.

The Astra in 22 short is a great little pistol.. 22 LR wasted powder in that small of a pistol 22 short will come close in FPS . I have one in 22 short and it a fun gun to shoot Will match my 21 Berettas plinking

I have an Astra Cub in .22 Short and it is one neat little gun. The amount of work that went into making such a tiny semi-auto is amazing. I have seen the Bernadelli VB in .22LR and it is incredibly small, but the one I saw was priced way beyond what I would want to pay for one. I also had an FTL Auto Nine when they first came out and while very nicely made, it proved to be very unreliable and I eventually traded it in on something else.

If you can justify the outlay, the Walther TPH won't let you down.
Probably the finest small ,22.,25 pistol ever produced

There aren't as many out there anymore, mostly because they were unreliable. The best pocket sized. 22 now is the Beretta Model 21

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Yup! That is why JMB invented the .25ACP, when even he couldn't make the little .22 lr pistols reliable.

How's the trigger pull on that ply-22?

^
I was looking at those too.. last week I handled one and the trigger seemed plenty good for a DAO. It's got a magazine safety also. ug
I may well get the Beretta.. I've got a hankering for a small fun gun and reloading for the .25 isn't really fun.

Ledgehammer said:

How's the trigger pull on that ply-22?

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I can't speak for the poster that question was directed at but it is definately a decent DAO trigger.

It is long and has a long reset but the trigger pull isn't very heavy so it feels nice and doesn't hinder your accuracy much (can't speak for the inherent accuracy of the gun, strictly going by the fact that it is easy to pull the trigger and keep the sites still too). Better than the trigger on my Kel Tec.

I have a jennings J22 thats totally reliable, and quite accurate for such a little gun. and not all that expensive either.

^
I and my friends all had those a long time ago.. they were pretty awesome. Always worked and accurate.

How's the trigger pull on that ply-22?

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Its pretty decent. Its certainly lighter than my 21a in Double Action. You have to be careful though, if you stage it all the way to the end, every once in a great while, you will get a misfire with some ammo. Thats why I bought the Beretta, but each has its strong points. The Taurus is $100+ cheaper than the Beretta. Other than the trigger, they are very similar, Except the Taurus is 8+1, the Beretta is 7+1

I have a jennings J22 thats totally reliable, and quite accurate for such a little gun. and not all that expensive either.

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I and my friends all had those a long time ago.. they were pretty awesome. Always worked and accurate

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I bought mine in 1987, and had a lot of fun with it for several years after that. Always fired and was pretty accurate. Only issue was a self-field-strip that occurred during an extended session with CCI Stingers, before I learned (well, exactly when I learned) not to use such hot ammunition in those guns. I still have mine, just haven't played much with it in many years..

Incidentally, I also own, in the way of small .22 pistols, the quite-heavy Phoenix HP22A and the Taurus PT-22. Both are very pleasant performers.

I have several of the Jennings j22s and a few of the newer versions of them, the Jimenez ja22

I don't shoot the Jennings 22s all that much but I run the crap out of the Jimenez guns I have in 22lr. They really like the hot high quality ammo but will run on cci blazers with a stove pipe here and there. I'm for sure one of them has went through 1500 rounds of blazer since I got it. They are up close plinking guns but if you do the standard fluff and buff keep them clean they run really well.

And they are cheap enough to get and fun to tinker with.

Yeah I've heard good things about the Jimenez JA22 in a few places on the web. Only downside is that you've basically got to stick to expensive ammo to get them to run well.

There are guys over on the Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez forums that have ran 10,000+ rounds through them before having parts failures. That was with high velocity ammo too.

Alot of people who speak of them flying apart haven't even seen one in person let alone fired one. For instance I read several back and forth posts where one guy claimed that the slide rails of his J22 broke right off...the J22's design doesn't use slide rails.

phoenix HP-22

I have a Phoenix HP-22 that I bought a couple of years ago and it has operated flawlessly for me. Mine has the 3" barrel but you can also get in a kit with a interchangable 5" barrel. Yes, it's not an expensive pistol having a zamac frame, but it is very reliable. It' also has a lifetime warranty. Can't beat it for the $139 I paid for it IMHO.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=163917&d=1336163235

kokapelli has it spot on if you want a cheap pocket .22
I paid $120 for this S&W 2214 and buying & fitting the wood grips was another $30 outlay.
It works reliably and is quite accurate.
Magazines are a bitch to find now but I have a bunch & full size M41 magazines work just fine if you don't mind them sticking out the bottom they gain you an extra four shots.

^
That's a sawed off 422. Good gun. Here's a 4" 422. They make them in 6" also.