What Happened to the Small Frame 22 Revolvers?

my wife and i are going to do the carry a hand gun course this winter. im going to buy a ruger lcr 22 long rife for her to carry. no exposed hammer to hook on anything. the trigger is smooth and easy. i have one in 38 special plus many others. just to be different i may take one of my open top uberti colts to shoot at this lesson to qualify. may be even my converted dragoon. my wife needs somthing she can use with out being afraid of it and the trigger is good. i was going to get her a 22 bobcat but when i tried the trigger it was the worst trigger i have ever tried.the ruger lcr is very very smooth.

"I'm going to buy a ruger lcr 22 long rife for her to carry."

I think there is one in 327 magnum... could be mistaken. If so, my recommendation is get the 327 and load it with S&W 32 long. That caliber has virtually no recoil, similar to the 22. But it shoots a slug twice as heavy and 1.5 times the diameter. After the 32 S&W long is NBD, 32 H&R magnum has just a little more recoil and is actually a decent SD cartridge.

My daughter has never liked recoil, but has been shooting 32 S&W long since she was eight years old.

Catman42 said:

my wife and i are going to do the carry a hand gun course this winter. im going to buy a ruger lcr 22 long rife for her to carry. no exposed hammer to hook on anything. the trigger is smooth and easy. i have one in 38 special plus many others. just to be different i may take one of my open top uberti colts to shoot at this lesson to qualify. may be even my converted dragoon. my wife needs somthing she can use with out being afraid of it and the trigger is good. i was going to get her a 22 bobcat but when i tried the trigger it was the worst trigger i have ever tried.the ruger lcr is very very smooth.

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I have the LCR22WMR. The wife shoots it a lot and really likes it. Recoil is pretty much nonexhistant.

I bought a Phoenix .22lr.
I know, I know, but honestly, it shoots like a dream.
I bought the "kit" so I have a 3" barrel & 5" barrel.
The 5" isn't for carry, but then I wouldn't carry a 22.

http://shop.tltacticalfirearms.com/...handguns/phoenix-hp-deluxe-range-kit-35in-blk

thanks for the input. i read once a report years ago on hand gun calibers. and use for defense. the .22 long rifle penetrates and wanders and is very effective. also i watched a film about women quaifying with a hand gun. every one shot better scores with the .22 long rifle. there are women who can handle anygun but most like light recoil as well as lower noise.

A .22 in the hand is better than a .44 in the safe at home.

I will put in another vote for the .327 LCR with .32 S&W rounds instead of the .22. Putting aside the poor stopping power of .22 ammo, there are two additional problems with using rimfire ammo for serious purposes.

I have found quality rimfire ammo has a misfire rate of about 1 per 1,000. While this gives pretty good odds every time you pull the trigger, the odds are significantly worse when you consider firing a whole magazine. And while one per thousand might seem acceptable, it is a far cry from centerfire reliability which can easily be less than one misfire per 100,000 rounds. So due to the greater frequency of misfires, I would not consider a semi-auto .22 pistol where reliability is critical. While everyone should be trained for misfire drills, it is also important to choose equipment that makes them unlikely.

Now with double action revolvers, the drill for a misfire is much simpler, you just pull the trigger again, and fire the next round. This method is simple, reliable, and does not require any extra training. But rimfire ammo has a different problem in revolvers. Rimfire rounds require a significantly harder hammer strike for reliable ignition than centerfire rounds. So in a double action revolver, rimfire rounds require a stronger mainspring, and as a result, a heavier trigger pull. Small revolvers also tend to need heavier triggers than larger revolvers due to the internal leverages. So small rimfire revolvers usually have pretty stiff triggers, and they cannot be improved much with compromising reliability.

So for all of these reasons, I am a fan of small centerfire calibers when someone needs a gun that must be reliable and have minimal recoil. Small rimfire revolvers are fun to shoot, and can be a useful training aid, but I would not want to count on one.

Hondo 60 said:

I bought a Phoenix .22lr.
I know, I know, but honestly, it shoots like a dream.
I bought the "kit" so I have a 3" barrel & 5" barrel.
The 5" isn't for carry, but then I wouldn't carry a 22.

http://shop.tltacticalfirearms.com/...handguns/phoenix-hp-deluxe-range-kit-35in-blk

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I don't want to make this a revolver vs semi auto discussion, but it's hard to beat a $130 Phoenix that holds 10+1 of .22 vs a $400 to $500 revolver that holds 8 rds of .22 and has a horrible trigger. If I was going to spend that kind of money on a revolver, it'd be in a .32.

At least with the Phoenix .22, the first round is almost guaranteed to go off, while the Phoenix .25 is guaranteed to go off and continue to until the mag is empty. Unfortunately .25 ACP costs 5 times what .22 LR does.

Let me know when that Phoenix can shoot CBs and shorts.

Let me know how easy it is to find that additional mag, too.
Hope the one that came with the gun lasts forever...


Not saying the Phoenix isn't a good gun...
...but also not saying the revolver doesn't have it's merits as well.

tubeshooter said:

Let me know when that Phoenix can shoot CBs and shorts.

Let me know how easy it is to find that additional mag, too.
Hope the one that came with the gun lasts forever...


Not saying the Phoenix isn't a good gun...
...but also not saying the revolver doesn't have it's merits as well.

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I use to think being able to shoot Shorts was important, but I've yet to find a revolver that shoots them as well as something like CCI Quiet. BTW, I've tried shooting shorts in .22 semi autos, it can be done if you have a round in the chamber and only one in the magazine.

Magazines and parts are readily available on the Phoenix website

https://www.phoenix-arms.com/collections/magazine-components

.22 revolvers do have their merits... if they're single action.

Well - if the mags are readily available, that's good.
I had no idea they were. I definitely stand corrected on that.

I like semi-auto .22 pistols, and have a couple of various makes.
I don't ask them to fire anything but .22LR.
They tend to be cheaper on average, I will concede that much.


If the versatility of the revolver doesn't mean much to you, it still means a lot to some others.
I think that is reflected in the general pricing, as you have found.

The pricing is based not on versatility, but costs that go into producing a revolver; revolvers cost more to make than semi autos. The problem is dollar for dollar when it comes to .22 revolver vs .22 semi, you get a lot more value for you money with a .22 semi than you do a revolver. For example, I can buy a S&W Victory for $300 or a Charter Arms that only holds 6 rounds.

Which do you think is going to be a better shooter?

If versatility to you means the bombs have fallen and Lord Humongous is riding around in a dune buggy with his scoped .44 telling people to "just walk away" and you've got your .22 revolver and 3 rounds of .22 Short you found in the trunk of a burned out car... yeah, okay, you're right, the revolver is going to be more useful in that extremely unlikely scenario.

Even then, I'd rather just have a single action for a .22 revolver cuz usually they come with .22 Mag cylinders.

I finally got my S&W model 63. What a nice shooter. I picked it up a couple of hours ago and took it to the range. I put about 200 rounds through it already. I didn’t plan to. It just happened.

It seems to really like CCI Standard Velocity and Aguila 40 grain HP high velocity ammo but I have more loads to try. I am really not sure I like the fiber optic front sight.

Pat Riot said:

I finally got my S&W model 63. What a nice shooter. I picked it up a couple of hours ago and took it to the range. I put about 200 rounds through it already. I didn’t plan to. It just happened.

It seems to really like CCI Standard Velocity and Aguila 40 grain HP high velocity ammo but I have more loads to try. I am really not sure I like the fiber optic front sight.

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Congratulations, Pat!

That's a beautiful piece, and I'm glad you like it!

.

the weather is sunny and nice today for this time of the year. no wind also. may go to the deck and shoot my .22 cattleman colt uberti alot. i have some spinners and a man target about 20 yards from the deck. i like burning .22 long rifle ammo.

Gorgeous revolver!

I love .22s but im in the market for a snub 22. Dont have one yet.

a snub .22 long rifle? ruger lcr.

Trashyshoots said:

I love .22s but im in the market for a snub 22. Dont have one yet.

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LCR.22WMR is a good choice.

Here is a s&w 63.
http://www.armslist.com/posts/10446360/huntsville-alabam a-handguns-for-sale--smith---wesson--63---22lr--revolver

Dirtdobber said:

Here is a s&w 63.
http://www.armslist.com/posts/10446360/huntsville-alabam a-handguns-for-sale--smith---wesson--63---22lr--revolver

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I paid $680.00 for mine plus Tax and paperwork it came to $760.
$615 with only 24 rounds through it is a pretty good deal.