.22 Mouse Gun

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Ale Golem

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Ever since I saw Driven To Kill several years ago I've wanted a small .22 to toy around with at the range. Seeing as I can pick up a used Taurus PT22 for around $100 is it worth the gamble? I've seen a lot of negative reviews from people but also enough decent ones to make me consider it. Alternate suggestions are also welcome.
 
They seem to be picky about ammo. For 100 hundred bucks isn't a bad deal. Just run CCI mini-mags and you should be fine
 
Seeing as I can pick up a used Taurus PT22 for around $100 is it worth the gamble?

Not in my opinion. About 10 years ago my dad and I bought guns together at show, he bought a Taurus and I picked up an NAA mini. The Taurus never did run well and occasionally inserting a loaded mag will pop the slide off.

That said, if you can get it out the door for $100 you're not risking a whole lot.

If you keep your eye out you can get a used NAA mini for around $100 or the Beretta's that Taurus copied for around $150-175. The NAA's are neat little guns, and the Beretta's are great pistols - I've probably owned a dozen over the years.
 
Seeing as I can pick up a used Taurus PT22 for around $100 is it worth the gamble?

Mine wouldn't fire click click bang over and over , Returned to factory 6 weeks later returned repair stated polished feed ramp ?????? Tried to fire click click bang over and over this my 3rd taurus 2 have been junk No more in my house.
 
Just run CCI mini-mags and you should be fine

What he said.

  • Keep it clean and lubed.
  • Run Mini-Mags.
  • If it has the plastic faux-pearl grips, replace them ASAP. You will have to do it eventually, so you might as well do it pre-emptively.
  • Keep your eye on the recoil buffer at the front of the slide -- maybe buy a couple of spares from Taurus. It's weird: I had one disintegrate on me the first time I shot the pistol, but the replacement has been in there for hundreds of rounds.
  • Shoot and enjoy.
I just picked up a Bersa thunder 22. I am very plesed with fit, finish, and performance.

I have one of those too, and I love it, but I wouldn't call it a mouse gun: too big. IMO, a mouse gun is something you can fit in your shirt pocket.
 
I debated between the Taurus and the Beretta Bobcat. I decided to spen the xtra and gow with the Beretta.

I am glad I did. I FTE in 500 rounds or so. Several differnt brands and many were bulk ammo.

Fit and finish it great. It just feels like such a higher quality weapon than the Taurus (and I am a Taurus fan)
 
TennJed said:
I debated between the Taurus and the Beretta Bobcat. I decided to spen the xtra and gow with the Beretta.
I'm debating the same, but I like the look of the Taurus slightly better, although if I ever move to a state that allows it it might be fun to screw on a suppressor to the Bobcat.
 
I had a PT22 and the slide flew down range the first time I shot it. I sent it to the factory and sold it upon return.

I have had a 21a for about 5 years and don't plan on letting it go. Fun to shoot but needs a little oil every 50 rounds or so.

I picked up a NAA mini last weekend and can't wait to try it out. I guess I like rim fire mouse guns.
 
I have an Astra Cub in .22Short, so technically it is a .22 Mouse Gun, just not of the .22LR type. It is incredibly well made, given its size and caliber, and never ceases to amaze me as to the overall quality that went into the design and manufacture of this gun so many years ago.
 
I have both the Taurus PT22 and the Beretta 21A in .22LR.
$100 is hard to beat for the PT22. IF, you can live with the DAO trigger on the Taurus, it's a decent gun. It has a very nice feel when gripped, fits my hand well. It is ammo picky though (as has been said). Mini-Mags run well in mine. And the Taurus does hold 1 more round than the Beretta in its magazine.
My Beretta 21A is not as picky about ammo. Although it doesn't care much for anything made by Remington....dirty stuff. But it'll run bulk Walmart Federal and such just fine. The DA/SA trigger setup is a lot easier to shoot than the DAO of the Taurus, IMO. MY 21A is surprisingly accurate.
 
This thread reminded me how much I enjoyed having a 21A, so I remedied the situation today at lunch..
 

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I have a recently-acquired PT22 that was made in 1998. I am very pleased with it, though I paid more than $100 for it. I've only run it with MiniMags; all of my smaller .22LR guns, as well as my Mk-II run flawlessly with them, and less so with the bulk stuff.

If I had found two of them for that price each, I might have bought them both.
 
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Seeing as I can pick up a used Taurus PT22 for around $100 is it worth the gamble?

Not in my opinion. About 10 years ago my dad and I bought guns together at show, he bought a Taurus and I picked up an NAA mini. The Taurus never did run well and occasionally inserting a loaded mag will pop the slide off.

That said, if you can get it out the door for $100 you're not risking a whole lot.

If you keep your eye out you can get a used NAA mini for around $100 or the Beretta's that Taurus copied for around $150-175. The NAA's are neat little guns, and the Beretta's are great pistols


I had a tip up Beretta and it was a POS, total POS. I got rid of it at a gun show, dealer bought it. I gave a hundred for it, used, hoping I could make it work, dealer gave me 135. So, I'd say the only advantage the Beretta 21 has over the Taurus is resale value based on the name, alone. The gun is crap.

I think it's the design of these tip ups, no extractor. My Beretta was a jamamatic with every ammo I tried and a maypop.

I have 3 NAAs, finely built little guns that actually work, quite agree with the NAAs. Try it for $100, but be prepared to take the loss IMHO. It's a little bigger, a lot more accurate and totally reliable bulk or expensive ammo, but I bought a Ruger SR22 a few months back for 325 and I have not regretted that purchase. Still pocket sized, just need a larger pocket.
 
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Walther TPH is a barrel of fun

The TPH is tiny, tiny. Shockingly accurate for such a short barrel. I bought a pristine stainless Interarms model fairly recently, and have maybe 1500 rounds through it. Very fussy about ammo; needs something at least slightly above standard velocity. And it absolutely must have a factory magazine. The Federal Automatch .22 (Walmart carries it, 350 rounds for $15 or so) is fine in mine.

By way of Internet Lore, the German manufactured models are the best, but mine has been very reliable... once I got factory mags for it. The tiny sights work quite well, with a sight radius of maybe 3". I usually shoot pistol at 15 yards; with care, I can get most rounds into 3". The gun is more accurate than that, but the short sight radius, while fast to get on target, is not as precise as the gun itself. An intuitive shooter could mop up with it.

There aren't many in the US, because like the PPK, it was clobbered by that old Saturday Night Special legislation. It was never a cheapie, and it's well worth the price if you can find a good one.

Half a dozen friends have shot it, too; it is a favorite with all. Weirdly, it's very smooth, with a very well-damped recoil. I think a lot of engineering went into springs and slide mass; it has that slick, smooth feel of a great (if tiny) machine.
 
I know it's not the gun asked about but I'm on my second Iver Johnson TP22 after the first was stolen long ago. They are fun, reliable little guns that have run almost anything I have put through them. I REALLY like that it's DA/SA and you can second (or third) strike a misfired round.
 
The gun is crap.

Sure sounds like your gun was crap, and that's unfortunate. But like I said, I've owned close to a dozen of the Beretta's over the years, both the 21a and it's SAO counterpart that I forget the model on at the moment. All of them have been very reliable and fun to shoot. The vast majority of reports I've heard or read from others has been the same.

I would say yours was defective for whatever reason, the design is fine.

I just picked up an SR22 last weekend and put about 200 rounds through it Sunday, what a fun little gun! Not sure I'd call it a mouse gun but at 18 ounces it sure will be nice out walking the woods.
 
I had a tip up Beretta and it was a POS, total POS. I got rid of it at a gun show, dealer bought it. I gave a hundred for it, used, hoping I could make it work

I think it's the design of these tip ups, no extractor.

pocket.
When you say you were "hoping to make it work", did you know when you bought it that it has issues? How long ago did you get it? If the seller was only asking for $100, it sounds like to me you just had a lemon. Every company and every gun line has lemons.

I think the majority of Bobcat owners would disagree with your statement that the gun design is a POS. The majority of them work fine and the owners are happy.
 
Not in my opinion. About 10 years ago my dad and I bought guns together at show, he bought a Taurus and I picked up an NAA mini. The Taurus never did run well and occasionally inserting a loaded mag will pop the slide off.

That said, if you can get it out the door for $100 you're not risking a whole lot.

If you keep your eye out you can get a used NAA mini for around $100 or the Beretta's that Taurus copied for around $150-175. The NAA's are neat little guns, and the Beretta's are great pistols - I've probably owned a dozen over the years.
ditto on the NAA pug. Good pocket .22LR, I keep CCI Stingers in mine although I might have been better served to get WMag.22 version.
 
When you say you were "hoping to make it work", did you know when you bought it that it has issues?

It was maypoping, giving misfires. I can usually fix that with good ammo. But, it also was jamming, not just once in a while, but a couple rounds every magazine. I tried to fix it by fiddling with the magazine, this and that, not sure what the problem was, was getting improper extraction though and as the thing doesn't have an extractor, I was at a loss. I was thinkin' the rounds were riding too high in the magazine, but when I bent the feed lips down just a tad, then it wouldn't FEED, either. :rolleyes: But I couldn't fix the maypop issue with CCI or anything, either. So, I gave up. I just don't like that design. It belonged to a friend and it'd never worked for him, either. He's a little short up stairs with things mechanical and not really a gun guy. I figured I could make it work. Oh, well, wasn't HIS fault. LOL!

One of the things that irks me, though, if it's a Beretta, well, it was just your gun. If it's a Taurus, oh, they're all CRAP! I have three Taurus revolvers I have to defend on this board all the time. Well, I don't HAVE to, I just like to argue and they're great guns, in fact, my 66s are BETTER than the S&W 19 and Security Six that preceded them in my collection, better shooters, anyway. :D You can argue stuff like resale value, but straight up shooters, the 66s are better, at least MINE are.

I just picked up an SR22 last weekend and put about 200 rounds through it Sunday, what a fun little gun! Not sure I'd call it a mouse gun but at 18 ounces it sure will be nice out walking the woods.

I think being a might larger is a good thing. Mine feeds ANYthing I've put through it so far and it shoots EVERYthing into 3" at 25 from the bench, bulk Federal into 2" and RWS target into 1.5". This is superior to any smaller guns I've ever fired. That Beretta wasn't even minute of BG head at 25 yards off the bench even when it did fire. The SR22 has real utility.

One little gun I have that I've bad mouthed on this board for its material of construction, but is cheap because of that and it's very reliable and amazingly accurate is the Phoenix Arms HP22. that thing will put rounds into 3" at 25 yards off the bench with CCI. I cannot recommend it as a range gun, though, because it's not very durable. I've had to fix issues with mine caused by the soft zinc frame and slide. The slide went back to Phoenix Arms early on. I don't have 2000 rounds through that thing, don't think it's got a 5000 round life span based on the issues I've had with it. It's a gun that is very pocketable, quite accurate for field use, but not capable of much range use. It's got a lifetime warranty and PA is very good about customer service, but heck, I've had my SR22 for 2 months and already have as many rounds through it as I've put through that HP22 in 20 years. :D It just won't hold up to a lot of range use. The OP is about a range gun and I don't think the HP22 is it. He needs to try the Taurus, see if it works for him. If not, move on to something else. :D The SR22 works for me, have a little .22 Rossi revolver I LOVE that's even MORE accurate. I've considered the Bersa, very good reviews out there on that one, but bought the Ruger instead when it came out and am very happy with it. It'll fit in a large pocket or on the belt when I go fishing. :D As you said, it's quite light.
 
Around 1980 I bought a new Walther PPK/S in .22LR. It was a Manurhin (made in France) and imported by Interarms. It's a delightful little gun and super reliable. Accurate for a pocket/mouse pistol though sighting it in is a bear so I've never tried - it's not far off as is. I've never found a good use for it other than an easy tote to plink with. It is a cute and fun partner for my Walther PPK/S .380 and my prewar PPK .32acp.
 
My brother has a 21A that he bought probably in the 90's as it has real wood grips and that pistol is a certified jamomatic and always has been no matter the ammo used.
When it works right it's a nice little plinker but the problem is it doesnt more than it does.
 
Phoenix hp-22

Why don't you save yourself all these problems in advance and just buy an HP-22 Phoenix. The one I have shoots great with no reliability problems at all. It comes with a lifetime warranty. I read a lot of reviews on different brands of .22 pocket guns before I decided on the HP-22. The Taraus didn't rate well at all and the Beretta, although it had great reviews, was way too expensive IMO for a pocket pistol.

Just passing on some info.
 
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