Buckmark Target Pro??? Opinions?

[orangeninja]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a P22 Walther and took it to the range today for the 1st time ever. Range report soon. Anyhow, long story short, it's an itty bitty gun and I'm a big handed dude. Thus I sought to trade it in. My choices were a new Ruger 22/45 3 somthing inch barrel or an excellent condition Browning Buckmark Pro Target 5 inch barrel (with a nifty gold trigger). The guy wanted $40 difference on the Browning and $90 difference on the Ruger. I couldn't shell out 90 bucks and the Buckmark just felt so good in my hands, but I know nothing of them. He showed me how to field strip it etc. and it looked about as difficult as the Ruger. Anyways, did I make a good choice? Do you guys like the Brownings?

P.S. for you Walther lovers, nothing wrong with the P22, it's just so small in my hands my shots at 21 feet looked like shotgun patterns. I couldn't maintain a decent grip on it.

 

[Jimbo1]

I have one, and it has run many thousands of rounds through it. My wife also likes shooting it and now have her going to the range with me.
I may trade mine in on a bull barrel though, seems to have better sights and easier to hold still.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I bought a Ruger Mark II about a year and a half ago. I wish I'd bought a Buck Mark.

 

[Arch]

alduro,

I brought one about a week ago, and I am loving it.

I have had alot of experience with the ruger 22/45 MkII, and I find the browning to be superior in every way (for me). It fits me better, is easier to clean, has a nicer trigger, nicer balance, better finish, and I prefer the design. The browning looks nicer too

You won't be dissapoined with the browning. Although the ruger is also a good gun, it just wasnt for me.

Best bet is to go with what feels best for you. Really you cant go wrong with either gun. The advantage with the ruger, is that there are alot more aftermarket parts for them, should you want to tart it up a little.

 

[Ala Dan]

After owning several .22 caliber self-loaders (Colt Match Target Woodsman,
Ruger MK-II KMK-512, etc), I have shifted gears and teamed up with the
Browning Fan Club. Just recently I acquired a Browning BuchMark Classic
Pro with a 5.5" barrel, gold trigger, Tru-Glo (green) fiber optic front sight,
amd rosewood laminate grips. Folk's its a winner~

 

[orangeninja]

Well I tried my Buckmark and had several failures to fire. A couple of dents on the ammo where it should have ignited the primer, a couple of times no marks on the ammo. Could be the ammo, could be light hits from the gun. Also had a few failures to go into battery all the way. That was irritating.

Accuracy was freakin' outstanding though when fired it seems like some hot debris comes out of the ejection portion of the slide. Could be because I am shooting in a lane with a small cubicle to stand in. Hot brass deflected off one of the sides going down my shirt and burning some skin off. OUCH. I think next time I'll wear gloves and try different ammo.

I was shooting Federal. Maybe it'll be better with Remington or Winchester.

Any recommendations?

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I've run a few thousand Federal bulk-packs through my Buck Mark. It does seem to like Winchesters a little better, but I still have the occasional failure to fire or more rarely failure to extract even with WW or Remingtion. I *think* I suspect that the firing pin spring is every bit as responsible for the fire failure as is perhaps a little residual drag inside the firing pin channel. No, I haven't given it the same drill-bit tuneup as my PT111


Maybe the Federal priming compound is a little more pressure sensitive than the other brands. I have to admit, I haven't given a tremendous amount of contemplation to the problem. One or two failures per hundred or so rounds isn't enough to bother me in a casual .22 plinker at this time.

You want to shoot it sometime?

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[hksw]

Well I tried my Buckmark and had several failures to fire. A couple of dents on the ammo where it should have ignited the primer, a couple of times no marks on the ammo. Could be the ammo, could be light hits from the gun. Also had a few failures to go into battery all the way. That was irritating.

There is a common problem with the Buckmark, particularly the ones with the short sight rib. They tend to come loose and allow the slide to ride a little high off of the receiver and cause miss-hits. The solution is to (non-permanently) Loctite the sight rib bolts and tighten them down. IIRC, the Pro Target has the skinny barrel and short sight rib.

If you have the full length sight rib of the (non-Pro) Target, it could be something else. It sounds like the slide is not fully going forward and the hammer is not fully hitting the firing pin because of it. Possibly the bullets of the cartridge are oversized and not fully seating into the chamber.

 

[cuervo]

One downside to the Buckmark is the sight bar running over the slide. When you try to clean the feed ramp, it's a tight fit to get your finger and a patch in there. Or, you have to remove the bar; not difficult but a small pain.

 

[wally]

I've a P22, Ruger Mark II, Beretta Neos, and bottom of the line Buckmark. Buckmark is the most accurate simply because it has by far the best trigger out of the box. Toss up as to which is the larger PITA to clean Mark II or Buckmark. Neos strong suit is if you want to play with scopes or Red Dot sights, otherwise its in last place because its out of the box trigger was worst of the four.

I really like the P22 since it handles very much like a sub compact CCW -- if the safety was frame mounted and rotated the "right" way it'd be what I shoot the most.

Buckmark and Mark II are pretty much full size guns. IMHO Buckmark wins because the mag release is in the right place and its got a better trigger out of the box. Only real down side is extra Buckmark mags can be nearly 2X the price of extra Mark II mags.

All of mine are reliable with the cheap ammo -- Remington Golden Bullet bulk pak, Federal Champion, Remington Thunderbolt, & Winchester Wildcat. Maybe I was just lucky four times, but usually not.

--wally.

 

[Berg01]

I'd much rather have the Buckmark Pro Target.

 

[orangeninja]

Sylvagus....I'm always up for trying new stuff. I also have a small business proposition for ya....if you want to hook up sometime.

It does look as if the stikes were off centered. I'll tighten it down really good, mark the magazines and try a couple of different kinds of ammo to see if that solves the problem. If not, I'll run it to a smith, if fixing it proves cost prohibitive, I'll probably trade it in on a Ruger 22/45. It was a toss up between the two anyways.