Buckmark vs. 22/45 for big-handed lefties

[MrCleanOK]

I have the .22 pistol itch, and I'm considering Browning Buckmarks and Ruger 22/45 MKIIIs.

I have experience shooting Buckmarks, and I know I like them. I have heard disassembly is a pain, but that doesn't bother me. My only reservation about getting a Buckmark is that I have had problems with my thumbs blocking ejection, or bouncing ejected cases back into the action. I use a lefty, thumbs-forward grip that is common across all the guns I shoot, and I'd prefer to not have to change it to accommodate one pistol's ejection. My thumbs don't bounce empties in all the time, but often enough that it's annoying.

Does anyone know if the 22/45's ejection characteristics will be sufficiently different that I won't have this problem with the Ruger? I know the best answer is "go shoot one and find out", but that's not really an option for me right now. My brain is going to be kicking this around for the rest of my deployment, so I might as well get some outside input. Thanks.

 

[MrCleanOK]

Bump. Nobody with any insight on this one? If it goes to page 2 again I guess I'll just let it die.

 

[bowfita]

My hands are relatively small, so can't really say, but a couple of pics might help. If you keep your thumbs parallel to the barrel, I can't see how the casing could hit you. Mine eject up and out, landing about 6 feet away with HVs. Not sure of the angle out, but definitely not horizontal.

Aside from ejection issues, the 22/45 model with removable grip panels lets you add shims to widen the grip so the Buckmark has no advantage there as far as I can tell. I added Pearce finger grooves and they have rubber panel/shims that fit under the panels, widening the grip slightly - noticeably more comfortable.

And they are tricky to break down, follow posted directions carefully, but the good news is you can go k's of rounds before you need to.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pilot]

See if you can find a MK II era 22/45 or MK II. It makes it a bit less tricky to dissasemble and reassemble. They also can be more reliable, as they are missing the LCI and mag disconnect.

 

[MrCleanOK]

Thanks for the replies, and especially Bowfita for taking the time to post pictures. I know it's not with one of the guns in question, but I decided to take some pictures of my grip (as best I could with only two hands) so you can see what I'm working with. Yes, that's my hands making a 92FS look small.




You can see how if this 92FS was a Buckmark, my support hand thumb would be blocking the ejection port pretty well. I never have problems with any of the centerfire pistols I shoot because they all eject up and out, but the Buckmark I have fired just has much lower ejection.

I think at this point I am leaning towards the Ruger model Bowfita has. I like the functional design of the MKII's much better (without all the superfluous "safety" features), but the grip of the 22/45 MKIII with replaceable grip panels is appealing to me. I could more easily remove all the lawyer junk on a MKIII than I could modify the frame of a MKII to accept custom grip panels.