Cheap Plinker

[Tallball]

My shooting buddy has wanted to shoot at shorter ranges lately, but my 22 caliber handguns were pretty much all target pistols. I kind of wished I had a shorter-barreled 22 pistol to shoot at cans or paper from 20 feet away or so. I also thought it would be kind of nice if it could fit in my pocket if I was rambling around on the family property.

Here on THR a month or two ago there was a thread about "the pistol you hate to love". Several people commented that their Raven HP22A's were actually pretty decent pistols. I had an opportunity to purchase a used one for $80-something recently, so I went ahead and bought it. I picked it up from my FFL just this morning. The fit and finish aren't terrible. It seems to have plenty of safeties. I won't have a chance to shoot it for a week or so.

I would appreciate it if anyone could share info with me. If you have (or had) one, what is its favorite ammo? Are they hard to field strip? What's the deal with all of the safeties? Is dry-firing a no-no? How accurate is yours? Do they have any common problems? Thanks in advance for your input!

Raven HP22A

• Tallball
• Jul 21, 2018

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Don’t shoot any hyper velocity 22 ammo .

 

[MedWheeler]

Someone here compared the Phoenix to the Jennings J-22 a while back. My response to that post appears below, and includes my personal opinion of the HP22A, at least, as I found it.


>>>If the Phoenix is a cousin to the Jennings, it's like a third cousin, twice removed. The Jennings (and its current namesake, the Jimenez) is a striker-fired gun holding six rounds in its magazine, while the HP22A holds ten rounds and has a real hammer that can be cocked or de-cocked. The Phoenix is bigger, heavier, and fills out the hand more, and has a rear sight that is at least adjustable for windage. I own both.

The HP22A is complicated by numerous, redundant safety features. The one I detest the most is the "mag-out chamber-lock" This prevents the slide from being opened without a magazine in place, so, to clear the gun, you must remove and unload the magazine, then re-insert the now-empty magazine into the gun to draw the slide back. Also, the slide cannot be retracted without the lower safety (yes, there are two manual safeties!) being in the "off" (down) position, but the magazine cannot be removed without that safety being up instead. Try a rapid reload under those conditions!

All that being said, it's actually a fun and reliable shooter, with quality ammunition. I'm not dumb enough to run cheap, bulk ammo through small blowback pistols and then complain the gun is a POS when it won't run with it. I've used only MiniMags so far, but my other inexpensive .22 guns I've tried AutoMatch in have run well with those, so I'd expect the Phoenix to do so as well. The HP22A feels good and solid in the hand, the sights are sharp enough to be seen except in low-light conditions, and the trigger (on mine, at least) is crisp and consistent.

It's a lot of gun for the money, as a plinker and as a trainer. For defense use, caliber aside, it's a less-wise choice due to its weight, sharp lines (which contribute to "printing"), and its something-like-64 safeties. Those people I meet considering one for defense, I steer toward the Taurus PT22 or PLY22.<<<

Oh, and like most rimfires, dry-firing should be avoided. The occasional "over-fire" (shooting beyond the magazine's contents) won't hurt it, but every strike of the pin against the chamber edge can lead more to peening.

One more point: Many users report cracks occurring near the mag well after several thousand rounds. The cracks don't affect use or safety. From what many of those shooters report, sending the gun back to Phoenix under their lifetime warranty usually results in them receiving a new gun.

 

[Monac]

I suppose you already know about the long barrel and finger rest magazine Phoenix makes for the HP-22:

https://www.phoenix-arms.com/products/2-in-1-conversion-kit

They're for sale in a lot of places, probably including Ebay.

I have a Phoenix in 25 ACP, and it's a decent gun, although the trigger is about what you'd expect for the price. I liked it because the styling imitated the S&W steel-frame automatics that were current at the the time (early 90's), and because of the plethora of safety devices:

1) a hammer block safety on the slide that allows safe decocking (rare on single action automatics)
2) a manual safety that locks up the trigger mechanism
3) the push-button magazine release is interconnected with safety #2 to act as a magazine safety, in the fashion of some German 25 automatic of the 1920's whose name I cannot remember.

But now you can get 32 and 380 automatics about the same size, that weigh less, and have Glock-type trigger mechanisms. The Phoenix HP-22 is a better plinker, but a Kel-Tec P-32 is a better weapon that does not cost a lot more, IMO.

 

[Jeb Stuart]

I suppose you already know about the long barrel and finger rest magazine Phoenix makes for the HP-22:

https://www.phoenix-arms.com/products/2-in-1-conversion-kit

They're for sale in a lot of places, probably including Ebay.

I have a Phoenix in 25 ACP, and it's a decent gun, although the trigger is about what you'd expect for the price. I liked it because the styling imitated the S&W steel-frame automatics that were current at the the time (early 90's), and because of the plethora of safety devices:

1) a hammer block safety on the slide that allows safe decocking (rare on single action automatics)
2) a manual safety that locks up the trigger mechanism
3) the push-button magazine release is interconnected with safety #2 to act as a magazine safety, in the fashion of some German 25 automatic of the 1920's whose name I cannot remember.

But now you can get 32 and 380 automatics about the same size, that weigh less, and have Glock-type trigger mechanisms. The Phoenix HP-22 is a better plinker, but a Kel-Tec P-32 is a better weapon that does not cost a lot more, IMO.

I have two of the Phoenix Hpa's in 22.cal and ironically they are a pair of the most reliable 22.cals I have shot. I use them for point and shoot training. And they are remarkably accurate at close range. I like to take about 8 three inch reactive paster targets and place in rows of three doing down an large target. Then Pick up the gun and try to nail as many as I can in one magazine. On a good day I have scored all hits. I like the gun even better than my Ruger SR22 which I also train with. Much better trigger.
And for real fun I love the LCR22 cal which I use for training with my LCR9mm.

 

[doubleh]

I traded an old Marlin 22 rifle that wasn't much in the accuracy department for a Phoenix pistol pack awhile back. I've found that I can shoot the short barrel version of it about as well as I can my SR22. I am a much better shot with the longer barreled setup. I'm thinking the longer sight radius is the only reason but whatever it is, it works. CCI SV is my ammo choice and I never shoot any HV in the Phoenix. I've also used some Fiocci and Aguila SV with good results. It's a fun gun.

 

[Tallball]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'm looking forward to trying it out soon. My guess is that it will turn out to be a good value for the $84 I gave for it.