Tanfoglio Force 22L ?

[BCRider]

I'm looking around at options for a .22 practice pistol and this is one that struck me as quite nice. It is also as much money as I want to spend on a .22 pistol. Searching here at THR and other places are turning up a surprising lack of information on the Tan Force 22L.

Factors that attract me to the Tanfoglio are the look and feel of my CZ which should make it more valid for fast sight/shoot practice and the fact that it is very light which should provide at least a moderate kick to the pistol to again more closely mimic the shooting I'm doing with the 9mm by having enough kick that I need to think about re-acquiring the target sighting with each shot.

Please keep in mind that I'm not looking at the best target shooting .22 that'll punch the tightest groups. Instead I'm looking at a .22 that will as closely as practical mimic the larger caliber pistols I'll be using in IPSC. Now if the accuracy is truly poor then I'll skip over to a pistol that is a better balance of accuracy and feel but at the moment I'm just more interested in one that kicks a littl more than the low kick target shooting options.

Other guns that I'm looking at in this pattern are the S&W 22A and Browning Buckmark. I've shot the Ruger .22 and while a nice and very accurate shooter there's just no kick. The gun being so heavy that with 22LR it just goes "pop" and the gun itself barely moves to the point where I'm left wondering if it was my gun or the one next to me that fired.... OH OK, so it's not THAT bad but I'd like to feel like there's a bit more life in the hands than what the Ruger provides. I've also shot the range owner's Supermatic and found it to be much like the Ruger in this respect. A real tack driver (got some of my best ever groupings with it) but somewhat lacking in the "shooting experience" department.

So in closing if any of you have feedback on the Force 22L or have options for what you think would be a suitable pistol for my needs please post up.

 

[atblis]

You might try asking about the Witness 22lr conversion kits. The "Force" name is not used in the US.

 

[BCRider]

Ah, that would explain the resounding silence....

I'm not really interested in conversion kits just because of the expense of buying 1 1/2 guns for almost the price of two guns. At least that seems to be how it works out from having looked at the different options.

It seems that one of the companies up north of the 49th can get them in and I think I'm going to go for it once I've got my R-PAL. It's a little more than the Buckmark that I was eyeing up before I found the Tanfoglio but not by much and as I said it'll mimic the feel, grip and sighting of my CZ all the better.

Link for those that are wondering what this is all about.....

http://www.tanfoglio.it/tanfoglio.php?lingua=uk Go to the Sport and Competition tab and click down to the very last item, the Force 22L And here's a pic to drool over...

 

[atblis]

Is the CZ Kadet not available up there? If it is, get that. Truly superb they are. The Tanfoglio 22 kits are kinda mehhh.

 

[BCRider]

Up here the kits are running at $400 or a little more. Plus I'd obviously need another gun to mount it on. I can buy the Tanfoglio for $600 and NOT need to buy another gun.

Yes I could perhaps mount it onto my CZ Shadow but then I'd be doing a big swap when I want to shift between .22 and 9mm. I'd far rather have one gun for each so I can switch without all the part swapping.

Saw a Kimber 1911 .22 today. They sure do look sweet. But up here the going price is rather steep at a little over $800. That's an "OUCH" to the ol' pocket book but it sure does look like the Rolls Royce of .22 pistols if mimicing the bigger brothers is key to the game. Mind you it's not all THAT bad. To put it into perspective a lot of the nicer Ruger 22-45's and Mk III's in various configurations are running around the $500 mark with only the budget versions down around the $350 to $400 area. The cheaper version of the Browning Buckmark is also up close to the $400 mark. So the Tanfoglio is up in the running at the $600 mark but the Kimber is a ways over that.

And don't any of you just say "buy it here" since getting any firearm up into Canada from the US is pretty much as easy as doing self performed home kidney surgery these days....

 

[1SOW]

I haven't ordered one yet, but I heard the CZ conversion kit doesn't require a FFL to order through the mail.
In the US it is not a firearm---it's parts. Have you checked to see if you can order the conversion from the US direct to you.?

Maybe it's just me, but I believe the conversion kit would let you draw and shoot the same as your 9mm with exactly the same sight picture and close to the same weight. The only downside will be lack of recoil and much faster sight acquisition.

My High Standard .22 is fairly heavy, points and has the same grip angle as my CZ75B; but it does not prepare me for USPSA shooting other than general shooting practice.
The lack of recoil is a MAJOR difference. Today I shot my High Standard on last week's USPSA stage. I was WAY faster and more accurate with the .22 compared to my 9mm. 6 poppers and a rack of 6 steel discs "pinged" almost as fast as I could press the trigger. Sight acquisition was almost effortless.

 

[atblis]

Part's swapping?? It's as easy as field stripping. Like thirty seconds to swap between the two.

 

[BCRider]

I'm in Canada and according to Homeland Security we are all terrorists north of the 49th. It's against US law to send stuff up here without a rather long and involved import/export process involving a heap of paper. In short I can't buy anything from the US other than springs, firearm accessories that don't actually go into a gun or any ammo at all. Barrels, receivers and magazines are expressley prohibited without the import/export approval process.

The good news is that with the lack of duty since we are trading partners the cost of US items is not that much higher in Canada than you guys pay in the US.

Atblis, if it's really that easy (just slip on a new top end and switch magazines) then I may have to consider this option after all. Do you have a Kadett .22 kit and is it really that easy?

 

[atblis]

YEs

Atblis, if it's really that easy (just slip on a new top end and switch magazines) then I may have to consider this option after all. Do you have a Kadett .22 kit and is it really that easy?

Yep that's exactly all there is to it.
1) Push out slide stop, remove top end.
2) Slide Kadet top end on, install slide stop.
Done.

The Kadet kit sometimes require minor fitting initially. It's extremely simple to do, and all modifications are done to Kadet slide and not to your gun.

 

[Stone Horse]

Detailed information on the Tanfoglio Force 22L can be found here:
http://www.genitron.com/HandgunDB/DB-Handgun-Detail.asp?ID=1339