U22 Neos, Ruger MKIII, Buckmark, 22A

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TheNewbie

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Recently discussion between my father and I has arisen again about .22 plinkers. There's a large variety out there and, for the most part, they seem to offer about the same on the surface.

What I want to know is what makes each of these stand out to you, the owners, as special or more worth while than the others. Or if you know of accessories, additions, or anything else which would make a person lead towards the purchase of one over another. The four that have caught the eye, in no particular order, are...

-Beretta U22 Neos
-Ruger MKIII
-Browning Buckmark
-S&W 22A
 
I only have experience with the Neos and the MKIII.

The Neos is a great gun for new shooters with smaller hands. The grip is small enough in diameter for my wife and daughters to shoot it very easily. The Neos also has a super easy take down for cleaning, for people that find that important (like me). The one thing I hate about the Neos is the location of the safety.

The Ruger fits my hands better than the Neos, particularly the 22/45. MKIIIs with adjustable sights have better sights than the Neos sights. However, the Neos is ready to go with a built in optics rail if you are leaning that way.

The few Ruger MKII/MKIIIs and the one Neos I've expericenced both are highly reliable with plain jane .22 ammo. Plus, they both are equally accurate in my hands. I'm not a competitive target shooter, though. :D
 
Thanks, that's a good reply. Let's keep them coming. Also, I'd like to know about any other .22 pistols that may not be on that list but are pretty good.
 
I only have experience with the Neos and the MKIII.

Same here and I like the NEOS more because the grip fits so well. It's also a breeze to field strip for cleaning. MKIII is slightly more accurate in the pistol configuration BUT one can get the NEOS carbine conversion kit and turn it into a rifle for $250. Heck, you can even keep the pistol grip on it with the 16 inch barrel and have an insane silhouette 22 pistol, except it wouldn't be regulation. :D It already has the top rails for a scope or red dot.

One thing with the NEOS though, when reassembling you have to make sure the top is tight (locked as in "clicked") with the receiver. Otherwise the looseness will cause unnecessary wear (peening) to the slide. I learned this the hard way with mine.
 
I have the Ruger and Buckmark. Both are good plinkers; I give my best nod to accuracy to the Buckmark. I've looked at the Neos but I hate the grip angle...and obviously I'm a Beretta fan, but the NEOS is a no-go for me.
 
We've got all four. Reliability wise, the Ruger trails, the other three are equal.

My favorite is the S&W M22A, my Wife prefers the Buckmark.

Only the Buckmark requires buying extra parts to mount a red dot unless you get one of the older fixed sight Rugers without the drilled and tapped receiver and included Weaver mount.

Best feature of the Neos was CDNN was selling extra mags for $10 so we have a bunch for it, although they recently upped the price to $15. I like the grip angle of the Neos, what I don't like is its the only one of the four whos safety rotates the "wrong" way.

You also used to be able to buy the parts for a magazine from Ruger for $10 and assemble it yourself instead of paying $20 for one, so we have a bunch of spare mags for it too.
 
Only one I have any experience with is the Neos.

No complaint on the grips, fits me comfortably, and the sweetheart seems to handle and shoot it easily as well.

Safety is a pain in @55! Located too far back to be comfortably engaged or disengaged with the gripping hand; angle of the grip places your thumb too far forward. Pretty much a 2 hand operation for me, as my thumbs just don't go there, unless I release my grip on the pistol. I picked up a holster for mine, but find the safety in the Fire position to often when carrying it, to be comfortable with a round chambered while holstered. If you buy a holster, which given frame size and barrel length they can be a little tough to find a holster for, be certain it clears the safety, or clear your chamber every time you holster it!

Likewise, I'm not fond of the clip release button's location.

1.) It's on the opposite side of the gun from my other auto pistols.
2.) It's located precisely where the safety on my 22 rifle (and several other guns I own) is located, just rear and high of the trigger. And, thus on more than one occasion, I have dropped the clip thinking I was releasing the safety, out of habit.

Both are minor inconveniences, just take some getting used to when I haven't shot it in awhile. Otherwise... I absolutely love it!!

The rail on the barrel gives the U22 a weight and feel that is very similar to that of my 45 ACP. And, since the U22 is a whole lot cheaper to shoot, and I shoot it a whole lot more often, it's really kinda nice to have that weight and feel there all the time.

Take down is a breeze! And, you do have to love a gun that you don't have to go to the toolbox to tear down!!

Swapping barrels out likewise takes less than a minute, and there are several to choose from... 4 1/2", 6", 9", and the 16" that comes with the Carbine kit. Finding them, with exception to the Carbine kit, is however another story!! I have had no luck locating a 4 1/2" in stock to date! (Which reminds me, I need to check on that again, it's Christmas, and Santa needs to come see me!! :D )

Accuracy is fantastic for a 22 handgun. While I have seen a little difference in some ammo used, it seems to perform reasonably well with most. The U22 and I both love the Remington Hyper-Velocity rounds. :cool: And, I've had no problems with feed or ejection out of anything I've run through it.

On a scale of 10, I'd give it an 8.5 - 9. It's Affordable, Accurate, Reliable, Comfortable to shoot, extremely Adaptable, and easy to work on. Can't ask anymore than that out of a gun honestly.
 
I have a Buckmark and a Ruger MkIII. I like them both fine, both are accurate and reliable.
Buckmark feels slightly better to me, and has a better trigger 'out of the box'.
Co-worker has a Neos, seems fine, he likes it.
I'd like to like the S&W, but the grip is just too wide for my hands.
 
The neos is too small to shoot two handed for me, and the one I shot had a rear sight that wouldn't stay adjusted. The 22A, and MKIIs that I have shot, were all great shooters. As long as you don't get a Mosquito, you'll do just fine with any of your choices;)
 
My kids are pretty accurate with the Buckmark. Not quite enough experience with the 22A yet to compare. I do have a Neos but am probably gonna send it for recall before trying it out. Don't have the Ruger since I've read it's a pain to disassemble. Got a SIG Hammerli on the way - good luck finding one.
 
I'd stick with the Buckmark or Ruger MkII/III (with the mag disconnect and loaded chamber indicator stripped out)
 
Of those three models, the MkIII stands out as having an extraordinary amount of aftermarket cool-parts. All have good reputations.

My favorite plinker is a High Standard Victor, but that is way above the price of the guns you mentioned.
 
Of those, I would go with either Browning or Ruger. I have had both, but only own Buckmarks now. They just fit me better.
 
I have a Beretta Neos (just got it back from having the recall work done), and I have to agree with all those who say that the safety is a pain to use. Not exactly the most intuitive design as far as ergonomics go. But everything else works fine on the gun and I actually like the grip angle, feeling it to be very comfortable over extended periods of time at the range. Mags are nice too, being very well constructed, relatively inexpensive, and easy to load.
 
I've had a Ruger Mk1 since forever (my dad initially bought it for $46, if that's a clue) and it shoots as well today as it ever did, despite what must be 20k + rounds through it.

I bought a Mk III, and it shot fairly nice, but an out-of-spec round caused it to fire with the bolt not fully closed. Since I shoot 'thumbs forward', my left thumb got struck by the useless 'loaded chamber indicator' as it was blown off the gun, smarting quite a bit.

So a lawyer somewhere decided that a solid steel receiver wall should be pierced to make room for a plastic lever that nobody in their right mind would trust without still inspecting the chamber, and now it's a failure point for the gun. On a Mk 1, that would have all vented out the ejection port and all would have been well.

I'm shooting a Buckmark these days, and loving it.


Larry
 
Picked up a Neos on a whim last night(papa has to buy his own Chistmas presents;)).

Initial take down was a word that starts with a "B"---the little take down ring was way overthightened by the monkeys at the plant----a rubber mallet and plastic chisel finally broke it free.

The odd safety doesn't bother me a bit as its not a combat weapon--but a plinker.

My only real complaints are the sights are too high in relation to the bore and the trigger is on the heavy side---neither is a deal breaker obviously since I bought the gun---and I bought it for a plinker and nothing else.

I'm kind of thinking the heavy trigger will be preferable to the light trigger on my MkIII when I get the kids out shooting--my youngest daughter and grandson are within a year of each other.
 
Out of the bunch listed I only own the S&W .22A.

It has been a tack driver from day one. In fact the first time I was out at the range, I went through well over 1,000 rounds with my buddies and I trying it out.

It performs well and is so easy to strip down and clean. :D
 
I'll give a negative of the Buckmark. The top piece that holds the rear sight and keeps the slide on is plastic, ours has been cracked just behind the rear sight for a long time, today it broke :( Gun still functioned, but don't know for how much longer.

I'm attempting gluing it, but not sure its a "glueable" plastic. :(
 
i have a 22A with probably 2000 rounds through it and i love it. I started with a red dot on it but ended up taking it off to lower the weight. Shot the u22 and the mkIII as well. MkIII might have needed oil but it was by far the worst out of the three. it did NOT like my federal bulk ammo.
 
The buckmark and ruger are much better quality firearms and are the types of guns you could hold on to and hand down. The 22A is cheap but goes bang usually. the NEOS is the cheapest of the bunch. my sights used to come loose, spits powder at the shooter far too often, and feels cheap. I would say the buckmark is the best, and Ruger is right behind it. you get what you pay for again!
 
I have both the Browning Buckmark and the Ruger Mk III. Of the two:
  • The Buckmark has the better trigger. It is lighter, and for me harder to hold steady.
  • The Ruger has a nice shaped grip, and for me more stable; I feel I shoot better groups with it because of it's weight.
  • Both feed a wide variety of 22LR ammo.
Both are fine pistols.
 
I just bought a 22a.

200 rounds yesterday. It's a sweet pistol.

It chambered CB shorts, CB longs, .22lr, and even crimped shotshells from the magazine! Accuracy was impressive with both the iron sights and a clonepoint, but the black paint S&W dipped this thing in leaves something to be desired. It flaked from the boltface (expected) and rubbed off where the sight was clamped.

Edited to add:

.22lr from Federal bulk and Remington bulk were the only loads that ejected normally. As expected, the CB's lacked the energy to cycle the slide. The Winchester #12 crimped shot expanded into the throat and wouldn't extract, though they did fall out with the lightest tap from a rod.
 
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I don't own the 22a, but I do own the other three pistols. Of the three I own, I would rate the Buckmark and Ruger both very highly. They really are great fun to shoot, accurate, and reliable.

The Buckmark is my favorite. Pros - Grip, trigger and accuracy. Cons - The rail on top of the gun works itself loose during firing which eventually leads to malfunctions.

The Ruger is next. Pros - Same as the Buckmark but all three not as good as the Buckmark. Cons - some people really hate to field strip this pistol as getting it back together can be a bit of a challenge.

The Neo is my least favorite of this bunch. The gun feels cheap and the grip angle doesn't suit me well, YMMV.

Have fun!
 
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