Plinker Pistol

Doesn't seem to be the most common answer, but I'd second the recommendation above for the Browning Buckmark. I looked at it and the Ruger and liked the Browning better. Its a very simple gun to strip & clean and perfect for a newbie. Shoots very well, and has a similar weight and balance to a lot of the current "tactical tupperware" 9mm/.40's and a similar grip angle. I bought mine to be able to shoot a little more often and use it to stay proficient. An afternoon of shooting it costs about 20% of a similar outing with my 9mm. Great choice starting with a .22 BTW.

Browning Buckmark +1

bluej wrote: some more thoughts: -Is the difference between the different makes .22 1911's a function of clearances/quality or are there other things? -whats up with the ruger sr-22? Oh yeah, where's the best place to look at used?

I can help with a few of these...

-For guns in general, you get what you pay for. The higher the price, the better the finish and materials, the smoother the trigger, the more other guns guys will ooo and ah. For a .22, I wouldn't bother with a converted 1911/Glock/whathaveyou unless you want two guns in one.

-Ruger SR-22, neat little piece of kit, though I'm not sure there's much of a place in the world for it. Lightweight carry gun, but the aluminum slide dictates it's more unlikely to load the next round than some of the competition.

-Gunbroker.com is my fave place to price shop. It's a great way to see three trillion guns and accessories in one place. As always, hit local shops and shows.

If you're just wanting to get a plinking gun, get the .22.

If you possible want to get more into shooting (competing, carrying, etc) I'd say start with a 9mm (Glock 19 or what have you). The recoil is still very manageable, plinking ammo can easily be had for $0.18/round, and it gives you a more versatile gun IMO.

Personally I don't think you could go wrong get a good .22 or a 9mm.

I have a Browning Challenger, a precursor to the Buckmark and its been awesome. My first pistol was an H&R 999. A great beginner gun and i would buy another if I could find one. I traded it in on the Browning in 1971 after putting a few thousand rounds through the 999. When I bought the H&R, it was between that and a Ruger Mk II. Any of these are good guns.

OK, There's a lot of GREAT suggestions here!! The Ruger is a fantastic weapon, great to work with and easy to shoot. The Walther is my personal favorite though. My friend has one and it's sooooo much fun! The Browning Buckmark is a tack driver. I sighted one in for a friend of mine and you could litterally pop the center out of the tacks holding the target in place from 15 yrds.

Great suggestions guys!! I'd personally suggest you grab each one, hold it in your hands and "play" with it for a minute. When I bought my Baby Eagle .40 S&W I had it in one hand and the Walther P99 .40 S&W in the other. Loved both, same price, but went with the Baby Eagle on feel alone.

Good luck, be careful, and have fun!!

The Walther P22 is finnicky about ammo (the new version is supposedly better)...The Ruger Mark II (used)/Mark III (new or used) and any of the buckmarks are great alternatives... additionally Smith and wesson makes a 22 (coincidentally called the model 22) that's a great value plinker too. Ruger just came out with an SR-22 as well (more the style of the P22) that gets high marks in all the reviews i've read.

that being said; I own a Ruger Mark III Hunter

If you think that you may want to start modifying it after a while, the Ruger is probably the best choice. Volquartsen has a ton of stuff for them.

https://www.volquartsen.com/category/13-accessories-and-upgrades/4-mkii-mkiii

Back when I used to shoot competition Metallic Silhouette NRA Hunter Pistol, some people used the Rugers. They said that a Ruger would either shoot well or not, and there was no way to tell without actually trying it out. A guy bought one from a local gun store with the understanding that if it didn't shoot accurately, he could exchange it for another. He did, and the second one was good. He said that even the Ruger Number 1's were like that: Accurate or not. He said it was the barrel manufacturer that had poor tolerances or something. That was about 20 years ago now. I dunno if they ever fixed that.

Note that this level of competition requires a very accurate gun, as you try to shoot about a 8x11 piece of paper at 100 yards, a 6" heart shapped target at 40 meters, etc. standing with a handgun

Definitely go shoot some at the range.

I have shot a Beretta Neo and own the S&W 22A. Both are decent but I think the Rugers and the Buckmark are on a little higher level. And then of course there are crazy custom plinkers. I think any of the four types of pistols mentioned are pretty good. No offense to the Walther people, but the cost verses what the pistol can do isn't really worth it. They sure do look cool though.

Since we've got lots of great suggestions here, may I threadjack for a little while?

My dad and I shoot his Colt 1911, a very nice gun. While he reloads our brass for the savings, a .22 plinker would make range time that much easier on the wallet. From these suggestions and knowing my dad's penchant for easy teardown, I'm thinking Buckmark. My tangental question is - he's got a bit of hand shake and the .45 doesn't seem to help that much. Would a longer-barrel .22 help or hurt his accuracy? I'd really like him to be doing a little better with his plinking, I think he can get disappointed sometimes...

is the hand shake flinch related?

peter wrote: Since we've got lots of great suggestions here, may I threadjack for a little while? My dad and I shoot his Colt 1911, a very nice gun. While he reloads our brass for the savings, a .22 plinker would make range time that much easier on the wallet. From these suggestions and knowing my dad's penchant for easy teardown, I'm thinking Buckmark. My tangental question is - he's got a bit of hand shake and the .45 doesn't seem to help that much. Would a longer-barrel .22 help or hurt his accuracy? I'd really like him to be doing a little better with his plinking, I think he can get disappointed sometimes...

Threadjack away! Will be reporting back after trying out everything.

Thanks for all the responses everyone!

Autolex wrote: is the hand shake flinch related?

Not sure. Think it's just age-related. Sometimes putting the gun down and picking it back up helps.

I think that working so hard to do the fine control of aiming the short barrel may be an issue. Is a longer barrel that much easier to aim?

http://www.shootingwiki.org/index.php?title=Sight_Radius

it's a longer sight radius, which means you can make very slight sight picture adjustments, this helps precision since you can place the round exactly where you want it.

I recommend mixing a few snap caps in the mag with live rounds of the 1911 next time you're at the range to see if he's flinching... (it's good practice for all of us regardless of weapon)

I think the extra mass of the longer barrel will help too.

And you need to pay attention to the "shake." Does he have it at rest? Like rolling a pill in his hand, typically with one side worse than the other? Is he walking with smaller steps? Does he ever have difficulty starting walking? If you grab his forearm and bend it up and down at the elbow, does it feel like you're moving a cog wheel? Is his hand writing changing?

Dr. Hess wrote: I think the extra mass of the longer barrel will help too. And you need to pay attention to the "shake." Does he have it at rest? Like rolling a pill in his hand, typically with one side worse than the other? Is he walking with smaller steps? Does he ever have difficulty starting walking? If you grab his forearm and bend it up and down at the elbow, does it feel like you're moving a cog wheel? Is his hand writing changing?

Yeah... I've asked my sister, who's a Doc, about it, she seems to think it's just age related. His handwriting has never changed one little bit (engineer and proud of it). He's an avid athlete, runs and hikes, only issues are (fairly) normal aches and pains. AFAICT, the shake only happens when he tries to do very fine motor things and it's been the same for years.

I've had my SR22 for two weeks now. It's my first handgun. Thought about the Glock 19, P22, Sig Mosquito, and MkIII. Went with a .22 since it's cheaper to buy and shoot than the 9mm, and the SR22 has gotten great reviews, though there are a couple issues that have been reported with them. I shot a buddy's P22 and liked it. Went with the SR22 over the P22 since lots if reviews say the SR22 is a better gun. The MKIII isn't my style--I like that the SR22 is pretty much a smaller and less powerful version of the typical pistol.

So far the SR22 has been lots of fun. 1300 rounds. I had some feeding issues and found that one of my mags was defective. A call to Ruger had a replacement to my door in less than a week. Only fail to load issues other than that was a weak Remington Thunderbolt shell that ejected the empty brass but didn't load the next round. Everything else (CCI Mini Mags, Federal Champion bulk, Blazer, Winchester white box) has always had enough power to chamber the next round.

There's a club not too far from me that allows .22's for IDPA and also has action steel matches for .22's. Looking forward to checking them out starting next month!

And... The SR22 is super easy to clean.

Have you guys discovered Hickock45 on youtube yet? Totally entertaining. He has a half hour video with the SR22 and lots of other entertaining vids on all other kinds of guns.

OK. Not to dis your sis, but I have personally seen (my) family members not properly diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD), despite going to multiple physicians who should have seen it. What we call a "beach diagnosis" in the biz, as you can spot that one walking down the beach. Maybe it's a Galveston thing. I have also seen (my) family members incorrectly diagnosed with PD despite not having it.

Anyway, some people just shake. "Essential tremor." That means "they just shake."

I should have read this a bit more before posting but I'm in a hurry at work.....if you want something to shoot that you can get into cheap and you don't mind it being disposeable. check out a hi-point. Dunno if they make a .22 version, but I know they make a 9mm version. Like I said, disposable, once you hit the 1500rd mark start looking to unload it.

Any experience with the Ruger 22Charger ? Obviously not something you're going to carry but looks like it might be a fun plinker.

It's the most fun plinker.

PeterAK wrote: Have you guys discovered Hickock45 on youtube yet? Totally entertaining.

It's Hickok, leave the second C out or he'll get pissy.

Neat guy, I've been watching him since the beginning. Very informative, rather entertaining, unbiased reviews, can capture the interest of newbies and seasoned viewers alike, and that RANGE! He's basically talked me into a few guns I didn't know I wanted.

God bless the old silhouette guys.

Edit: Equally as good is Jeff Quinn of gunblast.com fame. All sorts of unbiased reviews of new, relevant weaponry and accessories. Excellent, dry Southern wit and a great all-around person to have within the community.

Another thumbs up for Gunblast.