.22 LR revolver

[Art]

[QUOTE=Darreld Walton;546462]Colt made a smaller-framed single action .22, the Frontier or New Frontier, IIRC, one with alloy frame, one with steel, flat top and adjustable sights, but you could probably buy a half dozen Ruger's for what one of those, or the Diamondback would cost. Colt also made the Trooper MkIII in .22 LR and .22 WMRF, four, six, and eight inch, but even my .357 is a heavy revolver, and still likely to need at least $1K to bring home.[QUOTE]

As the folks who keep up with this forum know I am a serious "wheel gun" fan.

The adjustable sight Colt .22 single actions need some care in selection if you invest the money and actually want to shoot them. On some of the early ones the front sight was too low and there wasn't enough adjustment in the rear sight to bring it on target at 25 yards. I owned one of the early ones when they were reasonably priced and with the back sight all the way down it shot at least 5" high at 25 yards with any .22 long rifle ammunition. Later ones had a much higher front sight which made them a little funny looking, but they would shoot to the sights.

Any S&W .22 revolver is a good choice. I prefer the older ones if you can find one at a good price but that's just a preference, nothing more. If you're going to actually carry it in the woods the J Frame kit guns are a good choice and very appropriately sized in either the .22 LR or .22 WMR versions, The K frame .22s are fabulous shooters. We trained with Model 18s at The Border Patrol Academy before moving on to heavy barrel Model 10s. They were superb guns. I picked up an older model 17 in a pawn shop a few years ago and shoot it at the range regularly since it is the same size as my K Frame "Smith" and a lot cheaper to shoot. The Ruger Single Six revolvers would be my pick in a single action. Robust, accurate and not too big. The Ruger field double actions are good guns but a bit on the bulky side for me.

High Standard revolvers are good guns but very long out of production and, in my opinion, a bit inferior to the "Smiths" and Rugers. If you can find a nice one at a good price they are not bad.

I am personally underwhelmed with the Brazilian revolvers because they tend to be a crap shoot. You can get a good one or not depending on where and when it was made,

Again - just my devalued $.02 worth.

[jaie5070]

I used to have a .22 revolver. It was a german made one. very accurate but I hated the single loading and unloading. Especially the unloading. If I ever get another it would be a break open or have a swing out cylinder.

[lyman]

Art,

on the early Colts, and 5" off in elevation,

how much did you notice of a difference with different velocity ammo?

and is did Mini Mags and SV all shoot low?

[Art]

Art,

on the early Colts, and 5" off in elevation,

how much did you notice of a difference with different velocity ammo?

and is did Mini Mags and SV all shoot low?

Everything shot high, and high enough to matter. I suspect the fixed sight versions didn't have the problem but I really don't know. Like I said Colt did resolve the adjustable sight problem later, just be careful when/if you buy. These are pricey pistols these days.

[Dan in NH]

I have a 617-1 10 shot that I really like. Can't say anything bad about it